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$5 million in lottery proceeds to fund cancer research  MUSC has been awarded $5 million in lottery proceeds from the state to fund a joint MUSC/USC Translational Cancer Therapeutics Center of Economic Excell-ence. “The center will foster the translation of discoveries in cancer biology to the clinic by providing a conduit for application of promising compounds to animal models of human cancers and to clinical trials,” said Kenneth Tew, Ph.D., D.Sc., MUSC’s new Pharmacology Department chair, who will direct the project at MUSC. Frank Berger, Ph.D., will direct the program at USC, and both universities will need to generate matching funds.  The center’s goal is to develop new collaborations that will generate novel strategies to overcome tumor drug resistance in cancer therapeutics. MUSC will focus on development of new drugs and testing their activities and mechanisms of resistance in preclinical model systems. USC will utilize mouse models that are predisposed to cancer to study the impact of gene dysregulation and therapy designed to influence tumor development in a whole animal system. Tew comes to MUSC from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where he chaired the Department of Pharmacology and held the inaugural G. Willing Pepper chair in cancer research. He has an international reputation for research in the molecular pharmacology of cancer drugs. His program focuses on two major themes, which converge in the area of cancer drug development and resistance. The funding will support two endowed professorships—one to be held by Tew and the other to be recruited at USC. “We anticipate that students at USC and MUSC will participate in all aspects of the program,” said John Raymond, M.D., MUSC vice president for academic affairs and provost. “I envision that undergraduate and graduate students from each university will have rich training opportunities at both institu-tions. These well-trained students will rapidly enhance South Carolina’s stature in drug discovery and development with longer-term impact on cancer treatment strategies. The students and faculty of this center will go on to generate new intellectual property that can be commercialized through patents, licenses, start-up companies, and new collaborations and partnerships with existing companies both within and from outside of South Carolina.”       Friday, May 21, 2004 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.