Yale School of Medicine Oct 5 celebrated the opening of a new four-story building on Amistad Street that will house three interdisciplinary research programs: a human and translational immunology program, a program in vascular biology and therapeutics, and the Yale Stem Cell Center.
“This building,” said Yale Medical School Dean Robert Alpern, “focuses on what everybody calls the future of medicine: interdisciplinary science.”
The Oct 5 celebration included a scientific symposium featuring presentations by Salvador Moncada of University College, London; Marc Feldman of Imperial College, London; and Douglas Melton of Harvard University. Melton, introduced by Haifan Lin, the director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, spoke on “Stem Cells for Pancreatic Development and Diabetes.”
Unlike traditional biomedical research teams — often composed of members of one discipline working in a single animal model — the three research programs housed in the new building draw from multiple departments and have shifted their focus from animal studies alone to better understanding what works, and doesn’t work, in humans.
One of the three new research programs in the building, the Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Therapeutics, focuses on heart disease and cancer, as well as on engineering artificial tissues to replace diseased blood vessels, heart valves, and other parts of the human body. Vascular biology is the study of the cells and molecules that interact in the vascular system, which supplies the organs and every cell in the body with oxygen and nutrients.
The mission of the new Human and Translational Immunology program is to accelerate the application of new developments in immunology to the treatment of human diseases such as diabetes. Some of the diseases the group will be targeting relate to organ transplantation. They will also be studying the application of immunotherapies to infectious disease or cancer, and the basis for autoimmune disorders, such as asthma, type 1 diabetes and lupus. In addition, the group will look at other diseases, such as arteriosclerosis, which lend themselves to therapeutic interventions by means of the immune system.
The Yale Stem Cell Center focuses on understanding the basic properties of stem cells in order to pave the way for future medical therapies.
With his associate director, Diane Krause, professor of laboratory medicine and pathology, Haifan Lin is recruiting four more faculty members to conduct basic stem cell research and to investigate applications. They recently recruited Natalia Ivanova, formerly of Princeton University.
The 120,000-square-foot building at 10 Amistad Street contains many environmentally friendly features, such as high-efficiency and occupancy sensors for lighting, a rainwater collection cistern, bike racks and showers to encourage biking to and from work, recycled construction materials, ultra-low-flow water fixtures, and dual-flush toilets.
