Newswise — What a banner year it has been so far for Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). Since the beginning of 2007, the Institute has announced that a highly accomplished cancer researcher and his biomedical company are relocating to Buffalo, and that RPCI laboratory discoveries have led to the creation of a new life sciences spin-off company in Buffalo.
Distinguished national leader, Dr. Andrei Gudkov, joins RPCI.
The world-renowned researcher is Andrei V. Gudkov, PhD, from the Cleveland Clinic, and the biomedical company is Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. " the drug discovery and development company he founded in 2003.
Dr. Gudkov will assume senior leadership roles at Roswell Park and Cleveland BioLabs will partner with Roswell Park to further invigorate the biomedical environment on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The moves will bring up to 50 advanced research positions to Buffalo.
"Dr. Gudkov is a pre-eminent researcher, and his company has an extensive pipeline of cancer and radioprotectant drug candidates in advanced development that hold the promise of helping patients worldwide," according to David C. Hohn, MD, president & CEO at Roswell Park. "The presence of Dr. Gudkov and his company can only enhance the ability of Roswell Park and its partners on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to attract the talent needed to grow the biomedical economy in Western New York."
Dr. Gudkov will become Senior Vice President for Research Program Development and Chair of the Department of Cell Stress Biology at Roswell Park, as well as leader of the Biophysical Therapies Program and member of Roswell Park's senior leadership team.
Cleveland BioLabs has entered into a strategic research partnership with Roswell Park as the foundation for advancing research and clinical trials on potential drugs being developed based on Dr. Gudkov's research. The company will relocate its headquarters and core operations to Buffalo.
RPCI creates PersonaDX and offers new hope to cancer patients.
PersonaDX, Inc. is a new life sciences company developed through a collaboration between Roswell Park and Boston-based Venzyme Accelerator. This company will commercialize an innovative clinical diagnostic test for cancer patients derived from basic research conducted at Roswell Park by Lionel Coignet, PhD. Initial plans call for PersonaDX to employ 10 people, a number that could expand to as many as 250 within three years. A new home for the company is being constructed within walking distance of the Roswell Park campus.
PersonaDX Inc. is the first in what is expected to be a series of new companies that will be created in collaboration with scientists at Roswell Park. "Formation of local companies emanating from our science has long been our goal at Roswell Park. We look forward to making other such announcements in the near future and above all to being a powerful catalyst for economic development and employment in Buffalo," said Roswell Park's President-elect, Donald L. Trump, MD.
The new diagnostic blood test from Coignet's laboratory in the Department of Cancer Genetics is based on the concept that the genetic makeup of the individual patient may determine whether a cancer will spread from its point of origin to sites in distant organs, a process called metastasis.
A specific gene, called the SMRT gene, appears to naturally inhibit the spread of cancer. Clinical studies in patients with breast and prostate cancer at Roswell Park indicate that those with "fragility" of the SMRT gene are particularly prone to develop metastases. Coignet and his colleagues believe that it is gene breakage at the "fragile site" that leads to metastasis and a blood test determines whether a fragile site is present on a patient's SMRT gene.
"We believe this exciting innovation will unite the scientific expertise of Roswell Park with the business acumen of Venzyme Accelerator to translate Dr. Coignet's discoveries in the laboratory and make this new diagnostic test available to oncologists and their patients," said John Garrett, PhD, of Venzyme. "The company will create a laboratory with highly skilled personnel and sophisticated technology to establish a major new enterprise for the Buffalo-Niagara region."
Dr. Coignet will serve as PersonaDX's Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Garrett will serve as Interim CEO to direct corporate administrative and business activities while a permanent, Buffalo-based team is being hired.
Bringing Dr. Gudkov and Cleveland BioLabs to Buffalo and establishing PersonaDX has been a team effort that not only included Roswell Park and the other principals of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, but state and local business leaders and government and economic development leaders, including the New York State legislature.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation's first cancer research, treatment, and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers. For more information, visit RPCI's website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or email [email protected].
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