The Auburn University Research Initiative in Cancer, or AURIC, is based on a scientific concept called "one medicine" that combines human and animal health. It has $1 million in state funding, which will be used as seed money for experimenters in Auburn's College of Veterinary Medicine and across the campus.
The goal, said AURIC Director Bruce Smith, is to tackle human cancers and those that kill cats, dogs and other pets in the same continuum.
"People think about veterinary medicine and then they think about human medicine, but what we want them to think about is that it's all the same medicine," Smith said. "So what I learn in the dog teaches me about how to treat human patients, and, likewise, what I learn about people teaches me about the dogs."
That approach has already yielded medical breakthroughs in other fields, including cardiac bypass surgery and heart transplants. It makes sense for cancer, Smith said, because many tumors in dogs and cats mirror those in humans. For example, Auburn researchers are using dogs to study a vaccine that would be given to patients once they're diagnosed with breast cancer.
Smith said the research will include faculty from Auburn's engineering, pharmacy and nursing schools, other sciences and the university's new MRI facility. They also hope to connect with the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and medical researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of South Alabama.
Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard helped land the funding for the center in his district and was on hand Friday for the announcement.
"I'm proud to have played a small part in what I believe will be a significant step forward in cancer research," Hubbard said in an emailed statement. "We're utilizing the different strengths of our universities combined with the resources of the HudsonAlpha Institute and working together to fight this terrible disease."
Smith said his goal is to turn the $1 million into $10 million in federal funding from the National Institutes of Health -- which is making a push for research that compares cancer across species -- and other agencies.
"We're planting a seed here and this is going to grow into something bigger," he said.
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Wolfson at hwolfson@bhamnews.com.
Source: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/03/auburn_university_looks_to_pet.html
ferris bueller allen west god bless america earned income credit super bowl commercials florida primary 2012 super bowl
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.