The Wistar Institute was recently gifted with a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor and the money will be used for the new Center for Advanced Therapeutics, writes Sarah Gantz for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new research facility will be a hub for early-stage drug research, including how vaccines may be used to treat and prevent cancer.

In total, this brings the Wistar Institute to $30 million to be put toward designing and constructing the Center for Advanced Therapeutics, which is expected to begin this summer.

“Generous gifts like this enable Wistar researchers to pursue discoveries that can lead to breakthrough cures, and this new Center for Advanced Therapeutics will allow us to accomplish just that,” said Ronald Caplan, chair of Wistar’s Bold Science // Global Impact fundraising campaign.

Wistar is planning a $5 to $8 million renovation of 12,000 square feet of unused administrative space at its headquarters on Spruce Street to build the new center. The center will have labs and specialty rooms that will be used to analyze radioactive materials and tissue cultures.

Already working closely with University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center, the biomedical research institution hopes to forge stronger partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to advance drug development.

Read more about the work being done at The Wistar Institute in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on PHILADELPHIA Today in June 2024.