The University of Nebraska Medical Center continues to benefit from the provisions of the 2001 Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Initiative (LB692). Over the next two years, the state’s four biomedical research institutions, including Creighton University Medical Center, will receive $12 million, of which UNMC will receive about half.
As part of the most recent settlement UNMC received, a $400,000 BIAcore 3000 instrument was purchased. It serves UNMC researchers, and can serve other laboratories in the state and elsewhere.
Donald Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor, UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology, said the BIAcore instrument is mostly being used in biomedical companies with interests in biotechnology. “The BIAcore is like the Maserati of instruments, except it’s made in Sweden,” Dr. Johnson said. “Nebraska is one of the few states using tobacco settlement money for healthcare and biomedical research.
Dr. Johnson said getting answers on how molecules interact has been a real challenge for scientists. “It’s a dynamic that’s hard to measure. In the last five years, this machine has advanced technology for developing new therapies that previously were done manually. We can do in a day what may take months. If you want to screen a drug to inhibit a virus, it would take weeks or months,” he said.
Jodi Booth, technical director, UNMC Molecular Interaction Facility in the Durham Research Center, said the BIAcore can analyze antibodies made in the lab which are used to treat cancer and infectious diseases. “It will eventually be the standard for testing antibodies and therapeutic drugs. You get a much better and more rapid analysis for any promising drugs you want to develop,” Booth said.
The system can analyze molecules and their interaction with each other as well as how viruses interact with cells. It can also analyze monoclonal antibodies used in diagnosis and therapy for cancers, autoimmune diseases and against infectious agents.
The monoclonal antibody market is particularly one of the fastest growing sectors of the pharmaceutical industry. “It will be a $30 billion industry,” Booth said. “There are about 300 BIAcore 3000s in the country. This is the only one in Nebraska.”
She said the computerized systems will enhance the ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test commonly used in laboratories to detect the presence of certain virus or bacteria antigens, or other biological compounds present in the body. She said not only is it five to 10 times faster, but the amount of data received is much more sophisticated.
An advantage of the BIAcore 3000 is it doesn’t require purification of a compound in order to analyze it.
“Now they don’t have to purify them,” Booth said. “It makes the process so much faster. You can see in 24 hours if it’s something you want to put money and effort into. Each step you do in the lab costs money,” Booth said.
“This allows you to see how good a product you have. If you can eliminate or reduce the process, you’re ahead of the game,” she said. It speeds things up so therapies get into the clinics faster for use. The older technologies can do this, but with a whole lot more time and effort,” she said.
Tony Hollingsworth, Ph.D., professor, Eppley Institute, who studies pancreatic cancer, said the technology saves a lot of time and effort. “It enables you to look at interactions you couldn’t study before,” he said.
Credited with enabling UNMC to acquire the BIAcore 3000 are Nebraska Gov. Dave Heinemann, the appropriations committee and the Nebraska Legislature, which approved the $2 million increase in the tobacco settlement dollar award for biomedical research, said Harold M. Maurer, M.D., UNMC chancellor.
“Thus, there is now a total of $12 million a year in the allocation to UNMC, UNL, Creighton and Boys Town. Particular credit is due to Governor Heineman, Senator Don Pederson who chairs the Appropriations Committee, and Senator Jim Jensen,” he said. He also said Bob Bartee, executive assistant to the chancellor, and Tom Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research, deserve a special ‘thank you’ for moving this legislation through to a successful conclusion.
“It is our obligation to use these dollars wisely to continue to build a strong biomedical research enterprise. Having the availability of this amount of programmatic money each year is unique in the country,” Dr. Maurer said.
Dr. Johnson said this instrument takes advantage of molecular physics.
“We think this is one of the most useful tools for basic research and advancement for drugs and antibodies,” he said. “The economy in Nebraska is focused on agriculture, insurance and telecommunications. If we want to be leaders in biotechnology, this will help us be in the center of the healthcare investment that will pay off in future research and biotechnology.”
He said the system is an excellent use of the Tobacco Settlement funds for medical research. “We appreciate the foresight of our Unicameral,” Dr. Johnson said.
Paula B. Turpen, Ph.D., director of research resources, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, said information researchers get through the BIAcore 3000 is invaluable for the development of new, more effective drugs or research tools whose binding can be targeted to specific cells/locations in the body.
Sen. Jim Jensen, District 20 in Omaha, said when LB692 originally passed, they looked at the need across the state of Nebraska and how the state could best position Nebraska in the future not only for citizens, but the entire United States. Institutions that benefited included UNMC, other University of Nebraska campuses, Creighton University and Boys Town National Research Hospital.
“We looked at our research institutions. Those on the committee looked at some way to get funds, take dollars and leverage them to attract more dollars,” Jensen said. “Nebraska is one of four states nationally that took the settlement and invested it all in health care. I’m proud of that.”
“Along with that, the present legislature has been able to look and say we did a good thing. We looked back at that and can say, my goodness the universities and Boystown have multiplied the dollars we gave them. We can say this has been a great economic development for the state.”
Jensen said when the fund was set up in 2001, they planned to disperse $10 million each year, with possibly increasing it to $12 million each year.
“We had a recession during that period that didn’t’ allow us to increase it. In the back of our minds then, we felt when the recession ended, we would like to get back on $12 million a year or even $14 million after that. I’m very excited to see what’s happening,” the senator said.