Carle Foundation Hospital Research Institute has opened its Biomedical Research Center, said a press release from Carle. The institute was built on the third floor of the Mills Breast Cancer Institute, which is also Carle Cancer Center. The center will enable researchers both from the University as well as internationally to work towards medical discoveries.

The Biomedical Research Center will provide laboratory space,equipment, and support staff for scientists and their teams investigating various oncology areas. These areas include breast cancer, neuroscience, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

Features of the center include cold and warm rooms for temperature- sensitive experiments, teleconference meeting rooms, to enable world-wide communication and extensive ranges of basic equipment.

CEO and president of Carle Foundation Hospital, James Leonard, MD believes that the new facility is a positive move forward for researchers.

“We are thrilled to be offering researchers this new and highly specialized venue for their valuable work,” said Leonard in the press release.

Carle officials look forward to this new laboratory being a hub of research activity and a place where scientists and physicians work towards discoveries together.

“Within the next two years, we hope to have up to 30 lead researchers, with a total of 60-70 people working here at any given time,” said Anna Keck, PhD, executive director of the Carle Foundation Hospital Research Institute.

The focus of the research will be on translational research projects. Also known as ‘bench to bedside’ research, translational research takes scientific discoveries arising from laboratory, clinical, or population studies and turns them into clinical applications aimed at reducing the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of cancer and other illnesses.