Current Issues: Hormel Institute Partnership Announced In Minnesota

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Hormel Institute Partnership Announced In Minnesota

With the estimated 2.8 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget slated to take effect in January, the Mayo Clinic is sounding an alarm about the upcoming cuts and the Hormel Institute was bracing for the cuts. The Hormel Institute thought globally for partnerships to fund research and yesterday announced a new multimillion dollar international partnership which will link the Austin cancer research center with efforts at a planned research facility in China. The Hormel Institute currently partners with the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic. Website for Hormel Institute: www.hi.umn.edu

Welcome!

Some blood cancer facts:

* Every four minutes, someone in the United States learns that they have a blood cancer.

* Every ten minutes, a child or adult dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 148 people each day, or more than six people every hour.

* Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 54,020 people in the United States this year.

* An estimated 137,260 people in the United States will be diagnosed with Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma this year.

*Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1998 to 2007 (the most recent data available).

(Information statistics from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society 2010-2011)

NEWS FROM MY STATE OF MINNESOTA:

In Minnesota we have what is called the ‘Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics’ with the U of MN and the Mayo Clinic, which is such a wonderful thing for our State! Their website mentions: "The Partnership has once again earned the support of the legislature when it received the most recent installment in research support of $15 million in the 2006 legislative session. The Partnership has requested $70 million over a five year period and has so far received $32 million of that funding request."

According to the 'Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics' newsletter, "In 2007, the Partnership awarded $7.5 million in state-funded support to four new research teams and one infrastructure support project in the third round of reserach since 2003. It has also awarded $1 million to one of the first research teams to take discoveries toward commercialization." Also in 2007, the Minnesota legislature has approved $25 million in biennial funding for the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics and committed $8 million for each of the following two years.

Watch my blog for more recent updates.