Scientists in Walther Hall focus on cancer
The Indiana University School of Medicine groundbreaking for the $83.3 million Joseph E. Walther Hall, also known as Research III, was in October 2005. It was dedicated in October 2009. The 254,000-square-feet structure completes the transformation of the north side of Walnut Street on the Indiana University Medical Center campus into a three-building, 500,000-square-feet interconnected research complex where scientists can interact to share their work and vision. Many of the scientists in the complex will be working to bring the results of basic scientific research to the bedside in new treatments for cancer patients.
The primary focus of the scientists will be solving the puzzles of cancer and developing treatments specific to its various forms. Many will be engaged in translational research -- turning the discoveries of basic science into treatments delivered at the bedside. Significant clinical efforts already underway in breast, prostate and ovarian cancer, as well as genetic and blood-related disorders, will benefit from the laboratory science support of this new facility.
Other specialized cancer research initiatives include experimental and developmental therapeutics, the tumor microenvironment program and hematopoiesis and immunology. Walther Hall is also home to the Center for Immunobiology, an interdisciplinary group of faculty that studies organ transplant immunology, autoimmunity, innate and acquired immunity and the immunobiology of cancer.
Walther houses repositories that bank the vast array of human cells, tissues and DNA needed for research in cancer and many other human disorders, as well as the NIH-sponsored National Gene Vector Laboratory program, which provides services to scientists who conduct gene therapy trials.
Funding sources for constructing and equipping Walther Hall include $33 million in "fee replacement" bonding approved by the Indiana General Assembly in 2003, $25 million in academic research facility bonds, $10 million from the Riley Children's Foundation, $9 million from the Indiana Genomics Initiative, $3.7 million from a National Institutes of Health grant and $2.6 million from the IU School of Medicine.