February 2010

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.

• Homeland Security awards K-State $12 million

• Hospitals join forces in cardiac care

• Physicians give $200,000 for patient simulation

• Cities join forces to boost development

• New chair for bioethics center

• MU researchers advance melanoma testing

• K-State works to help prevent spread of malaria

• KCALSI Patton Trust RFP released 1 March

• New Dean of UMKC School of Pharmacy

Homeland Security awards K-State $12 million

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded Kansas State University $12 million for a Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases (CEEZAD). The new, multimillion-dollar center will work in conjunction with the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility and Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Laboratory that recently relocated to the area. More info

Hospitals join forces in cardiac care

Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City and North Kansas City Hospital established a joint corporation to contract with the Kansas City practice of Mid America Heart and Lung Surgeons PC. The new arrangement will increase the number of procedures at the practice and thus increase the quality of care for patients. The agreement has also attracted two, in-demand and out-of-state surgeons to the practice. More info

Simulation center gets seed money from physicians

University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) Physicians James Kindscher and Thomas O’Farrell, along with their wives, donated $200,000 to open a new fund to support the creation of a simulation center at KUMC. The simulation center would mimic a hospital with intensive care, surgical and emergency rooms. It would also expand on KUMC’s use of high-tech teaching mannequins – something that not only sets KUMC apart but integral for preparing students for real-life situations. More info

Cities join forces to boost development

Business leaders representing Lawrence, Topeka and Manhattan are pooling their resources and developing a marketing plan in hopes of attracting more business to the region. More info

New chair for Center for Practical Bioethics

Glenn McGee, PhD, is the new John B. Francis Chair in Bioethics at the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City. Dr. McGee’s research ranges widely across ethical, legal, social and economic issues in biomedical science, and has resulted in more than $3 million in research funding and the publication of more than 100 articles, essays and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific, medical, and ethics journals as well as oft-cited contributions to many encyclopedias, textbooks, law reviews, and other scholarly publications and books. More info

MU researchers advance melanoma testing

Researchers at the University of Missouri are studying how photoacoustics, or laser-induced ultrasound, can help doctors identify the stage of melanoma cancer in less time and with more accuracy. More info

K-State works to help prevent spread of malaria

A team of Kansas State University researchers have characterized mosquito genes and are studying the insect’s immune system to find out how it survives the parasite that causes malaria in humans. By doing so, the team hopes to limit the spread of the disease. The research was published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences in December 2009. More info

KCALSI Patton Trust RFP released 1 March

KCALSI will release the 2010 Patton Trust Research Grants call for proposals on March 1, 2010. The grant program supports one year, $50,000 awards for projects specifically focused on genetic bases of diseases that predominately affect children. Letters of intent are required and will be due on March 20, with full proposals due by April 30, 2010. KCALSI expects to award three or four grants via this funding program. More info

New dean of UMKC School of Pharmacy

Russell B. Melchert, Ph.D., R.Ph. is the new Dean for the UMKC School of Pharmacy, effective July 1, 2010. He is coming from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Dr. Melchert received his Ph.D. degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, and his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin. His has received many teaching awards and honors, including his election by the UAMS student body as the 2006 College of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year and his selection by students on several occasions to deliver the Honors Convocation. In 2006, he was chosen as the “Student National Pharmaceutical Association Faculty Member of the Year”. More info