June 2009

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute provides this news brief for civic, corporate, political and scientific leaders to update you on the progress of the life sciences initiative in the Kansas City area. To unsubscribe, please contact Sharon Newman at 816-753-7700.

• Frontiers in Comparative Medicine: Animal Models for Human Disease--Third Annual CVC Symposium Underway

• KCALSI Awards Children’s Mercy $150K Grant

• Region to Promote Drug-Development Cluster

• Cerner’s Data Mine Helps Drug Companies

• Cutting-Edge Trials in KC Benefit Area
  Cancer Patients

• Roberts Supports KU’s Push for NCI Designation

• Dogs to Help Identify ALS Cures in Humans

• Colleges Reach Credit-Transfer Agreement

• K-State Workshop Attracts Researchers
  From Around the Globe

• KU Cancer Center Strives to Become Elite
  Cancer-Fighting Hub

• MU Researchers Work to Create Biological
  Joints for Humans and Dogs

• College Gets $3 Million Tax Credit

• New Director for KU’s Center for Science Education

• NCI Renews $1M Grant for KU Cancer
  Center Professor

Third Annual CVC Symposium
Frontiers in Comparative Medicine:
Animal Models for Human Disease

Capitalizing on the animal health practitioners visiting Kansas City for the Central Veterinary Conference (CVC) in August, KCALSI will again join forces with the veterinary schools of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Kansas State University to offer a free research symposium for members of the medical, veterinary and public health community.

The symposium will be moderated by Dr. Daniel P. Getman, KCALSI President and feature national and regional experts who will discuss the relationship between animal and human health. National speakers include Dr. Stephen J. Withrow, Director, Animal Cancer Center Stuart Chair in Oncology, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University; Dr. Kevin A. Hahn from Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.; Drs. Joan R. Coates, Dennis O’Brien and Kimberly A. Selting, from MU and Drs. Mary Lynn Higginbotham and Kenneth R. Harkin from K-State.

Application has been submitted for 3.00 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB’s RACE approval.

Registration and additional details for the August 31 Frontiers in Comparative Medicine: Animal Models for Human Disease symposiums are available at: www.kclifesciences.org.

KCALSI Awards Children’s Mercy $150K Grant

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute awarded Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics a $150,000 grant to support its pediatric drug reformulation program. A portion of the funds will also assist Children’s Mercy in hiring Pat McCloseky, Ph.D. to serve as director of the program. More info

Region to Promote Drug-Development Cluster

KansasBio is creating a new agency called the National Drug Development Accelerator (NDDA) to help expand and attract new drug-development companies to the region. There are more than 50 clinical research organizations and 100 drug-development companies in the area. These companies have taken part in the development of more than 50 of the top pharmaceutical products on the market. This cluster and depth of companies can help accelerate the drug development process. More info

Cerner’s Data Mine Helps Drug Companies

Cerner Corp., known mostly for its health-record software, is leveraging billions of anonymous patient records to help pharmaceutical companies and researchers create new drugs, identify new uses for drugs and shorten the time it takes to bring a drug to market saving drug companies millions. More info

Cutting-Edge Trials in KC Benefit Area Cancer Patients

Many Kansas City area cancer patients have access to some of the most innovative trials in the nation. While KC’s facilities may not be well-known they belong to national networks that oversee cutting-edge trials and patients can nearly always participate without leaving town saving them money and ultimately increasing their quality of life. More info

Roberts Supports KU’s Push for NCI Designation

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said it was a “national disgrace” for how long and how much it cost to bring a new drug to market. Roberts said having the University of Kansas Cancer Center obtain National Cancer Institute designation could speed this process. The earliest KU could obtain NCI designation is the spring of 2012.
More info

Dogs to Help Identify ALS Cures in Humans

Joan Coates, a veterinary neurologist and associate professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, has found that the genetic mutation responsible for degenerative myelopahthy (DM) in dogs is the same mutation that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the human disease known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Researchers can now use dogs with DM as animal models to help identify therapeutic interventions for curing ALS in humans. More info

Colleges Reach Credit-Transfer Agreement

The University of Missouri-Kansas City will now accept and apply designated freshman and sophomore credits from Johnson County Community College associate degree programs toward UMKC bachelor’s degree programs. More info

K-State Workshop Attracts Researchers
From Around the Globe

Researchers representing nearly 30 countries came to Kansas State University this past month to study Fusarium, a fungus behind some of the U.S. federal governments’ select agent list. More info

KU Cancer Center Strives to Become
Elite Cancer-Fighting Hub

With the help to two new grants totaling $1 million, University of Kansas researchers are one step closer to National Cancer Institute designation. While statistics may show death rates due to cancer on the decline, the population is aging and researchers expect that number to jump dramatically in the coming years unless more can be done to advance cancer treatments. KU earning NCI designation could make it a top-cancer fighting hub – a benefit not only to researchers and doctors but area patients too. More info

MU Researchers Work to Create Biological Joints
for Humans and Dogs

The National Institutes of Health awarded University of Missouri researchers a $3.1 million grant to expand their biological joint technology that can grow living tissue in a specialized petri dish. This new technology would allow surgeons to use living tissue instead of plastic or metal to replace damaged joints in humans and dogs. This would greatly reduce the need for repeat joint-replacement surgeries. More info

College Gets $3 Million Tax Credit

Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City received $3 million in Missouri tax credits for its new MCC-Penn Valley Health Sciences Institute. The funds will help the college raise money to renovate an old building for its new institute. The college will offer 16 health career-training programs at this new location. More info

New Director for KU’s Center for Science Education

Steven Case, an award-winning educator with more than three decades of experience in science curriculum development will lead the Center for Science Education at the University of Kansas. More info

NCI Renews $1M Grant for KU Cancer Center Professor

The National Cancer Institute renewed medicinal chemistry professor Blake Peterson’s grant to expand his work in cancer drug delivery at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. The renewal brings the center’s NCI financing to $6 million. Officials hope to have $11 million by September 2011 when KU is slated to apply for NCI designation. More info

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