Once in a while a project comes along and helps a University breeze through the long road to success and prestige. When a University partners up with successful research institution, a bridge is built between science and research. When FAU partnered up Harbor Brach Oceanographic Institute it wasn’t long before the duo attracted the esteemed Scripps Institute. Now FAU has hooked The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. The Torrey Pines Institute has already helped FAU bag record setting funds from the state, and it’s still under construction. Along with helping FAU win prestige points, Torrey Pines is known as a leading research center in the fields of chemistry and drug discovery. They are a non profit biomedical research institute dedicated finding causes, cures and treatments for heart disease, cancer, AIDS, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s. The Institute has made tremendous progress in finding anti-cancer drugs.
Although Torrey Pines has been interested in moving to Florida for some time, an extra bonus lies with a recent accomplishment thanks to Dr. Ramaswamy Narayanan – an associate dean and professor of biology for FAU – who caught a lot of attention recently for identifying a cancer specific gene called SIM2. This gene is specific to three types of cancer: colon, prostate, and pancreatic. According to Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, vice president for research at FAU. “Dr. Narayanan’s discovery spans the fields of molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, pathology and medicine. We believe that a new utility of a gene whose expression is modulated in select cancers has the ability to improve diagnosis and treatment options and increase chances for patient survival.”
With Dr. Ramaswamy Narayanan’s recent identification of this gene and Torrey Pines’ resources it seems like a smart match. “This collaboration is a great example of moving important therapies from the lab bench to the patient.” Narayanan said, “FAU has the basic research and proof-of-concept in place, and Torrey Pines Institute has the compounds and expertise to help expedite drug discovery.”
Naturally the Torrey Pines Institute is excited about this as well, Dr. Richard Houghten, president of Torrey Pines said “We are very pleased to be working with researchers from FAU and to provide these vital compounds which have the potential to unlock cures for cancer and other diseases, This agreement represents the importance of collaboration for groundbreaking science and drug discovery.”
Dr. Gary Perry, dean of the College of Science said “Our scientists and collaborators from Torrey Pines and other outstanding research institutions are working together to uncover and decipher information that holds the key to disease susceptibility, aging and response to drug treatment.”
It would seem to be that the Torrey Pines has strived for excellence in the field of research since the Institute was founded. FAU can expect them to continue their great work now as our partners.
