CU-Boulder Professor Marvin Caruthers Gives $20 Million To Boost Biotech Building, Bolstering Collaborative Research

(Taken from University of Colorado news website. To see the page click here.)

A $20 million gift from University of Colorado at Boulder Distinguished Professor Marvin Caruthers will be the linchpin for construction of a new interdisciplinary biotechnology building on the CU-Boulder campus, a facility expected to revolutionize biotechnology and biomedical research and teaching, CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson announced Tuesday.

The gift is one of the largest in the history of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the largest ever by a faculty member.

The gift, which Peterson announced Tuesday morning at his annual Campus Address to the CU-Boulder community, will allow the campus to move more quickly to develop the planned $115 million research and teaching facility, to be built in the CU-Boulder Research Park near 30th Street and Colorado Avenue, east of the main campus.

As part of CU's Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, or CIMB, the 260,000-square-foot building will host 60 faculty and more than 600 researchers from a wide variety of science, engineering and medical disciplines to collaborate on high-tech solutions to biomedical problems, Peterson said.

"This gift, in the name of the late Jennie Smoly Caruthers, is more than just an act of supreme generosity," said Peterson. "It is an investment in CU-Boulder's future, and it heralds a new era of collaborative research and discovery that will transform our campus, the field of biotechnology and, we hope, the collective health of humanity itself."

The facility also will contain classrooms, teaching labs and seminar rooms for more than 1,000 students annually from science and engineering disciplines across campus, said CU Professor Leslie Leinwand, director of CIMB. The students will participate in classes and labs, as well as work with faculty and research staff on cutting-edge biomedicine efforts.

"The importance of this gift from Marvin Caruthers, who has revolutionized biotechnology in the U.S. with his research and inventions, cannot be overstated," said Leinwand, former chair of CU-Boulder's molecular, cellular and developmental biology department. "It is a powerful catalyst for additional fundraising for the new facility which, when completed, will position the University of Colorado and the Front Range as a national powerhouse in genomics and biotechnology research."

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said such a facility would have enormous economic implications for the state of Colorado. "It will help to solidify biotech research as a mainstay of Colorado's economy, fueled by the important work being done at CU-Boulder and University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center," Ritter said. "I want to congratulate Dr. Caruthers both for his recent National Medal of Science of Award from the White House, and for the vision and public mindedness embodied by this gift to CU. It is truly a gift to the people of Colorado and the world."

In honor of the Caruthers gift to CU, the building will be named the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building, pending approval of the Board of Regents, in honor of Caruthers' late wife. Remaining funds for the building will be provided by additional private support, CU, the state of Colorado and through indirect cost recovery funds. The building is expected to open in 2010, said Leinwand.

The interdisciplinary facility will house CU system faculty from several departments including but not limited to chemistry and biochemistry, MCD biology, physics, applied math, computer science and chemical and biological engineering, said Leinwand.

"People from diverse disciplines need to work side-by-side on a daily basis in order to make new biomedical discoveries, and this next-generation facility will allow this to happen on a large scale," she said.

"We expect this facility to be a magnet for outstanding new students and faculty," said Leinwand, also a professor in the cardiology division at the Anschutz Medical Campus of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. "We will use it to develop tools for teaching science in new ways and to educate future generations of inventors, researchers and doctors."

Caruthers said, "We can mend broken bones but we can't cure cancer. It's gratifying to see the university invest in an initiative that encourages collaboration and the kind of exciting research that can result in breakthrough discoveries."

Examples of research slated for the facility include tissue engineering to restore aging and ailing joints in the human body, a field that requires biologists, engineers, mathematicians, chemists and surgeons working in concert, said Leinwand. CU-Boulder researchers are refining a novel technique involving injectable, biodegradable "scaffolds" filled with specialized cells to regenerate cartilage in joints using light-activated chemistry, for example. Another focus is bioengineering of human heart valves.

Other research groups will be looking for new biomarkers -- biochemical traits like molecules that can be used as indicators of the progression of diseases or the effects of medical treatments, said Leinwand. Biomarker discovery teams, which will include chemists, computer scientists, biologists and physicians, will develop new screening and diagnostic tools for disease and testing drug responsiveness, including treatments like chemotherapy, she said.

"Biomarkers can be used in the discovery and treatment of many conditions, from detecting early signs of cancer to helping to determine how particular individuals might respond to different types of chemotherapy," said Leinwand.

The facility also will host interdisciplinary teams working to help eradicate the ill effects of Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder often associated with impaired cognitive ability and physical growth, said Leinwand. The Down Syndrome work at the facility will build on research now underway at CU as a result of a recent $600,000 grant from the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation of Denver to explore innovative approaches to enhance cognitive ability in Down syndrome sufferers.

CIMB was created at CU in 2003 to foster new research, teaching and technology by pulling together experts in life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and computational sciences. CIMB is co-directed by chemistry and biochemistry Professor Natalie Ahn and chemical and biological engineering Professor Kristi Anseth, both of whom are Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. In 2006 Leinwand was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.

CIMB researchers are currently working to understand and manipulate living cells and to control cellular behavior using both basic and applied research in genomics, proteomics (the structure and function of proteins) molecular and cellular imaging, biophysics, mathematical analysis, materials engineering and chemical synthesis, said Leinwand. The building will contain lab space for visiting scientists, as well as the latest biotechnology instruments ranging from electron microscopes to sophisticated DNA sequencers and mass spectrometers.

"The inventions of Marvin Caruthers have changed the way science is done in this country," said Leinwand. "It is particularly fitting that his generous contribution will foster biotechnology research and education in Colorado for decades to come."

The Caruthers gift, facilitated by the CU Foundation, builds upon previous support from Professor Caruthers and his late wife, Jennie. In the 1990s, the Caruthers donated funding for two endowed chairs in biochemistry, one of which will be named in honor of Jennie.

Jennie Caruthers, a former Adjunct Professor in CU-Boulder's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, published significant research in mitochondria electron transport while at the University of Wisconsin, and on neurobiochemistry while at Harvard Medical School. Her career at CU-Boulder also included research in the MCD biology department and for many years she also worked as a Patent Agent in biotechnology for Greenlee, Winner and Sullivan. She earned her doctorate in biochemistry from McGill University.

Founded in 1967, the CU Foundation is the non-profit partner of the University of Colorado whose mission is to raise, manage and invest private support for the benefit of the University of Colorado. Donors enable CU to reach its full potential to transform lives through education, research, clinical care and community service. For more information, visit www.cufund.org.

For more information on CIMB, visit the Web site at bayes.colorado.edu/biotech/index.html.