Dr. K. Craig Kent, chief executive officer of UVA Health and UVA’s executive vice president for health affairs, called the new institute a “historic milestone” for UVA Health that will fill a critical gap between the research bench and patients’ bedsides. The new institute, he said, will accelerate medical research, speed new treatments to patients and advance UVA Health’s mission to transform health and inspire hope for all Virginians and beyond.
“This is a translational research program unlike any that exists in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Kent said. “It is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for UVA Health that will produce concrete benefits for patients here in Virginia and everywhere.”
The Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology will help find new treatments and cures for even the most challenging and devastating diseases, including those for which we now lack effective treatments. Its focuses will include cellular therapy, gene therapy, nanotechnology and drug delivery, as well as other areas of focus that hold the potential to transform medicine as we know it.
The institute will allow UVA to capitalize on its existing strengths, such as immunotherapy, which supercharges the immune system to defeat diseases such as cancer; and nanotechnology, which aims to improve human health using tools far tinier than the width of a single human hair. Nanotechnology, for example, can be used to enhance drug delivery, so that a drug is delivered exactly where it is needed and not to cells where it might be harmful – true precision medicine.
In addition to accelerating such research, the new institute will allow UVA to expand its clinical trial offerings, making it possible for more people to access potential treatments as they are being developed – sometimes years before they become widely available.
The launch of the institute will also help UVA attract top talent and bolster funding for its research efforts. Ultimately, the institute is expected to generate an ecosystem of innovation, discovery, manufacturing and industry with benefits extending far beyond Charlottesville. Officials note, for example, that the development of the Research Triangle in North Carolina has attracted hundreds of companies there.
“The state’s investment in the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology represents a bipartisan effort to provide the best health care possible for all Virginians while growing the state’s economy, creating well-paying jobs and bolstering UVA Health’s reputation as a world leader in cutting-edge biomedical research,” Del. Todd Gilbert, speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates, said. “This is a real win for Virginia and its residents, and I’m happy we could come together in Richmond to help make this possible.”
Del. Barry Knight, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said the institute will be an incubator for innovation and entrepreneurship across Virginia.
