City of Hope has received a $5 million grant to establish a translational technologies center on the fourth floor of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, currently under construction. The grant was awarded by the Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation.
 Artist’s rendering of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology |
The Miller Family Translational Technologies Center will feature several elements that will contribute to City of Hope’s efforts to move discoveries quickly from concepts to cures. A process development laboratory will invent processes to manufacture new cellular therapies in clinical quantities and quality. The center also will include a cellular production unit to manufacture the new therapies for clinical trials, as well as a correlative studies lab that will analyze each new therapy to monitor exactly how it is working.
“The Miller Family Translational Technologies Center will truly embody City of Hope’s commitment to developing improved, lifesaving treatments with unprecedented speed and safety,” said Michael A. Friedman, M.D., president and chief executive officer. “We are truly grateful to the Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation for their support.”
Construction of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center is currently under way and is scheduled to be completed in late 2009.
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center will be a fully integrated research facility that will house scientists focused on tumor immunology and translational research, the conversion of basic science discoveries into new diagnostic methods and treatments for patients. It will provide space for scientists in City of Hope’s Division of Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology. Scientists will research new treatment ideas, manufacture biologic agents on site and conduct preclinical testing and clinical trials within the center.