Wistar Opens the Doors to its New Center for Advanced Therapeutics
After more than a year of construction, the Center for Advanced Therapeutics (CAT) opened its doors to a crowd of more than 100 eager guests, launching a new phase in Wistar’s drive to translate research discoveries into new potential medicines.
In his opening remarks, Wistar president and CEO Dr. Dario Altieri highlighted Wistar’s long record of advancing science. “Wistar has an institutional culture where we seek innovation and risk taking, we prize collaboration and partnership, and we reward excellence. That culture is alive today in the opening of the Center for Advanced Therapeutics.”
Dr. Paul Lieberman, an expert in the field of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) research as well as other viruses that cause cancer, is the Center’s founding director and leads the drug discovery process to advance Wistar’s early-stage research toward therapeutic potential.
The CAT will bring together the expertise of Wistar scientists in biology, chemistry, and artificial intelligence (AI) to pursue new foundational discoveries. Members of the CAT will work closely with the public and private sectors to accelerate translating those discoveries into new treatments and therapies.
Known as the “Valley of Death,” the gap between the foundational research that Wistar performs and real-world clinical applications can be a long, arduous, and costly journey. That CAT is designed to bridge that gap by connecting academics, industry, investors, and other collaborators to help expedite bringing those discoveries to fruition.
“The goal of the Center for Advanced Therapeutics will be to find our academic champions who do their basic research and collaborate with the expertise necessary to advance their discoveries into clinical implementation,” said Lieberman during the event. “Ultimately, the CAT will build a community of academic, industry, nonprofit, and government partners committed to advancing medical breakthroughs.”
The renovated 12,000 square foot space was made possible by an anonymous $30 million donation, a $1 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, and a $2 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania State Representative Kerry Benningoff, founder and chairman of the bipartisan Cancer Caucus, spoke of his personal experience with cancer and emphasized the critical need for research as a path to curing cancer and other diseases. “In Pennsylvania alone, 600 children are diagnosed with cancer every year. That why this investment, and this research, is so important.”
Rick Horowitz, Chair of the Wistar Board of Trustees, echoed the value of foundational research. “Human life is precious, and the quest to improve the quality and length of life is a noble one,” he stressed. “Here at Wistar, rest assured, we’re going to continue to grow, thrive and advance the state of scientific knowledge.”
The event concluded with a ribbon cutting and tour of the new lab and administrative space, including a virtual reality (VR) demonstration that showcased structure-based design and visualized drug interactions.
View a photo gallery of the event here.