The Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
is the one of the nation's newest NCI designated cancer centers, receiving its
Cancer Center Support Grant in April 2009. Located in Charleston, South Carolina,
the HCC was founded in 1993 and serves the state as a leader in cancer research,
patient care and public and professional education. Since its opening in 1993, the
Center has had significant growth in clinical and research facilities, patient care volume,
research funding and in its clinical trials portfolio and accrual. Last year,
the HCC had more than 80,000 outpatient visits, $33M in cancer research extramural funding,
and more than 1,100 patients enrolled in cancer research studies. To accommodate the
expanding clinical activities and provide additional space for the growth of basic
and translational research, MUSC added a 7–story tower annex to its original HCC Building
in 2006, bringing total dedicated MUSC cancer space to more than 200,000 ft2
(including 98,000 ft2 of research laboratories).
The goals of the HCC are to: 1) create an environment where cancer research will be
fostered from basic concept to clinical/community intervention; 2) develop epidemiologic,
environmental, and behavioral research to reduce the cancer burden and disparities in a rural,
underserved population; 3) train the next generation of basic clinical and prevention
researchers; 4) lead the coordination of state–wide efforts in research, education and
clinical care; and 5) obtain National Cancer Institute "comprehensive" status.
Toward these goals, the HCC has committed significant resources to: 1) recruiting and supporting
basic, clinical and population–based investigators who can obtain and maintain
investigator–initiated research grants from the NCI; 2) developing
shared research resources to provide access to critical instrumentation and technologies;
and 3) enhancing laboratory and other types of space dedicated to cancer–related
activities.
HCC research membership includes more than 100 faculty researchers
representing 23 departments in multiple colleges. Formal research programs
include Lipid Signaling in Cancer, Cancer Genes & Molecular Regulation, Developmental
Cancer Therapeutics, Cancer Immunology, and Cancer Prevention & Control. Future
recruitments will be housed in two new buildings, the Drug Discovery Building and
the Cancer Genomics and Bioengineering Building, to be completed in 2011 and 2012
respectively. HCC supports a robust array of shared research resources including:
Biostatistics, Clinical Trials, Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting, Lipidomics, Cell
and Molecular Imaging, Tissue Biorepository, Gene Knockout, Small Animal Imaging,
Drug Discovery/Screening, Cellular Therapy/Immunology Monitoring, and Drug Metabolism
and Clinical Pharmacology.
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