Alumnus donates to cancer research

UofL's Institute for Molecular Diversity and Drug Design has received a gift that will allow it to support activities which strengthen oncological research at the university.

The $270,982 gift from medical school alumnus Charles Bloch of Louisville was announced at the institute's third-annual symposium March 12.

Nancy Martin, UofL vice president for research, said the university will seek state matching funds for the gift through the Research Challenge Trust Fund, more commonly known as the "Bucks for Brains" program.

University of Louisville scientists formed the interdisciplinary Institute for Molecular Diversity and Drug Design in 1999 to create a more direct path for testing compounds that could become new medicines.

The institute unites 18 faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences, Speed Scientific School, School of Medicine, School of Dentistry and James Graham Brown Cancer Center.

The professors have biomedical research interests and represent several disciplines with strengths in cancer research and combinatorial chemistry.