Illinois Medicine

peoria by David Haney Innovation Magnet NEWLY OPENED CANCER RESEARCH CENTER WILL ATTRACT PIONEERING STUDIES— AND THOSE WHO CONDUCT THEM—TO THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AT PEORIA T 20 | FALL 2012 HE FAINT MARKINGS on a sheet of plastic, a series of wide dashes and lines—like you might expect from a seismograph after an earthquake—represent certain cellular activity. Called proteases, the enzymes are indicative of one way that cancer cells spread. It's also the basis for much of the research by Jasti Rao, MD—to target, reduce and eliminate overproduction of that particular cellular activity. "My life's goal is to improve the quality of life and survival rates for cancer patients," says Rao, director of the Cancer Biology Program and senior associate dean of research at the College of Medicine at Peoria. But it's also Rao's life's work, with the help of his research team over the past decade, which has been at the heart of an impressive $13 million public-private building project to take research at the Peoria campus to the next level. "I have always dreamed of having a facility and the necessary funds to recruit other research experts to help reach our goals," says Rao, interna- tionally known for his gene therapy research that's also led to a patented and promising approach to eliminating cancer. The completed construction of Rao's dream becoming reality, the Cancer Research Center, was unveiled in December. In March, leaders from the medical and educational community, national, state and local govern- ment, businesses and nonprofit agencies, and private individuals came to see the newest cancer research center in downstate Illinois. They came to see the result of several years of planning and nearly two years of construction—where cutting-edge research is leading the way to new treatments and improving health care, and where the ultimate hope of finding a cure for cancer is a daily goal. Sara Rusch, MD, regional dean, sees the Cancer Center filling the Peoria campus' mission in a variety of ways. "The mission of the College of Medicine at Peoria is to lead collaboration to improve health. We can improve health by research, by education, by direct patient care and by service to the community," she says. "The Cancer Research Center falls un- der research. But from the work there, we expect to improve education and patient care." BEHIND THE RESEARCH TWO FLOORS OF VAST LABORATORY BAYS at the Cancer Research Center look out onto a forestlike central Illinois bluff. While the second floor is

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