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Biomedical Sciences: TGen Award Presented to Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – April 15, 2009 – Advances in brain-tumor research and the creation of an international biosciences consortium were celebrated Tuesday (April 14, 2009) with awards from the Translational Genomics Research Foundation (TGen) presented to the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for their contributions to TGen and Arizona's biomedical sciences.
The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, which in July awarded $3 million to TGen to lead the Ivy Genomics Based Medicine (GBM) Project, was presented with TGen's Collaborative Spirit Award.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which in June announced collaborations with TGen and three other U.S. biomedical groups to help make Luxembourg the biotechnology center of Europe, was presented with TGen's John S. McCain Leadership Award.
Both awards were announced Tuesday at the fifth annual TGen Founder's Dinner.
"These awards highlight the importance of government, academic and private-sector investments that are helping TGen make Arizona one of the emerging national and international players in biomedical research," said Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Research Director. "The foresighted investments by the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation and by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will pay significant dividends in the future for medical advances and patient benefit."
Arizona Sen. John McCain presented the John S. McCain Leadership Award to Jeannot Krecké, Luxembourg’s Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade.
"When searching for a partner to help us establish what we hope will be Europe’s premier biotech infrastructure in Luxembourg, we sought out TGen because it is a world-class model of how high-quality science programs can be created in a relatively short period of time," Minister Krecké said.
Besides TGen, other U.S. groups working with Luxembourg are: Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute; and two Seattle-based institutes: the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, and the Institute of Systems Biology. TGen, the Biodesign Institute and Fred Hutchinson Institute constitute the Partnership for Personalized Medicine, led by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Leland Hartwell, president of the Fred Hutchinson Institute.
One of the first projects, starting July 1, 2009, will be the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg, a state-of-the-art tissue storage and distribution initiative that will help a worldwide network of cancer scientists and other disease researchers find answers to humanity’s most pressing health problems.
Also, the Partnership for Personalized Medicine is working with Luxembourg Project Lung Cancer to develop at protein-based test for lung cancer, which should help establish early detection, better patient treatments and reduced health costs.
And, the Institute for Systems Biology is working with the University of Luxembourg to establish the Center for Systems Biology Luxembourg, to investigate how various genes lead to diseases and develop health tests based on protein "fingerprints."
Source: www.tgen.org