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‘All-star’ researchers intend to develop breakthrough therapies for the viral liver infection within 3 years
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (March 2015) – The Baruch S. Blumberg Institute (www.blumberginstitute.org)
has recruited a new team of nationally renowned scientists to focus
exclusively on research to develop a cure for hepatitis B, a move that
nearly triples its research capacity and has created the largest
concentration of nonprofit scientists focusing solely on hepatitis B
and liver cancer in the United States.
Four principal scientists – Drs. Timothy Block, Jinhong Chang, Ju Tao
Guo and Ying-Hsiu Su – and 16 of their staff members and laboratory
researchers joined the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute full-time on March
1. Establishing this first-rate scientific team of leading hepatitis B
researchers lays the groundwork to support an aggressive plan to develop
breakthrough therapies to combat the virus within the next three
years.
“By bringing leading researchers in the field together at its
headquarters, the Hepatitis B Foundation, through its research arm, the
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, is able to concentrate their joint
efforts to finding new treatments and, ultimately, a cure,” said Joel
Rosen, Chairman of the Foundation’s board. “In the twelve years that I
have been a member of the foundation’s board of directors, I have never
been more optimistic that a cure is within reach. It’s an exciting
time for everyone involved.”
The researchers will build upon recent discoveries that have
accelerated the momentum for developing a cure for hepatitis B and
liver cancer. Those breakthroughs include the development of new
screening methods to search for effective drugs, new ways to treat
hepatitis B using different approaches to shut down the virus, a new
blood biomarker that aids in the early detection of liver cancer, and a
promising drug that selectively kills liver cancer cells in animal
studies.
“This is an incredibly exciting time in hepatitis B research, with
the field poised to develop a cure. The Blumberg Institute is fortunate
to have attracted Tim Block and his colleagues, positioning the
nonprofit institute to maintain its world-class stature in hepatitis
research,” said Dr. Tom Shenk, one of the nation’s leading virologists,
a professor at Princeton University, and a member of the Foundation’s
Board of Directors.
Block co-founded the Hepatitis B Foundation and is the president of
the Blumberg Institute. For years, he has donated his time to both
nonprofit entities, working full-time as a professor of Microbiology
and Immunology at Drexel University College of Medicine, where he was
Director of the Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virology
Research. He has left that post in order to dedicate all of his time
and focus to the work of the Blumberg Institute.
“The years that we all have spent working towards a cure for
hepatitis B have laid the groundwork for this final phase,” said Block.
“We are committing everything we have, every resource at our disposal,
to developing the therapies that will improve the lives of the millions
of people worldwide who live with the hepatitis B virus every day, as
well as the risk of dying prematurely from its most fatal consequence,
liver cancer.”
With promising drugs in the research pipeline, the Hepatitis B
Foundation and the Blumberg Institute have begun exploring
relationships with companies that can take those discoveries from the
lab to the clinic, where they can benefit people worldwide.
“The fact that Dr. Tim Block and other world-class scientists have
chosen to join the Blumberg Institute in its drive to find a cure for
hepatitis B speaks volumes about the Institute’s cutting-edge science
and potential to impact global health,” said Wayne Yetter, former
president and CEO of the multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis
U.S. and a recent addition to the Hepatitis B Foundation’s Board of
Directors.
In addition to the exciting implications for the world of science and
medicine, the new jobs created at the Blumberg Institute are a welcome
boost to the local and regional economy of Bucks County and southeast
Pennsylvania.
"The Blumberg Institute‘s recruitment of four world-class scientists
and their staff, including Dr. Timothy Block, is great news for this
community,” said Bucks County state Sen. Charles McIlhinney, a longtime
supporter of the organization. “The Blumberg Institute, which manages
and is located at the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, has been
responsible for breakthrough discoveries coupled with spectacular jobs
and company creation, right here in Bucks County. This is the kind of
growth we need.”
About the Hepatitis B Foundation: Headquartered in
Doylestown, Pa., the Hepatitis B Foundation was founded in 1991 and is
the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to finding a
cure for hepatitis B and improving the quality of life for those
affected worldwide through research, education and patient advocacy. To
learn more, visit www.hepb.org.
About the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute: The Hepatitis B Foundation established an independent, nonprofit research institute in 2003 in order to conduct discovery research and nurture translational biotechnology in an environment conducive to interaction, collaboration and focus. The research center was renamed in 2013 to honor Baruch S. Blumberg, the man who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the hepatitis B virus. To learn more, visit www.blumberginstitute.org.
About the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center: The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center of Bucks County offers state-of-the-art laboratory and office space to nonprofit research companies and biotech companies. Created by a partnership between the Hepatitis B Foundation and Delaware Valley College, and managed by the Blumberg Institute, the Center was funded in part by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The facility opened in 2006 in a formerly abandoned warehouse and has since grown to encompass 110,000 square feet on a 10-acre campus. To learn more, visit www.pabiotechbc.org.
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原文地址：http://www.cnblogs.com/biopy/p/4436097.html
