Printer-friendly Version

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 22, 2004

SCHUMER SECURES $500,000 FOR ROSWELL PARK CANCER INSTITUTE IN BUFFALO

Funding included in new FY05 Omnibus Appropriations report

Funds will be used to buy equipment for Roswell Park's Data Bank and BioRepository to help process and store biological specimens and process, sort and store data from questionnaires and medical records

Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that Congress has passed $500,000 in federal funds for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. $250,000 of the funds were included in the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations and $250,000 of the funds were included in the Energy and Water Appropriations portion of the bill. The bill will proceed to the President to be signed into law.

"Roswell Park is one of the top cancer research centers in the entire country, and we are blessed to have it here in Buffalo," Schumer said. "This federal money will help Roswell Park keep up the fight against cancer and hopefully get us another step closer to finding a cure."

The Roswell Center medical facility devotes itself exclusively to the study and treatment of cancer. Within the center, the Roswell Park Data Bank and BioRepository (DBBR) was created to conduct translational and medical research by using biospecimens from patients and healthy controls. The Center's sample bank is a valuable source in investigating cancer because they use the associations they find between cancer samples and healthy control samples to do so.

The DBBR relies on their sample bank for three specific purposes. First, to better understand risk factors and disease outcomes. Second, to evaluate markers that may have predicted the disease. This is important in early screening and diagnosis measures that would catch the cancer before it develops and is more difficult to treat. Finally, the samples and data allow doctors to evaluate genetic and other factors that may predict who would benefit most from specific therapies.

Today's allocation will allow for DBBR to purchase processing and storage equipment necessary for biological specimens and necessary computer equipment required for the processing, sorting and storage of the data from questionnaires and medical records.

###