Insight

Spring 2008

College home to two university superclusters

When Colorado State University first announced its Supercluster program in 2006, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was honored to have one of its Programs of Research and Scholarly Excellence – the Program in Infectious Diseases – expanded and grandfathered in as Colorado State University’s first designated Supercluster.

Less than a year later, a second College Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence – the Program in Cancer Research – became the second Supercluster at the University. The Infectious Disease Supercluster and the Cancer Research Supercluster were two programs built over more than three decades that benefited from outstanding faculty, an infusion of federal research grants, as well as private funding.

“Designation as a Supercluster is a great tribute to all the individuals who have worked so hard to create two internationally renowned programs in infectious diseases and cancer research here at Colorado State University,” said Dr. Lance Perryman, Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The Supercluster designation provides programs with additional institutional support ($200,000-$400,000 annually), gives programs better leverage to obtain external funding, and incorporates greater international research components as consistent with the program’s research focus. The University component of both programs is matched with a private “business arm” that will help speed discoveries from the lab bench to the marketplace.

Dr. Perryman noted that during the past several years, the College has seen a huge investment in the Infectious Disease Program by the University, the College, and numerous federal programs. This includes a $40 million grant to establish a Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at CSU.The Cancer Supercluster is a collaboration that has evolved from the early days of the cancer biology program in the 1960s to the current collaborative efforts that encompass 65 faculty members in 12 departments, across five colleges at CSU. The collaboration continues outside of the University with joint research efforts involving the University of Colorado Health Science Center as well as CU-Boulder, National Jewish Hospital, Children’s Oncology Group, Denver Clinic for Extremities at Risk, Allosource, Varian Medical Systems, NASA, M.D. Anderson Medical Center, Harvard University, and many other private and public entities.