Newswise — The Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University was founded in 1955. In 1971, the Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC) was established at the medical school and in 1972, AECC became an NCI-designated Cancer Center. AECC is located in the Chanin Research Institute. The Center’s imaging facility, new mouse facilities, and expanded research programs are housed in the newly opened Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine.

The goal of AECC is to foster basic, clinical, population- based, and translational research in an effort to understand better the origins of cancer and its effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. AECC’s 250 researchers come from eight basic science and six clinical departments.

Research is conducted in seven interdisciplinary research programs: immuno-oncology; tumor microenvironment and metastasis; cell growth and differentiation control; molecular membrane biology; experimental therapeutics; cancer epidemiology; and the biology of colon cancer.

AECC sponsors core laboratory facilities that support basic and clinical research. There are facilities for the development of transgenic and gene-targeted mice, a barrier facility to house these animals, and a mouse histotechnology and comparative pathology facility. There is a proteomics facility providing mass spectroscopy services. Structural biology encompasses x-ray crystallography, nuclear resonance imaging, and the operation of four Einstein synchroton beams at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Another facility provides genomics services, including massively parallel and traditional sequencing. There is a genome imaging facility that provides FISH and Array CGH technologies. A flow cytometry facility provides high speed cell sorting, including unfixed human cells. In addition, AECC supports cores in biostatistics, epidemiology informatics, and bioinformatics. There are also three developing resources in macromolecular therapeutics development (protein production/crystallization), shRNA library, and MicroPET/SPECT/CT research imaging.

The clinical research activities of AECC are conducted at the affiliated hospitals of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine with participants from the departments of surgery, medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, urology, pediatrics, and radiation oncology. The AECC clinical trials staff provides services for data management, regulatory affairs, and protocol development. There is an active program of phase I and II clinical trials. AECC faculty are members of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology group, the Gynecologic Oncology Group, the Children’s Oncology Cooperative Group, the AIDS Malignancy Consortium, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, and the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group.

-----------------------------------------------Albert Einstein Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center. These centers are characterized by scientific excellence and the capability to integrate a diversity of research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer. They play a vital role in advancing towards NCI's goal of reducing morbidity and mortality from cancer.

This piece does not represent the views of the National Institutes of Health.