NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Three Texas Medical Center institutions have received $20 million to continue funding the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, which conducts a range of genomics-related and other research projects and core labs aimed at moving scientific discoveries toward the clinic.
This five-year grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences is a renewal of TMC's initial Clinical and Translational Sciences Award grant, which was awarded in 2006. The center, or CCTS, is operated by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, UT Health said late last week.
The CCTS supports research at three clinical research units at Memorial Hermann-TMC, MD Anderson, and Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownville.
The grant also supports a genetics core lab, which provides a range of services including DNA sequencing, harvesting, and genotyping, and a quantitative genomics core, a microarray core, a proteomics core, imaging facilities, and a biobank.
The CCTS is divided into 12 total components to support faculty research at MD Anderson, UTHealth, and other institutions. It provides statistical support for complex projects and it supports research projects from young investigators by providing salary and mentors.
"The CCTS provides a terrific platform for scientists from many disciplines to work together and create powerful synergies. Ultimately the desire is to expedite the process of bringing new science to the patient's bedside," Roberta Ness, dean of the UT School of Public Health and VP of innovation at UTHealth, said in a statement.
The CCTS also is collaborating with three other University of Texas System institutions including the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, to form the Texas Regional CTSA Consortium.