The Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) seeks renewal of its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation awarded in 2009 via the P30 Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) mechanism. As South Carolina's leading academic medical center, MUSC is charged with building clinical, basic, translational, and population-based research programs that address the state's significant healthcare needs. The mission of the HCC is to reduce the cancer burden in South Carolina. To accomplish this mission, the Director, Dr. Andrew S. Kraft, and the HCC senior leadership have established a robust, interdisciplinary base that now includes 122 cancer scientists from 5 MUSC colleges and 20 academic departments. Interdisciplinary, innovative research is driven through the organization of the HCC into four programs: Cancer Genes & Molecular Regulation, Cancer Immunology, Developmental Cancer Therapeutics, and Cancer Control. The rapid pace of discovery and movement toward effective translational research is supported by shared research resources, five of which are presented in this application: Lipidomics, Cell Evaluation & Therapy, Cell & Molecular Imaging, Biorepository & Tissue Analysis, and Biostatistics. The HCC also seeks CCSG support for its Clinical Trials Office which has spear-headed a dramatic 59% increase in accrual volume for interventional treatment trials over the last four years. Notably, 26% of patients enrolled onto interventional treatment trials in 2012 were minorities, representing a 45% increase in this project period. This has been promoted by HCC-led progressive outreach services and cancer education to South Carolinians, a largely rural population that includes some of the most medically underserved people in the US. Today, the HCC has $40.8M in annual total extramural research funding with $18.6M derived from the NCI, representing a 31% and 54% increase respectively since 2009. The HCC has successfully leveraged CCSG funding during the first project period and its NCI-designated Cancer Center status to continue the rapid growth of this Center. During the current project period the HCC supported 34 strategic recruitments to the Center. The opening of two state-of-the-art research facilities at MUSC, the Bioengineering and Drug Discovery Buildings, has resulted in an additional 66,156 ft2 of HCC research space, bringing the total amount of space on campus under the HCC authority to 270,174 ft2. The HCC has invested $5.3M since 2009 to introduce cutting-edge technologies and has secured another $3.8M in institutional commitments to increase the range of available resources. These impressive developments ensure that HCC scientists will continue their exemplary track record in making significant contributions to the understanding of cancer biology while coupling these findings to the development of novel approaches to cancer control, diagnosis, and treatment.
The Hollings Cancer Center coordinates scientific research to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and translation of cancer research from the 'bench to bedside to community' and provides outstanding shared research resources in support of its scientists, with the goal of reducing the cancer burden in South Carolina.
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