NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) –NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology today announced a $9 million gift from Laura and Isaac Perlmutter to fund two joint cancer research initiatives, including the creation of a cancer metabolomics research center.
The gift is divided into two grants of $6 million and $3 million. The $6 million award will go toward creating a cancer metabolomics research facility on Technion's campus. Benjamin Neel, an expert in cell signaling transduction, and Eyal Gottlieb, an expert in cancer metabolism, will lead the new facility. Neel recently joined NYU Langone's faculty as director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. Gottlieb is joining Technion's faculty.
Neel will also work with Aaron Ciechanover, a professor at Technion, to direct collaborative cancer research being carried out by the two institutions. In addition, Neel will oversee NYU Langone's efforts to build out translational programs in cancer genetics/targeted therapies and epigenetics, immunotherapy, and imaging, as well as expanded programs in clinical care, community outreach, and supportive oncology.
The $3 million award will be used to fund about six research projects conducted by co-investigators at NYU and Technion. A request for proposals was recently released to researchers at the two institutes, and the winning teams of the awards will each receive a two-year, $500,000 grant, evenly split to fund studies at both institutes, the partners said. Funding for selected projects will begin this spring.