(JTA) — The NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel will participate in joint cancer research projects funded by a $9 million grant.
The grant, announced Wednesday, is a gift from philanthropists Laura and Isaac Perlmutter.
Some $3 million will finance six cancer-focused research projects that will be conducted by teams of co-investigators from both NYU Langone and the Technion. The remaining $6 million will be used to establish a state-of-the-art research facility on Technion’s campus in Haifa that will support these and other research projects, according to a statement issued by the two facilities.
In January 2014, the Perlmutters donated more than $50 million to advance cancer research and treatment at NYU Langone. As part of that gift, the New York hospital was renamed from the NYU Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, to the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone. The Perlmutters both serve as members of the NYU Langone board of trustees.
Two new appointments at NYU Langone and the Technion will assist in the new partnership. Dr. Benjamin Neel, a cancer biologist and an expert in the field of cell signal transduction, recently joined the NYU Langone faculty as director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center. Eyal Gottlieb, who studies cancer metabolism, will lead the new research facility at the Technion funded by the Perlmutter gift.
