PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Wistar Institute has opened its new Center for Advanced Therapeutics (CAT), designed to accelerate drug discovery by uniting biology, chemistry, artificial intelligence, and industry collaboration. The initiative is led by Paul Lieberman, Ph.D., a leading authority on Epstein-Barr virus research, and supported by a record $30 million gift from an anonymous donor.
“Despite the enormous progress of the last few years in combating cancer and other major diseases, there remains an urgent need for greater innovation, collaboration and public-private partnership to bring the next generation of molecular, personalized therapies to all,” said Dario Altieri, M.D., Wistar president and CEO. “This can only come from the type of rigorous, paradigm-shifting and transformational research that Wistar is known for worldwide, and this new Center, under Paul’s leadership, will function as a unique catalyst for multidisciplinary collaboration and freedom to discover.”
The CAT will identify early-stage biomedical discoveries and move them through an accelerated pipeline to potential medicines. It formalizes Wistar’s approach to translating research into therapies, building on expertise in cancer, immunology, and infectious disease.
“The goal is to create something new and impactful at Wistar,” said Lieberman. “The Center brings together a multi-disciplinary team of chemists, biologists and development partners to identify new opportunities for therapeutic intervention through an accelerated pipeline of biology to chemistry to clinically relevant technologies that improve patient care and enhance human health. We need all these pieces to bridge the divide in the ’Valley of Death’ that is drug development.”
The center occupies 12,000 square feet of newly renovated space at Wistar’s Spruce Street campus. Five new principal investigators will be recruited over the next two years, supported by computational chemists and biologists to design chemical structures and target new disease pathways.
The initiative complements Wistar’s HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center, which opened earlier this year. Together, the two centers expand the institute’s ability to address cancer, immune disorders, and infectious disease through next-generation therapies.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN.