COVER STORY SIDEBAR
Weill Cornell center brings research from bench to bedside
Sushmita Mukherjee See larger image
When Stefano Rivella delved into the genetics of the blood disorder known as Cooley's anemia, his preliminary data was highly promising. But although the project was going well, he recalls, "I was touching on subjects where I wasn't completely an expert." In the hope of finding the right collaborator, the associate professor of genetic medicine in pediatrics decided to try something unorthodox.
In October 2008, Rivella was among more than 80 basic and clinical scientists attending the Translational Research Bazaar, an event hosted by the Weill Cornell Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC). The bazaar was modeled on the concept of speed dating, in which singles rotate among prospective partners for brief conversations. But instead of romance, participants had research on their minds.
Among the matches made that day was Rivella's collaboration with Nancy Greenbaum, a professor of structural biology at Hunter College. Working with her and other collaborators, Rivella is moving closer to a cure for Cooley's anemia, one of the world's most common inherited diseases.
Facilitating such bench-to-bedside research is the core mission of CTSC. Founded in September 2007 with a $49 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, it is one of 46 such centers nationwide. All are multidisciplinary, trans-institutional centers bringing together researchers and clinicians from disparate disciplines to broaden scientific knowledge, tackle pressing medical issues and promote community health.
Julianne Imperato-McGinley See larger image
Health care institutions in Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood are all united by CTSC. They are Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, the Hospital for Special Surgery, Hunter College School of Nursing, Hunter Center for Study of Gene Structure and Function, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. CTSC also collaborates with Cornell's Ithaca campus and its New York City Cooperative Extension office.
"It's an initiative to bring together researchers from different institutions with different ideas to collaborate and facilitate discoveries," says Julianne Imperato-McGinley, CTSC's program director and Weill Cornell associate dean for translational research and education, "and then move those discoveries out to the community and the public."
One of the primary ways in which CTSC accomplishes its mission is by offering seed money to investigators, and it has funded dozens of pilot projects since its inception. Says Rivella, "The pilot award is a fantastic tool, because you can go to CTSC with a good idea, but you don't necessarily need to have a lot of the work done that you need to apply for other grants."
CTSC also runs a Clinical and Translational Education Program, which currently comprises more than 50 students. Those attending for one year earn an advanced certificate in clinical investigation; if they continue for a second year they earn a master's degree. The program also offers an M.D.-Ph.D., an M.D.-M.S., and modular training in clinical research methodology.
Among the many research projects funded or facilitated by CTSC are several that bring together researchers from the Weill Cornell and Ithaca campuses. Among them:
- Two decades ago, multiphoton microscopy was developed in the lab of Cornell applied physics professor Watt Webb. Now, researchers there and at Weill Cornell are working together to adapt the technology for human diagnostics -- specifically, the detection of cancer in its earliest stages. "You can image live tissue without using contrast or processing it in any way," says Sushmita Mukherjee, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Weill Cornell and director of its Multiphoton Microscopy Facility. "So the idea is eventually to miniaturize this into an endoscopic format and be able to image in real time in a live patient."
In collaboration with surgeons and pathologists, Mukherjee has been focusing on bladder cancer, using fresh human tissue (obtained from biopsied or excised organs), which she views via a multiphoton microscope.
- New York and Ithaca campus researchers have been developing some of the tiniest warriors in the battle against cancer. Working with Ithaca-based engineers, radiologist Michelle Bradbury has been developing targeted nanoparticle probes that could be used to diagnose and target tumors. Nicknamed "Cornell dots," the probes were created in the lab of Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.
Each dot, consisting of dye molecules encased in a silica shell, is on the order of six nanometers in diameter -- a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter. The probes are coated with polyethylene glycol, which helps prevent the body from recognizing them as foreign. The shell can be covered in molecules designed to attach to tumors, and the dye fluoresces under near-infrared light emission, identifying areas of malignancy.
-- This story is adapted from an article that appeared in the fall 2009 issue of Weill Cornell Medicine magazine.