Philadelphia -- The Wistar Institute has received a three-year grant of $1 million from The Pew Charitable Trusts to recruit and equip the laboratories of new scientific investigators in the areas of regeneration, signal transduction and brain tumor research.
"We are having tremendous success in these areas," explained Wistar's director, Giovanni Rovera, M.D., "and we want to ensure our continued progress."
Three previous grants from the Trusts supported the recruitment of 12 new researchers that, according to Dr. Rovera, each cost the Institute roughly $700,000 during their first three years. "The Trusts' backing has transformed Wistar," he explained. These new researchers bring in innovative technologies and ideas, revitalizing existing programs and catalyzing efforts that are achieving recognition in the scientific community. We are grateful to the Trusts for laying the ground work for this initiative."
Maureen Byrnes, Director of The Pew Charitable Trusts' Health and Human Services Program, said "The Trusts have had a long and positive relationship with The Wistar Institute since 1969 and we are impressed by Wistar's continued success at recruiting such high-quality scientists."
Several Wistar scientists have also earned individual grants through the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. Each year, 20 young researchers are competitively chosen to receive a $200,000 four-year grant for the scientific project of their choice. Created in 1994, the program was designed to encourage interdisciplinary research, promote medical science policy and foster breakthroughs.
The Pew Charitable Trusts, among the nation's largest philanthropies, support nonprofit activities in culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems.
The Wistar Institute, established in 1892, was the first independent medical research facility in the country. For more than 100 years, Wistar scientists have been making history and improving world health through their development of vaccines for diseases that include rabies, German measles, infantile gastroenteritis (rotavirus), and cytomegalovirus; discovery of molecules like interleukin-12, which are helping the immune system fight bacteria, parasites, viruses and cancer; and location of genes that contribute to the development of diseases like breast, lung and prostate cancer. Wistar is a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center.