The Sanford–Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI) was founded as the “La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation” in 1976 and has been
an NCI–designated Cancer Center focusing on basic cancer biology since 1981. The Cancer Center is an interdisciplinary effort,
mobilizing over 600 scientists, including faculty, postdoctoral fellows, technicians, and graduate students. The two–part mission
of the SBMRI Cancer Center is to (1) To facilitate the abilities of our Cancer Center members to perform cutting–edge, collaborative
laboratory research aimed towards understanding the pathogenesis of human cancer; (2) To promote research activities aimed toward the
movement of basic research findings into novel strategies for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and therapy.
Our Cancer Center has four highly collaborative and interdisciplinary Programs, named Tumor Microenvironment, Tumor Development,
Signal Transduction, and Apoptosis & Cell Death Research. The Programs are buoyed by a powerful technical infrastructure
including 9 Cancer Center Shared Resources. Our enhanced chemical biology and drug discovery infrastructure not only aids
the mission of our own scientists, but has also become a nation–wide resource, as 1 of 4 national Comprehensive Centers for
the Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network (MLPCN) within the NIH Roadmap initiative, and as part of NCI's
Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC). Membership in the CBC offers an opportunity to participate in a highly collaborative drug
discovery partnership with the NCI.
Since its inception, the Cancer Center has produced targeting technologies that deliver anti–cancer drugs specifically
into tumors, strategies for tricking cancer cells into committing suicide through restoration of a natural mechanism for
cell death, and identified a number of cancer cell behaviors that can be pre–empted or, in some cases, promoted, as
potential cancer drug targets. The developing focus on chemical biology has forged significant connections between our
basic cancer research and the development of molecular probes and lead molecules for cancer therapy. Collectively, the
Cancer Center strives to achieve the SBMRI slogan: “From research, the power to cure.”
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