The new Technion Integrated Cancer Center takes a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to discovery, medical innovation and life-saving treatments.
“The Technion is the ideal place for cancer research for a number of reasons: the Institute’s high level of researchers and clinicians; unique interfaces between medicine, engineering, life sciences and fundamental science; and close ties with hospitals affiliated with the institute’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine,” said Prof. Ze’ev Ronai, Co-director of the Technion Integrated Cancer Center. “Our vision is to offer patients the most advanced methods for diagnosing and treating cancer, which will allow hospitals to provide each patient with the most precise diagnosis and personalized treatment plan. It will bridge interactions between scientists and clinicians and will be of great benefit to both sides.”
Prof. Ze’ev Ronai will head the Technion Integrated Cancer Center together with Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover. The establishment of the Center is being led by the generous support of noted philanthropists Laura and Isaac Perlmutter and Lester Crown.
As part of a collaboration with the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center (LMC), Technion hosted its second joint cancer conference in December chaired by 2004 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, TICC Co-director.
“More than 500,000 Americans die of cancer each year, and every day around 4,500 new cases are diagnosed”, said Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, 2004 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. “In comparison, in Israel, which is clearly smaller, each year there are 20,000 cancer-related deaths and 30,000 new cases. The good news is that cancer research in Israel is very advanced, and many excellent drugs are in advanced stages of development. Personalized medicine will help us transform cancer from being a serious and often fatal illness into a chronic disease, and modern medicine has already managed to significantly inhibit some cancer types. I have no doubt that our cooperation with LMC will lead to a quantum leap in this area.”
Drug-carrying “nanoghosts” that battle melanoma and new treatments for malignant mesothelioma will be the focus of the first joint research projects led by NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion under a groundbreaking research initiative supported by Laura and Isaac Perlmutter.
NYU Langone and the Technion established the new partnership last year to advance global collaboration in cancer research and therapeutics. The joint program is positioned to attract additional, world-class support from institutions and individuals dedicated to eradicating cancer through focused and efficient research.