Broxmeyer

The strength of the research program is in its diversity. Since the Walther Oncology Center was created, it has grown on the IU School of Medicine (IUSM) campus to include nearly 30 principal investigators and 151 other staff representing seven departments: medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology, microbiology and immunology, medical and molecular genetics, pharmacology and toxicology, urology and surgery.

The center is a joint venture between the Walther Cancer Institute, a private non-profit research organization, and IUSM.

In 1988, the Walther Oncology Center had only one researcher, its founding scientific director Hal Broxmeyer, chair and Mary Margaret Walther Professor of microbiology and immunology, and professor of medicine. He essentially built the program into a nationally recognized center for basic science research. In 1992, the center claimed grants totaling $1.83 million. Today, extramural funding has reached more than $15 million, with several outstanding grant applications awaiting review.

Progressive, basic scientific laboratory research focusing on the cellular, biochemical and molecular biology of cancer is the trademark of the center. Investigators at the Walther Oncology Center also are studying immune systems deficiencies and possible treatments, and viruses of the central nervous system and their association with AIDS-related dementia and other neurological disorders.

Broxmeyer is internationally recognized for his research in the use of umbilical cord blood as a source for transplantable stem and progenitor cells. The first umbilical cord blood transplant, which was a multi-national research effort, occurred in France in 1988. The cord blood used in the transplant was processed and stored in the world’s first cord blood bank in Broxmeyer’s lab. He and his staff delivered the precious cargo to France for the successful transplant.

Walther Oncology Center has been described as a lab without walls, but that is in theory only. Its administrative office and many of its principal investigators’ laboratories now are located in the newly opened Research II building.

Within the walls of the laboratory building, the objectives of the center will continue to progress. Walther researchers seek to:

• Understand the mechanisms involved in the proliferation, differentiation and function of normal cells and the abnormalities in functions which can lead to tumor cell growth.

• Accelerate the translation of new basic scientific information to the clinical research area in order to slow disease progression and improve the quality of life for patients suffering from cancer and related disorders.

• Develop and disseminate information that will lead, or help lead, to cures for the different cancers.

To this end, Walther Oncology Center scientists currently are focused on how normal and malignant cells grow and develop their unique characteristics; gene regulation; DNA repair; cytokine (product of white blood cells involved with immune response) production; intracellular communication; gene therapy, and transplantation biology and immunology with bone marrow and cord blood.

Research II dedication images