Much new research takes shape held in Kansas City, Missouri, that could one day compete with larger charities biomedical world. With $ 125 million in public funding, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research has begun to renovate a medical center of 55,000 square meters in Kansas City to accommodate an initial staff of 100 people, including 20 Ph.D.s. The institute plans to open five laboratories for basic science in January 00.
According to its co-founder, financier James Stowers Jr., the organization will focus on the genetics of development and growth, with a goal of fighting cancer. For scientific leadership, Stowers has relied heavily on geneticist Leroy Hood of the University of Washington, Seattle, and Eric Davidson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, both members of the National Academy of Sciences.
Stowers, 74, and his wife Virginia, 68, are cancer survivors; according Stowers, "which is what motivated us" to consider funding medical research. "My wife and I wanted to give something more than money for people who have made our success possible." They launched the endowment of the Institute, with 327 million shares $ of the investment company, they founded, American Century funds the couple plans to leave the rest of their assets. - estimated at more than $ 1 billion. - the institute to death If these funds are also developing faster than he managed in Historically, Stowers said, staffing may be worth $ 30 billion in 25 years
Stowers said he has a clear scientific strategy, based partly on the advice of Hood .: "We wanted focus our efforts in one area and not be scatter-gun. " Davidson, who also serves on the advisory board, said, "You can not organize science, but we hope to find and recruit people" interested in "looking at the complex interactions of groups of molecules" using advanced technology. the key to success of the institute recognizes Stowers will be its ability to attract "top scientists" in Kansas City.
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