Big Ten Cancer Centers Form Research Group

While competition is the hallmark of the powerhouse sports teams of the Big Ten Conference, collaboration will be the key for a research initiative recently launched by cancer centers at most of the same universities.

The Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium will cooperate on clinical trials, with a particular emphasis on molecular diagnostics, in an effort that is expected to generate advancements as well as expand opportunities for junior faculty and fellows, officials said in announcing the new group in Chicago.

“This is a rare opportunity for the universities to work together as part of a regional team science initiative to advance cancer research,” said Patrick J. Loehrer, Sr, MD, director of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, in a statement. “The advantage of this, particularly during a time of austerity for research, is that we can build upon the strengths of the institutions and fortify some of the shortcomings. This allows us to be lean, efficient, but most importantly, collaborative.”

The following cancer centers and universities have joined the consortium:

• Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center
• Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University
• Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute
• Purdue University Center for Cancer Research
• The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, scheduled to become part of Rutgers University in July (Rutgers also is set to join the Big Ten Conference in 2014)
• University of Illinois Cancer Center
• Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa
• University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota
• Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center at the University of Nebraska
• Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin