HU Canadian Friends to build medical research center

$50 million to consolidate six major areas of bioresearch at its HU-Hadassah Medical School.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
hadassah ein kerem 224 (photo credit: Courtesy)
hadassah ein kerem 224
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University has committed itself to raise $50 million to consolidate six major areas of bioresearch at its HU-Hadassah Medical School, constructing a modern new building in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem neighborhood and significantly increasing the amount of research, funding and staff. The new facility will replace others spread all over the Ein Kerem campus and make possible multi-disciplinary collaboration. The fields in which the Canadian Institute for Medical Research (CIMR) will be conduct research in the new facility are infectious disease and immunology; cancer; genetics and developmental biology; nutrition and metabolism; cardiovascular disease; and the brain and central nervous system. CFHU national president Ronnie Appleby and national director Rami Kleinmann said the building should be completed within three years or less and be located near the existing medical school. "It will identify Canada with an outstanding and cutting-edge medical research institute that will have great impact on medical practice throughout the world and act as a catalyst for future extensive partnerships between Canada and Israel," they said. The new center will ensure that Israel "continues as a world leader in science and medicine," they added. Researchers on the Ein Kerem campus are already working on detection methods for cancer based on molecular biology and the human genome project; the study of evidence from animal tests showing a connection between alcohol consumption and the progression of cancer; the development of "guided missiles" to target cancer cells; the investigation of genetic changes that can cause cancer; and therapies based on blood-supply regulation to inhibit tumor growth and spread.