Fund launches meeting of the minds
photo: Keith HiscockCity of Hope and Caltech researchers are studying a natural product from the sea squirt as a potential cancer treatment.
The two institutions also established the Caltech/City of Hope Endowed Funds, an endowment that will support a series of public educational forums highlighting new developments in biomedicine and therapies. The interdisciplinary research programs and educational forums, which continue a tradition of partnership between City of Hope and Caltech, are funded by a $1.5 million seed gift from an anonymous donor.
The Caltech/City of Hope Medical Research Fund, established by $1 million of the anonymous gift, will support research projects that apply the strengths of both institutions through investigators working together to leverage groundbreaking research into improved treatments.
“This fund will catalyze cooperative, interdisciplinary research aimed at improving treatments for patients with life-threatening diseases. I look forward to building on our history of fruitful collaboration with Caltech,” said Richard Jove, Ph.D., director of Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope.
The Caltech/City of Hope Medical Research Fund will be administered jointly by Jove and Stephen L. Mayo, Ph.D., vice provost of research and Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry at Caltech.
The endowment initially awarded funds to two studies that are aimed at improving treatment for cancer and diabetes.
David Horne, Ph.D., chair of City of Hope’s Department of Molecular Medicine, discovered a natural product from a marine animal that can shrink tumors in laboratory trials. To develop this promising compound into a potential cancer therapy, Horne and Brian Stoltz, Ph.D., the Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech, are developing a synthetic version that can be produced in large quantities.
One of the most promising investigational treatments for type 1 diabetes is islet cell transplantation, which replaces damaged islet cells (the cells in the pancreas that make insulin) with donated healthy ones. Fouad R. Kandeel, M.D., Ph.D., director of City of Hope’s Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, and Scott Fraser, Ph.D., the Anna L. Rosen Professor of Biology and Professor of Bioengineering and director of Caltech’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, are developing a non-invasive technology to track how well transplanted islet cells take hold within the body.
The remaining $500,000 of the gift will establish the Caltech/City of Hope Endowed Funds at Caltech and City of Hope. Proceeds from the endowment will fund networking events to foster further collaborations between Caltech and City of Hope faculty and support educational forums for the community.
“Today more than ever, collaboration is vital to accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and translating knowledge into applications that save lives,” said Michael A. Friedman, M.D., City of Hope president and chief executive officer. “These grants allow Caltech and City of Hope to share our knowledge with the community and, hopefully, inspire more people to study science and further our collective efforts.”