National Cancer Institute
NCI’s Advanced Technology Partnerships Initiative (ATPI) is about taking a proactive approach to accelerate progress against cancer, not just by funding and conducting research, but also by establishing the platforms — in this case, state-of-the-art technology and drug development platforms — to turn that research into effective interventions as quickly and efficiently as possible.
In November 2008, NCI took part in a ground-breaking ceremony in Frederick, Maryland, for a new research facility that will play a major role in advancing the goals of the ATPI. This groundbreaking was truly the beginning of a new era of expanded drug and technology development via public, private, and academic partnerships. The research park represents an opportunity to co-locate private sector research and development programs, biotechnology partners, and academic collaborators on a research campus dedicated to reducing the cancer burden.
The ATPI will also take advantage of the unique capabilities of NCI’s current Frederick campus at Ft. Detrick. NCI-Frederick is one of just 38 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, and the only FFRDC devoted solely to biomedical research. The designation allows NCI-Frederick to be operated by a private contractor, which is able to more rapidly deploy resources than a purely governmental entity. Using the FFRDC capabilities, the ATPI will expand collaborations with a variety of private companies and institutes to develop new agents, new diagnostics, and new ways of monitoring response to therapy — and then carry them forward to first-in-human studies.
The ATPI will help provide access to cutting-edge, often costly technologies that are not readily available in the research community. Partnerships, two of which are already in place, will flow from access to these technologies and the expertise required to operate them. Under the ATPI, for example, NCI could collaborate with partners to test the optimal use of new technologies in cancer research, or to aid start-up biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies that have received small business grants by providing the expertise and equipment needed to characterize their investigational agents or manufacture pharmaceutical-grade agents for use in human trials.
What the new Frederick facility, in particular, will provide is a tremendous opportunity to expand training capabilities. With the space and expertise available in a single facility, NCI will significantly enhance its ability to teach the next generation of scientists how to use emerging technologies, a process that they can then repeat at their home institutions. “The new facility,” said Craig Reynolds, Ph.D., director of the Office of Scientific Operations at NCI-Frederick “will provide the physical infrastructure to carry out the ATPI and should help free up space on the Ft. Detrick campus to enhance other programs and core services that support both the intramural and extramural cancer research community.”
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