Burnham Institute for Medical Research

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research is a non-profit medical research institute with facilities located in California and Florida focused on cancer, neuroscience, stem cell research, diabetes and obesity.

History

William (Bill) H. Fishman, M.D., Ph.D., and his wife Lillian Fishman, M.Ed., left Boston, Massachusetts, to found an independent research institution dedicated to the then-new concept of oncodevelopment in 1976. The Fishmans, who had then retired from Tufts University School of Medicine, moved across the country and established the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation (LJCRS) in San Diego, California to conduct biomedical research. The center originally focused on oncodevelopment, the study of developmental biology in conjunction with oncology as a means to better understand cancer.

Eva Engvall, one of the scientists who invented ELISA in 1971, worked at the Burnham Institute.

Research

The Burnham Institute was founded in La Jolla, California, with a primary focus on cancer research.

It now conducts a broad array of medical research activities and is home to four centers: a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center; the Del E. Webb Center for Neurosciences, Aging and Stem Cell Research; the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center; and the Sanford Children's Health Research Center. In 2006, Burnham established a center for bionanotechnology research at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Vascular Mapping Center, led by medical researcher Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti, is focused on discovering peptides that target cancer cells and developing methods to deliver therapeutic agents to those cells.

The Burnham Institute employees more than 800 people, of which 600 are scientists, and around 220 of those are postdoctoral researchers. The scientists who work at Burnham include biologists, chemists, biophysicists, engineers, and computer scientists.

Burnham ranks consistently among the world's top 25 organizations for its research impact, according to Thomson Scientific data. It also ranks among the top four research institutes in the United States in National Institutes of Health grant funding.

Burnham aims to research fundamental molecular mechanisms of disease and to develop appropriate medical therapies.

Florida facilities

In 2007, Burnham teamed up with the University of Central Florida to establish a campus at Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida that will focus on diabetes and obesity research and will expand the Institute's drug discovery capabilities.

The state of Florida has been very welcoming to Burnham and willing collaborators. Dr. John C. Reed had this to say about the Institute's experiences with the state: "We have been warmly welcomed and encouraged to launch operations in Florida by everyone we have encountered at University of Florida, University of Central Florida, Florida Atlantic University, and other academic organizations. In fact, the willingness of these universities to partner with Burnham, including sharing expenses associated with recruiting talented scientists and establishing adjunct faculty positions for them, has played a huge role in our decision to establish a new site of operations in Florida." [ [http://www.burnham.org/default.asp?contentID=358 Open Message to Floridians] ]

The Institute's partners and collaborators include the City of Orlando, Orange County, the State of Florida, the Tavistock Group, Lake Nona, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, Florida's Blood Centers, Florida Hospital, Orlando Regional Healthcare, Orlando VA Medical Center, Nemours, Epcot Center, and the Orlando Magic. [ [http://www.burnham.org/default.asp?contentID=557 Burnham's Partners & Collaborators in Florida] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.burnham.org/ Official website]