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- Posted Wednesday April 15, 2009
TGen Recognizes National and International Collaborators; Major Investments in Arizona's Bioscience Industry
Awards presented to the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation and the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for their contributions to TGen and
Arizona's biomedical sciences
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - April 15, 2009 - Advances in brain-tumor
research and the creation of an international biosciences
consortium were celebrated Tuesday (April 14, 2009) with awards
from the Translational Genomics Research Foundation (TGen).
The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, which in July awarded $3
million to TGen to lead the Ivy Genomics Based Medicine (GBM)
Project, was presented with TGen's Collaborative Spirit
Award.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which in June announced
collaborations with TGen and three other U.S. biomedical groups to
help make Luxembourg the biotechnology center of Europe, was
presented with TGen's John S. McCain Leadership Award.
Both awards were announced Tuesday at the fifth annual TGen
Founder's Dinner at Scottsdale Airport's Hanger One.
"These awards highlight the importance of government, academic and
private-sector investments that are helping TGen make Arizona one
of the emerging national and international players in biomedical
research," said Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Research
Director. "The foresighted investments by the Ben and Catherine Ivy
Foundation and by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will pay
significant dividends in the future for medical advances and
patient benefit."
Dr. Trent referred to a report issued at last week's annual meeting
of the Arizona BioIndustry Association, which showed that in 2007
Arizona's non-hospital bioscience sector accounted for $3.6 billion
in annual revenues and more than 13,500 jobs. Including hospitals
and university research, Arizona's bioscience sector numbers jumped
to $12.5 billion in revenues and more than 87,400 jobs.
Dr. Trent presented the Collaborative Spirit Award to Catherine
Ivy, Founder and President of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ben and
Catherine Ivy Foundation, a newly formed foundation dedicated to
improving survival and quality of life for people diagnosed with
brain tumors.
"The Ivy GBM Project represents our priority of keeping the patient
and relevant clinical issues at the center of every research
project we support" Catherine Ivy said. "The Ivy Foundation is
proud to be part of this collaborative effort led by TGen. Not only
are we creating synergy with TGen and other participating medical
and research institutions, we are also minimizing duplication and
maximizing transparency of data to achieve outcomes that would not
otherwise be possible."
The Ivy GBM Project is a multi-institutional collaboration whose
goal is to better understand how the genetic differences in
individual brain tumors can lead to the most effective treatment
options for each patient. It is led by Dr. Michael Berens, Director
of TGen's Cancer and Cell Biology Division. The other project
members are: Ohio State University; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center;
University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of California, San
Francisco; Henry Ford Hospital; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota;
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; and Van Andel
Research Institute, which in February announced a major alliance
and affiliation agreement with TGen.
Arizona Sen. John McCain presented the John S. McCain Leadership
Award to Jeannot Krecké, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy and
Foreign Trade.
"When searching for a partner to help us establish what we hope
will be Europe's premier biotech infrastructure in Luxembourg, we
sought out TGen because it is a world-class model of how
high-quality science programs can be created in a relatively short
period of time," Minister Krecké said.
Besides TGen, other U.S. groups working with Luxembourg are:
Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute; and two
Seattle-based institutes: the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Institute, and the Institute of Systems Biology. TGen, the
Biodesign Institute and Fred Hutchinson Institute constitute the
Partnership for Personalized Medicine, led by Nobel Prize winner
Dr. Leland Hartwell, president of the Fred Hutchinson
Institute.
One of the first projects, starting July 1, 2009, will be the
Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg, a state-of-the-art tissue storage
and distribution initiative that will help a worldwide network of
cancer scientists and other disease researchers find answers to
humanity's most pressing health problems.
Also, the Partnership for Personalized Medicine is working with
Luxembourg Project Lung Cancer to develop at protein-based test for
lung cancer, which should help establish early detection, better
patient treatments and reduced health costs.
And, the Institute for Systems Biology is working with the
University of Luxembourg to establish the Center for Systems
Biology Luxembourg, to investigate how various genes lead to
diseases and develop health tests based on protein
"fingerprints."
The TGen Founder's Dinner was hosted by Jacquie and Bennett
Dorrance. Bennett Dorrance is Chairman of Scottsdale-based DMB
Associates Inc., and he also is Chairman of the TGen Foundation
Board of Directors.
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About The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation
The Ivy Foundation is the nation's largest privately funded
foundation dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for
people diagnosed with a brain tumor. The foundation's approach is
to fund research in gliomas to improve diagnostics and treatments
for patients. For more information, visit:
www.ivyfoundation.org.
About TGen
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a
Phoenix-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting
groundbreaking research with life changing results. Research at
TGen is focused on helping patients with diseases such as cancer,
neurological disorders and diabetes. TGen is on the cutting edge of
translational research where investigators are able to unravel the
genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with
collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen
believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency
and effectiveness of the translational process. For more
information, visit: www.tgen.org.
Press Contact:
Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
[email protected]