Burnham Institute for Medical Research

    Founded in La Jolla, California, as a non-profit medical research institute focused on cancer research, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research has grown to a 780 person effort, with an annual operating budget of $113 million.

Florida Overview

    Burnham is building the Institute’s new facility at Lake Nona, Orlando. It is a 600-acre Science & Technology Park. Burnham Institute and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine will serve as cornerstone elements of the budding cluster, which, when complete, is projected to have a potential economic impact of billions of dollars and generate thousands of jobs in the next ten years, according to a Milken Institute study. Lake Nona’s Science & Technology Park is also the preferred site for the Orlando Veterans Affairs Hospital and the Nemours Orlando Children’s Hospital and Research Campus.

    Burnham Institute for Medical Research plans to employ over 300 people at the Lake Nona site over the next ten years. The new technological capabilities that will be developed by Burnham at Lake Nona include chemistry, pharmacology, and functional genomics. These themes will complement and fortify the Institute’s current commitments to translational research in the areas of cancer, neurosciences and aging research, and infectious and inflammatory diseases, and will allow expansion into other areas such as diabetes and obesity research. Burnham expects the combined effort of their California and Florida sites to enhance their scientists’ ability to contribute innovative solutions for improving human health.

General Overview

    The Burnham consistently ranks among the top 25 organizations for the impact of its research publications, according to the Institute for Scientific Information. Though journal publications are their chief product, since 1976, Burnham scientists have also contributed directly or indirectly at least 5 approved therapies and several diagnostic tests that are currently in use, saving and extending lives; plus, another 9 innovative therapies are currently in clinical testing at over 50 medical centers around the world.

    The Burnham Institute for Medical Research ranks 4th in the nation among all private research institutes in terms of NIH funding. According to the Center for Advanced Research (CFAR), the Burnham is the most efficient private research institution in the nation, covering over 60% of its operating costs through competitive grants awarded to its scientists.

    Research at the Burnham is organized into 3 disease-focused research centers, bolstered by 3 technology centers. The Cancer Research Center constitutes approximately half the effort. The Burnham has been a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) designed Cancer Centers program since 1981 in the category of “basic science” cancer centers. The Cancer Research Center has also been designed by the NCI through special grants they receive as: (1) one of 13 centers for cancer drug discovery; (2) one of six centers for defining the molecular signatures of cancer for generating more powerful diagnostic test, in partnership with neighboring organizations including SKCC, and (4) one of eight centers for cancer bionanotechnology, also in partnership with neighboring organizations.

    Among the accomplishments to come from Burnham scientists for cancer are: (1) the laboratory technique known as the ELISA, which forms the basis for the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test and many other clinical laboratory tests; (2) the enabling technology for the world’s first biotech drug for cancer, EpogenTM, used to support blood cell production in patient undergoing cancer therapy; (3) one of the first vitamin-based drugs (TargretinTM) for cancer, that taps into natural biopathways for fighting cancer; and (4) the world’s first DNA-based drug for cancer to successfully complete final Phase III clinical trials.

    The Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research Center (NASCR) focuses on degenerative diseases associated with aging, particularly neurodegeneration (Alzheimer’s; Parkinson’s; ALS), stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. Research in this Center is aimed at either protecting cells from age-associated loss, or replacing lost cells through stem cell technologies. Cell protection strategies to emerge from the laboratories of Burnham scientists include: (1) Memantine (NamendaTM), a cytoprotective drug approved for Alzheimer’s disease and in testing for glaucoma and stroke (2) two drugs used to prevent stroke and heart attack by inhibiting blot clot formation; and (3) a nerve repair therapy (NeuroguardTM) anticipated to gain FDA-approval this year. Through special grants awarded by the NIH, the Burnham has been designated as one of four centers for devising new therapies for cardiovascular disease using bionanotechnology. With regards to cell replacement, the Burnham was an early entrant into the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine, launching a research division dedicated to this exciting but young field of medical inquiry.

    Today, the stem cell effort at Burnham constitutes the activities of nearly 100 scientists, perhaps the largest in the nation. Through special grants awarded by NIH, the Burnham has been designated as one of six national exploratory centers for human embryonic stem cell research, and one of five centers for training the nation’s scientists how to work with human embryonic stem cell research. To establish a safe-haven for performing research on all types of stem cells, they established in 2002 the Stem Cell Research Center, which includes the complete infrastructure for deriving new embryonic stem cell lines and making them available to the general research community for regenerative medicine research.

    The Infectious & Inflammatory Disease Center (IIDC) studies infectious agents and the immune system’s mechanisms for defense. Research in this new Center at Burnham focuses both on devising new treatments for incurable infectious diseases, where the immune response fails to eradicate pathogens, and on investigations of autoimmune diseases (e.g. Rheumatoid Arthritis; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; Lupus; Multiple Sclerosis) where the immune response is excessive and turns on the patient’s own tissues. Discoveries to come from this Center include (a) elucidation of the genetic basis for familial susceptibility to juvenile diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, finding a genetic difference in an immunoregulatory gene and (b) determination of the 3D-structure of the Anthrax Toxin and generation of the world’s most potent chemical inhibitors of Anthrax Toxin using NMR-based drug design, providing a rapid means of neutralizing this agent of bioterrorism.

    The Burnham’s technology centers include: (1) the Center for Chemical Genomics, one of ten NIH-funded national centers for establishing high-throughput robotic systems for screening large collections of chemicals and enabling rapid drug discovery; (2) the Center for Proteolytic Pathways, one of four NIH-funded national research resources devoted to developing innovative proteomics technologies for discovering new biopathways and new targets for diagnostics and drug discovery; (3) the Stem Cell Research Center, one of six national exploratory centers for human embryonic stem cell research, working to bring us a new day when new stem cell-based therapies will replenish tissues in body parts lost to disease, brain diseases, heart disease, and many other ailments; and (4) the Vascular Mapping Center, one of four national programs of excellence devising innovative bio-nanotechnologies for treating vascular disease; and (5) the Center for Computational Modeling, one of two national centers funded by NIH for devising innovative computer algorithms for predicting the 3-dimensional structures of proteins and generating computational tools for molecular modeling, thus providing insights into the functions of the genome and laying a foundation for drug discovery.