Institute for Basic Sciences
MD Anderson Cancer Center promotes a nurturing environment to enhance collaboration among clinicians, physician scientists and basic scientists.
To that end, the Institute for Basic Sciences was established in 2008. The goal of the Institute is to accelerate scientific discoveries by recruiting outstanding laboratory scientists and creating a collaborative environment in which our faculty have access to state-of-the-art core facilities and participate in theme- and/or disease-oriented symposia and retreats. The Institute serves as a catalyst for faculty to exchange ideas and to solve critical problems that apply to fundamental aspects of cancer biology and lead clinical aspects in treating patients.
In the few years since its launch, the Institute has consistently grown and flourished. Through various recruitment packages affiliated with the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and funding from the University of Texas Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) program, all affiliated centers continue to actively recruit faculty at all levels to enrich the centers' research programs.
The vision of the Institute is to promote basic science research at MD Anderson to world-renowned recognition. Investigators focus on tackling basic fundamental puzzles in cancer biology. Their findings could lead to clinical aspects in treating cancer patients.
Dr. Guillermina Lozano, preceded Dr. Mien-Chie Hung (2011-2013) and Dr. Sharon Dent (2008-2010), serves as the the Institute's director.The Institute has seven Centers for Research Excellence. The director, co-directors and members of the Centers for Research Excellence are faculty in basic science departments at MD Anderson, including the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cancer Biology, Carcinogenesis, Genetics, Immunology, and Molecular and Cellular Oncology. To enhance our interactions with other centers and institutes at MD Anderson, these directors meet quarterly with the Metastasis Research Center (Dr. Lee Ellis), the Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research (Dr. John Hazle) at the McCombs Institute, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Genome Data Analysis Center (Dr. John Weinstein), and the animal facility (Dr. Peggy Tinkey).
Institute investigators are also actively involved in graduate education programs at The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at Houston – a joint program between The University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston (UT Health) and MD Anderson Cancer Center – ranked among the best in the nation in the 2009 National Research Council assessment. Among 123 programs in the category of Cell and Development Biology, the Ph.D. Cancer Biology Program was ranked second (along with Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Stanford University), and the Genes and Development Program was sixth. Many faculty members in the IBS are an integral part of the two programs.
Make a difference
Centers for Research Excellence
Biological Pathways
Director: Mien-Chie Hung, Ph.D. Co-Directors: Edward Yeh, M.D.
and Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D.
Biomolecular Function and Structure
Director: John Ladbury, Ph.D.
Cancer Epigenetics
Director: Sharon Dent, Ph.D.
Co-Directors: Mark Bedford, Ph.D.
and Jessica Tyler, Ph.D.
Genetics and Genomics
Co-directors: Gigi Lozano, Ph.D.
and William Klein, Ph.D.
Environmental and Molecular Carcinogenesis
Co-Directors: David Johnson, Ph.D.,
C. Marcelo Aldaz, M.D., Ph.D.
and Richard Wood, Ph.D.
Inflammation and Cancer
Director: Chen Dong, Ph.D.
Co-Directors: Xin Lin, Ph.D.,
Shao-Cong Sun, Ph.D.,
and Stephanie Watowich, Ph.D.
Stem Cell and Developmental Biology
Co-directors: Michelle Barton, Ph.D.
and Richard Champlin, M.D.
NCI Workshop 2013
Texas Southeastern Regional
NCI Workshop
Thanks to all participants for making this year's workshop a success! The presentation materials are now available for download (pdf):