NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Cancer Institute has awarded a five-year, roughly $4.5 million renewal grant to continue the funding and NCI designation for the Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center, Jackson Lab said yesterday.
The award will provide roughly $907,000 per-year to the cancer center, which is spread across Jackson Lab's campuses in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, Calif.; and the new Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Conn., a Jackson Lab spokesperson told GenomeWeb Daily News today. The total funding level could be raised later, the spokesperson added.
Jackson Lab said the renewal grant will support research projects, the sharing of scientific resources, and salaries for new cancer researchers.
The Cancer Center includes 50 faculty members, research scientists, and adjunct members, who collectively are working on 100 research grants with funding totaling more than $40 million. Jackson Lab said its center is one of seven NCI Cancer Centers that is devoted to basic research, as the other 61 NCI centers have a clinical focus.
The goal of the center is to conduct research using Jackson Lab's genomics, preclinical modeling, and computational analytics capabilities to study the molecular pathways involved in cancer initiation and progression, and resistance to therapy. Its shared resources include a range of genomics technologies, such as high-throughput sequencing, proteomics, gene expression, and fine mapping; computational sciences and analyses for omics research, cancer modeling, and genetic engineering; and phenotyping tools and services.
Jackson Lab's Mammalian Genetics program in Maine examines the basic mechanisms of tumor biology and develops and designs novel mutant mice and improved humanoid mice for use in cancer research.
The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine facility in Connecticut provides the cancer center's first Translational Component, and is focused on human cancer genomics, genome biology, and other approaches focused on precision medicine.
The Jackson Mice Clinical and Research Services facility in California maintains a large collaborative resource of patient-derived xenografted primary human cancers that are used as a preclinical platform.