The New York Genome Center (NYGC) announced today that Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has become the newest associate member of the NYGC. With this new partnership, the NYGC now has 20 member institutions, comprised of many of the nation’s top academic medical centers and research institution, including 10 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers.
“We are pleased to have one of New Jersey’s leading cancer institutions join the New York Genome Center community,” said Tom Maniatis, PhD, Evnin Family Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer, NYGC. “As a collaborative hub for genomic research and data sharing, the addition of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey’s distinguished scientists and clinicians will further our multi-institutional efforts to accelerate cancer genomics research.”
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, in collaboration with its partner RWJBarnabas Health, is New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Care Center offering the most advanced cancer treatment options often fueled by on-site research conducted in Rutgers Cancer Institute laboratories.
As an active participant in the NYGC, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey will be focused on identifying genomic mechanisms of exceptional response and acquired resistance to targeted therapy and immunotherapy as well as understanding basic mechanisms of tumorigenesis.
“The New York Genome Center serves as an important nexus for collaboration, innovation, and discovery in cancer genomics,” said Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS, Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Vice Chancellor for Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and Senior Vice President, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health. “We are excited to join our research consortium partner Princeton University as a fellow associate member, and look forward to collaborating on research projects with other member institutions.”
“Through our membership with the New York Genome Center, we have the opportunity to drive innovative and impactful molecular and genomic analyses of cell and animal-based model systems, as well as human cancer samples. Our overall aim is to expand our understanding of the genomic drivers of cancer and ultimately develop new treatment approaches to improve patient outcomes,” said Shridar Ganesan, MD, PhD, Associate Director for Translational Science and the Omar Boraie Chair in Genomic Science at Rutgers Cancer Institute.
Given its research focus, Rutgers Cancer Institute will be an active participant in the Genome Center Cancer Group (GCCG), NYGC’s founding scientific working group, which is composed of clinicians and cancer researchers from NYGC’s member institutions. With the addition of Rutgers Cancer Institute, the GCCG now includes 10 NCI-designated Cancer Centers. The GCCG is led by Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus, MD, Senior Associate Core Member, NYGC, and Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Charles Sawyers, MD, Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Affiliate Member, NYGC. The GCCG recently launched Polyethnic-1000, a project to study cancer in ethnically diverse, underserved patient populations, and is also spearheading the multi-institutional Very Rare Cancer Consortium, a research cohort focused on understanding the genetic causes for rare, understudied cancers. In addition, the NYGC is utilizing the application of novel statistical approaches and population-level analyses to major cohorts in cancer genomics.
The NYGC now has a total of 20 member institutions. Its 12 institutional founding members are Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Columbia University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, The Jackson Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York University, Northwell Health, The Rockefeller University, Stony Brook University, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Its eight associate members are the American Museum of Natural History, Georgetown Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hackensack Meridian Health, Hospital for Special Surgery, The New York Stem Cell Foundation, Princeton University, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Other recent new members to the NYGC are the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, D.C.’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Hackensack Meridian Health, which, through its Center for Discovery and Innovation and John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, is a member of the Georgetown Lombardi consortium. These institutions joined as associate members of the NYGC in 2019.
