Building Collaboration in the BRC

1. Building Collaboration in the BRC November 10, 2009 Mary C. (Cindy) Farach-Carson, Ph.D. Associate Vice Provost for Research Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

2. Fostering Collaboration to Cure Disease: Translational Cancer Research is Multidisciplinary • Creation of cell lines from patient specimens for basic research; tissue engineering in 3-D matrices (hydrogels) • Co-culture and in vivo models for pre-clinical studies using patient derived cancer and normal cells: changes in gene expression • Microarrays and Micro RNA arrays for gene expression studies in patients; gene and oligonucleotide therapy; gene discoverywith personalized genetic registries (huge data mining projects) • Novel protein biomarker discovery for improved prognostic indicators; improved radiation therapies (algorithms for risk assessment; imaging) • Tissue arrays for protein expression; correlation of biomarkers with disease states [tissue procurement and data mining: CPRIT priority] • Pre-clinical studies using animal models (toxicology, dosing, side effects) prior to human subjects trials (typically mouse): modeling • Nanotechnology and novel drug carriers • Infectious disease and metabolic engineering • Bioinformatics and database construction and mining • More!

3. BRC Floor by Floor: Where Are We? • Rice researchers from Bioengineering, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and Chemistry have moved into floors 3-8 • 250 Researchers in Building; 19 PIs and 5 more moving in fall, 2009 • Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) will occupy half of floor 8 (lease signed). UTMDACC in conversation about the other BRC space • Diana Welch, Operations Director, and the Governance Committee have working plans for security, floor access for research needs, safety, transportation, communication, and building operations. • Conference rooms and shared use areas are opening, and a web-based reservation procedure is being instituted. • Classrooms (5) are open.

4. Floor by Floor: Where Are We? • Staff in building include faculty, research staff, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scientists and graduate and undergraduate students • Grand Opening Symposium planning underway for April, 2010 • AAAS Regional Meeting in April, 2010 • Shared Equipment Authority (SEA) developing new plans for sharing equipment in Collaborative Model including 2nd Floor Core Mass Spec and BioImaging Facility • The 2nd floor, still under construction, will house a cafe/coffee bar, the TMC Digital Library, a satellite vivarium • VWR will host an in house stockroom for laboratory supplies on 1st floor

5. Sourcebook for Sustainable Agriculture Melding Cultures in the Rice BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) & TMC Partners Clinical Research & Clinical Trials Translation Basic Research Education and Outreach Patient Care and Treatment Options

6. Goals and Ideas • Obtain key equipment for translational infrastructure including resources for computation in life sciences • Visualization laboratory in BRC • Involve students, postdocs, residents in translational cancer research at Rice and TMC partners • Create translational research course at Rice involving TMC partners • Submit multi-investigator research and training grant proposals based on above activities (hired Director of Proposal Development in Research Office to help with these; starts Jan 1, 2010) • Involve Rice in CPRIT (with GCC and TMC partners) • Put in place templates, research agreements, IRB protocols, IACUC protocols, etc to make multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator projects easier to submit “Researchers Toolbox” • Forge partnerships with area biotech and commerical industries to foster “discovery to recovery”

7. Involving Students in Translational Research • Transforming undergraduate and graduate education to think about solving big world problems and how education and research naturally interface. • Attracting new researchers to translational research at the graduate level. This should include cutting edge basic science research that can be applied to real world problems.

8. Effecting Change: Clinic and Basic Single institution Multiple institution Institutional transformation Comprehensive care using “bench to bedside and back” model is the norm Multidisciplinary clinical centers New degree programs; courses Release time Clinic Large center grants involving multiple institutions Tenure expectations Academic

9. Challenges & Opportunities • Time/ scheduling issues (researchers & clinicians) • Sharing resources (scheduling & maintenance support ) • Development of IP (ownership) • Partnering with biotech & commercial industry (publication vs. profit) • Personnel & employment issues • Liability issues • Resistance to change (all levels) • Communication

10. What They Say….. • “A few weeks back we were introduced to a five year-$75M program in the area of radiation sensors that is an ideal fit for our lab. We did not know of this program till this visit transpired.” John McDevitt, Ph.D. Brown-Wiess Professor of Chemistry and Bioengineering

11. What They Say….. • “ While I was in the clinic last week, I connected with another physician in the department who has some common interest in biomarker selection.  She and I got to talking and are now meeting regularly to think about another  collaboration.  These interactions happened before, but with lower frequency and they required a lot more energy on my part.  I finally feel like I am part of the medical center!  And I think we are just beginning to see the benefits. ” Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D. Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering

12. What They Say….. • “Combining quality and quantity of space with location, I think there’s probably not a better building for translational bioengineering research in the country right now.” Rebekah Drezek, Ph.D. Professor of Bioengineering

13. We have the Place, Come on Over!Open House Friday noon-3