Duke Medicine Receives $10.2 Million for Translational Cell Therapy Center
Duke Medicine Receives $10.2 Million for Translational Cell Therapy Center
Duke Medicine has announced a $10.2 million grant from the New York City-based Robertson Foundation to create a translational cell therapy center that will focus on advancing Duke's cell therapy research and treatment programs for children and adults with cancer, cerebral palsy, stroke, and brain injuries suffered at birth.
The new center will facilitate the translation of advances in cell therapy to patient care, especially as it relates to the work of Joanne Kurtzberg and her team, who have spent decades investigating the therapeutic use of umbilical cord blood stem cells at Duke's Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank. Among other things, the grant will be used to conduct rigorous, carefully controlled trials designed to validate the benefits of cord blood treatments; fund a laboratory where therapeutic cells will be made and stored; conduct studies of cord blood stem cell transplants in newborns with congenital heart disease; and explore the value of using cord blood or bone marrow cells in adults with stroke or brain injury resulting from radiation to treat brain cancer.
"The emerging field of regenerative medicine has great promise, and this generous gift will accelerate the pace of Dr. Kurtzberg's and other Duke scientists' world-renowned, translational work in cell therapies," said Victor J. Dzau, chancellor for health affairs at Duke University and CEO of the Duke University Health System. "The creation of the TCTC will support the work of many Duke researchers exploring various applications of cell-based therapies."
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