In The News

 

New Genomics Center at CAU
Focuses on Identifying Personalized Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment





ATLANTA (Aug. 12, 2009) -- The Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development (CCRTD) at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) has joined forces with the Integrative Cancer Research Center (ICRC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology to establish a Collaborative Cancer Genomics Center (CCGC). The partnership will integrate expertise at both universities that will focus on understanding the underlying causes of prostate, ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancers. The two universities will collaborate also with Saint Joseph’s Health System in this effort to provide patient-oriented medicine.

At the recent press conference to announce the partnership are (left to right): Dr. George Daneker, director, Oncology Research, Saint Joseph's Health System; Dr. Carlton E. Brown, president, Clark Atlanta University; Dr. Dr. Shafiq A. Khan, director, Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development, Clark Atlanta University; and Dr. John McDonald, director, The Ovarian Cancer Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Researchers will focus on identifying personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment, which will have a significant impact on the field of science and cancer treatment.

Dr. Shafiq Khan, director of Clark Atlanta’s CCRTD, said, “The molecular, bioinformatic and clinical expertise necessary to move forward with such a personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment program exists at the collaborating institutions. Establishment of CCGC will complement the existing experimental infrastructure necessary to generate the genomic data required to attain our goals.”

John McDonald, director Georgia Tech’s ICRC, added, “We are particularly interested in developing algorithms that will allow us to use gene expression and DNA sequence data that we gather from specific patients to generate a customized prognosis and optimal therapeutic treatment program for individual cancer patients.”

Under the collaborative agreement, CCRTD will house and operate the CCGC’s high-throughput next generation sequencing instruments. The resulting sequence data will be assembled and analyzed at ICRC.

Patient samples to be examined will be provided by the Ovarian Cancer Institute (OCI) and St. Joseph’s Hospital’s TRIOMPH (Translational Research Initiatives in Oncology for the Management of Personalized Healthcare) program.

Scientists at both GT and CAU will join with clinical experts from OCI and TRIOMPH to interpret and evaluate the resulting data. The goal of the collaboration is the integration of complimentary expertise at the collaborating institutions to bring about a better understanding of the genetic and epigenetic processes underlying prostate, ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancers.

The new Cancer Genomics Center is scheduled to begin operation in the fall of 2009.

Formed in 1988 by the consolidation of two historic institutions, Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869), Clark Atlanta University is the largest of the United Negro College Fund institutions with an enrollment of more than 4,000 students. Clark Atlanta University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097: Telephone 404-679-4501) to award the Bachelor’s, Master’s, Specialist and Doctor’s degrees. The Carnegie Classification lists CAU as a Research University – High Research Activity. CAU is listed as one of the best southeastern colleges by The Princeton Review and has been selected to the Washington Monthly’s 2008 list of best colleges and universities. National business and consumer publications rank Clark Atlanta high among the best buys in American higher education.

Media Contacts:

Larry Calhoun* 404-880-6040*lcalhoun@cau.edu
Jennifer Jiles * 404-880-8357 * jjiles@cau.edu