The Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg announced on June 5, 2008 the implementation of a strategic partnership initiative with three U.S. research institutions. As part of the initiative, the Government will invest approximately 140 million euros over the next five years as it aims to develop a centre of expertise in the area of molecular medicine.
Such initiative is centred on key strategic partnerships with three world-renowned research institutions with expertise in this field: the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, led by Dr Jeffrey Trent, the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, led by Dr Leroy Hood and the Partnership for Personalized Medicine (PPM) led by Dr Leland H. Hartwell. In carrying out this initiative, the Government counts on the support of the Public Research Centers (CRP), Santé, Henri Tudor and Gabriel Lippmann, in addition to the University of Luxembourg, all of which were closely involved in the setting-up phase. In this context, it should be noted that the Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI) has set up a limited “health technologies facility”, to help co-finance for profit ventures in this area of activity.
The projects focus notably on increasing research in the field of molecular diagnosis, which is the cornerstone of personalised medicine. Personalised medicine is based on improved prevention, targeted screening, early diagnosis and treatment of the causes of illness with drugs based on the individual's genetic and biological make up, i.e., drugs targeted and suited to each patient. Ultimately, this is expected to result in great improvements in the ability to administer the right drug to the right patient at the right time and in the right dose.
This initiative concretises the Government’s 2004 programme, whose main priorities were to set up centres of scientific and technological excellence, to help diversify the Luxembourg economic fabric by promoting research activities, particularly in biotechnology, and to develop preventive medicine.
Three Complementary Projects
The centrepiece of the overall project is the creation of a Luxembourg “biobank”, in partnership with the Translational Genomics Research Institute, under the name the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg (IBBL). Open to European and international cooperations, this biobank will initially focus its efforts on collecting and analysing biological samples (tissue, blood, etc.) and the related data for purposes of supporting oncology research (lung and colon cancers).
IBBL’s efforts will be underpinned by leading biotechnology and bioinformatics capabilities.
The biobank, to be founded by the three Public Research Centres and the University, will meet the strictest international standards in ethics and data-protection. This organisation intends to ultimately promote and facilitate national and international research projects, including the research projects of Dr. Hartwell and Dr. Hood; to advance translational research, i.e. the implementation of recent research findings into medical practice; and to serve as a catalyst to transform research findings into tools for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease.