The participating institutions will expand their programs in cell and developmental biology, with an emphasis on developing and applying techniques for chemical intervention in cellular processes and real-time imaging of living cells. We must provide researchers with the financial and technical resources they need to achieve the breakthroughs that will lead to new applications for the patient. More than 20 faculty members from each of the institutions played a role in developing the program. Some initial steps have already been taken, including a multi-institutional scientific seminar on chemical biology hosted by Rockefeller. A second seminar on computational biology will be held July 22 at Cornell's Ithaca campus.
Joint recruitment is also underway for specialists in bio-informatics.
The partner institutions have undertaken previous successful collaborations. As the land-grant university for New York State, it stands first in academic research in the state, making its results available through a statewide cooperative extension system. The university also is home to the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology, a collaboration between Cornell, New York State, the federal government, and a consortium of industries. From the start, the medical college has followed an educational philosophy that emphasizes the importance of combining a strong basic foundation in the medical sciences with extensive clinical training in patient care. In 1927, the Medical College and The New York Hospital entered into a major affiliation agreement, which culminated with the opening, in 1932, of a unified campus on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.