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Masonic Cancer Center News
New cancer and heart research building will foster collaboration
As University of Minnesota leaders continue to refine the design plans for a new Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Complex in the institution’s burgeoning Biomedical Discovery District, investigators are eager to take advantage of the building’s many benefits.
The new facility is expected to house 24 lead cancer researchers plus their staffs. Among those researchers is David Largaespada, Ph.D., who oversees the Masonic Cancer Center’s Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer Research Program.
Largaespada uses mouse models of human cancers in his work. He envisions a “mouse hospital” where his team can conduct preclinical studies of potential treatments to help determine which therapies might be beneficial for patients.
“The therapies that will work are going to be complex,” Largaespada says.
And that’s why the new research building is so important, he adds. Not only will it have a large attached vivarium for housing mice and easy access to the University’s world-leading Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, but it will also offer him and his colleagues in chemistry, genetics, and mouse modeling a space to work together seamlessly.
This kind of interconnectedness fosters research productivity, allowing scientists to move basic science breakthroughs to the clinic faster.
“I think it will be a really good neighborhood for this kind of work,” Largaespada says.
Designed to be the centerpiece of the Biomedical Discovery District, the Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Complex will include advanced laboratory, instrumentation, and support facilities for cancer and heart research. Construction is scheduled to begin on this 280,000-square-foot building next spring.
To learn how you can support cancer research in the new facility, please contact Catherine McGlinch at 612-626-5456 or c.mcglinch@mmf.umn.edu.
