The Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at MIT was established twenty years ago to conduct basic research in areas relevant to cancer. The CCR is an autonomous administrative unit with its own assigned space (53,343 sq. ft) and faculty slots under the control of the CCR Director, who reports to the Dean of Science. The CCR currently has 13 Staff Investigators and 6 Affiliate Investigators. The CCR has a total staff of 170-180 researchers and the Affiliate labs represent more than 100 additional people. The CCR has its own administrative office responsible for management of the CCSG and research grants of the CCR, and of shared research facilities which include Biopolymers, Cell Sorter, Glassware, Media Preparation, Quantitation & Computing, Research Microscopy & Photography, and Transgenic Animal & Histology facilities. The established research programs in the CCR are Molecular Genetics, Cell & Developmental Biology, and Immunology and the strengths of the CCR research lie in basic cell and molecular biology and, in recent years, the application of transgenic mouse methods the generate animal models of cancer and other diseases. Areas of emphasis include the discovery and analyses of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and other disease genes, regulation of gene transcription and RNA splicing, cell adhesion in normal and pathological situations, structure and function of the cytoskeleton, processing of cell surface proteins, antigen processing and presentation, and T & B cell development. In addition to its strengths in basic research, the CCR performs an important role in training future researchers in biomedical science, including undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows. Extensive collaborations exist with medical schools, hospitals and the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industries. Thus, the research in the CCR has a major impact both on the fundamental understanding of cancer and on translation to and from the clinical arena.
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