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Roswell pushes on with genome institute

Business First - by Tracey Drury
Date: Monday, December 20, 2010, 2:54pm EST

Roswell Park Cancer Institute will continue its plans for a cancer research institute without new federal funding.
A Roswell Park project was among three projects in Western New York due to receive funds in the federal $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package.

A total of $1.76 million in federal funding was included for local organizations in the appropriations bill, which was pulled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday.

Roswell Park was to receive a $960,000 allocation for its Advanced Cancer Genome Institute. The project includes developing a new program for early detection, prognosis and treatment of cancer and other diseases. Plans called for identifying new cancer-related genes and development of new anti-cancer drugs while creating collaborations through the Department of Defense.

Roswell had said the technical enhancements would produce the largest and most advanced cancer genomics and drug development facility in the state, increasing the chances for new federal research grants and jobs both at Roswell and at the University at Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences.

The multi-year project, which received about $2 million in federal funds last year, will continue as planned without the new funds, though possibly not as quickly, says Irwin Gelman, director of the Advanced Cancer Genomics Institute.

"We will continue to invest capital resources in the initiative, and our recruitment, technology implementation and research will continue, but the full development of the ACGI may now be delayed," he says.

As a member of the National Functional Genomics Consortium, Roswell's researchers will continue to collaborate and share resources with about a dozen other genomics research programs nationwide.

Two other programs also lost potential funding in the defeated omnibus bill: The City of Buffalo was set to receive $500,000 for an employment training program for at-risk youth to supplement the Mayor's Youth Employment Program, while the Buffalo Sewer Authority was to receive $300,000 for wastewater infrastructure improvements and rehabilitation of the system's digester tanks.