Baylor's Institute of Biomedical Studies Expands Options For Graduates
Baylor University's Institute of Biomedical Studies has signed a two-year inter-institutional agreement with one of the nation's leading cancer research centers, the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center (MCMRC) in Dallas, which will allow Baylor graduate students to conduct their graduate studies in MCMRC labs.
MCMRC is among the premier Phase I and II cancer clinical trial center in the nation, and has the highest enrollment of patients entered into cancer gene therapy trials.
"This is a very positive addition to our program and a great opportunity for our students," said Dr. Bob Kane, director of the Institute of Biomedical Studies and an associate professor of chemistry at Baylor. "This will allow our students to work on projects that could have immediate clinical impacts."
Two Baylor graduate students are now working in MCMRC labs and two more will be working in labs over the summer. All of the students will be conducting research in cancer treatment.
"I am very excited about the new relationship between Baylor and MCMRC," said Dr. John Nemunaitis, Executive Medical Director of the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center. "Clinical therapeutic strategies developed at the MCMRC for management of cancer patients are focused on a molecular basis for targeting and anti-cancer effect. The graduate student program will provide a strategic opportunity to expand the development of novel approaches which I fully expect to advance one day to clinical testing at the MCMRC. Together this relationship will help identify new ways to attack cancer and help patients."
The new agreement gives Baylor graduate students more options when they decide where to conduct their graduate studies. Currently, students can chose between working in labs at Baylor or at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, where they can conduct research ranging from immunology to metabolic diseases.
"The biomedical studies program has been steadily growing, and providing our students with more options as they complete their graduate work will ensure the program's continued success," Kane said.
Baylor students will spend between three and five years working in MCMRC labs.
For more information, contact Dr. Kane at (254) 710-4556. About Mary Crowley Medical Research Center
Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Dallas, the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center (MCMRC) is a national leader in cancer research with a commitment to dramatically alter the strategies of cancer treatment using targeted therapies. The MCMRC has performed hundreds of Phase I and Phase II clinical trial protocols, treated more than 2,000 patients, explored more than 100 new agents, and accomplished more than 140 FDA-approved clinical trials.