For those of you who are not aware of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center (UCCRC) on campus, I'll share a bit of good news. First of all, the Cancer Research Center Support Grant has been renewed for 5 years, and secondly, the UCCRC has achieved Comprehensive status. This is sort of a big deal, considering in the entire country, there are only 41 Comprehensive Cancer Research Centers, and in Illinois, there are only 2 (the other one being the purple people downtown). Being a Comprehensive Cancer Research Center basically means we've got really great researchers and support staff working on attacking malignant diseases, or as the NCI likes to say, "Comprehensive Cancer Research Centers are characterized by scientific excellence and the capability to integrate a diversity of research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer."
So, what does all this have to do with flow cytometry? Well, a big part of the UCCRC grant was the availability and access UCCRC members have in terms cutting-edge technology and technical expertise. A big chunk of the funding goes towards operational costs of core facilities and subsidized usage fees for member investigators. The flow cytometry facility, having a large number of cancer research investigators has been the recipient of such funding for over a decade. Over 90% of the usage of the facility is performed by members of the UCCRC, so we are very much an integral part of the UCCRC and its newly achieved Comprehensive status. More info on the UCCRC can be found online at http://uccrc.uchicago.edu or if you'd like more info on the NCI Cancer Research Center Program, you can visit http://cancercenters.cancer.gov. Congratulations to all involved!
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