Scripps Research Institute Wins Major Grant

SAN DIEGO — La Jolla's Scripps Research Institute has been awarded $10 million to fund a new oncology center. Institute officials hope the five-year grant will help the center develop a better understanding of the behavior of cancer cells.

Scripps is of one of 12 oncology centers nationwide that received a grant from the National Cancer Institute.

The centers will work together to shed some light on the behavior of cancer by using researchers from a variety of disciplines.

Scripps researcher Peter Kuhn said oncologists will collaborate with mathematicians and biomedical engineers.

"So it's people who have not been traditionally involved in that field," Kuhn said. "And the advantage of that is you get a somewhat outside of the box thinking."

It's hoped that the effort will eventually generate new methods to battle cancer. The disease is responsible for nearly one out of four deaths in the U.S.