Editing Beckman Research Institute (section)

== Research contributions ==

Research and treatment are closely coordinated between the City of Hope National Medical Center and the Beckman Research Institute.  As of 2019, over 300 clinical trials were being conducted at any one time, and at least one-third of eligible patients were enrolled in clinical trials.<ref name="Colditz"/>  A number of significant achievements have been reported by researchers affiliated with the Beckman Research Institute at City of Hope. These include:

===Diabetes===

Researchers associated with the Beckman Research Institute are credited with starting the [[biotechnology]] industry.<ref name=Peterson/> [[Keiichi Itakura]] and [[Arthur Riggs (geneticist)|Arthur Riggs]], with [[Genentech]] scientist [[Herbert Boyer]], were the first to develop human recombinant gene products.  Their techniques were used to successfully create synthetic [[somatostatin]] in ''[[E. coli]]'', the first expression of a human protein in bacteria, in 1977. The techniques and tools of genetic synthesis were standardizable and applicable to many similar problems.  The group successfully reported the expression of human [[insulin]] in bacteria by 1978.<ref name=Gelijns>{{cite book|editor-last1=Gelijns|editor-first1=Annetine C.|editor-last2=Rosenberg|editor-first2=Nathan|editor-last3=Committee on Technological Innovation in Medicine, Institute of Medicine|title=The sources of innovation : universities and industry|date=1994|publisher=National Academy Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=0309051894|chapter-url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309051894&page=167|chapter=Incentives and Focus in University and Industrial Research: The Case of Synthetic Insulin|last=Stern|first=Scott|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sourcesofmedical0005unse/page/157 157–187]|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofmedical0005unse/page/157}}</ref>

Barry Forman identified the first new steroid-like hormone in 30 years, androstanol, a hormone with a different mechanism of action from others, that may be useful in treatment of diabetes.<ref name=Salk1998>{{cite web|title=New Steroid Hormone has Allure Of Its Own|website=Salk Institute for Biological Studies|date=October 8, 1998|url=http://www.salk.edu/news/pressrelease_details.php?press_id=53|access-date=May 13, 2015|archive-date=July 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726162219/https://www.salk.edu/news-release/new-steroid-hormone-has-allure-of-its-own/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=LATIMES1998>{{cite news|title=Researchers Identify First New Steroid-Like Hormone in 30 Years|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-08-me-30388-story.html|access-date=13 May 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 8, 1998|archive-date=18 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518141605/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/oct/08/local/me-30388|url-status=live}}</ref>

Fouad Kandeel leads clinical trials testing the use of islet transplantation to treat patients who are incapacitated by severe type 1 diabetes.<ref name=Moran>{{cite news|last1=Moran|first1=Gwen|title=The California Cure Harvesting Hope: Dr. Fouad Kandeel|url=http://www.latimesmagazine.com/the-california-cure-harvesting-hope-dr-fouad-kandeel.html|access-date=13 May 2015|work=Los Angeles Times Magazine|date=2012}}</ref>

Bart Roep leads immune intervention strategies (including gene therapy, stem cell therapy and bone marrow transportation{{what|date=May 2021}}) with the ultimate goal to cure type 1 diabetes.

===Cancer===
Arthur Riggs went on to work with Shmuel Cabilly on "fundamental technology required for the artificial synthesis of antibody molecules", since used to create "smart" cancer drugs.<ref name=PatentSuit>{{cite news|last1=Meland|first1=Marius|title=Judge Dismisses MedImmune's Patent Suit Vs. Genentech|url=http://www.law360.com/articles/1355/judge-dismisses-medimmune-s-patent-suit-vs-genentech|access-date=13 May 2015|work=Law360|date=April 24, 2004|archive-date=26 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726162215/https://www.law360.com/articles/1355/judge-dismisses-medimmune-s-patent-suit-vs-genentech|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Interview>{{cite news|last1=Lewis|first1=Wayne|title=Art Riggs: Smart cancer drugs and how they came to be|url=http://breakthroughs.cityofhope.org/art-riggs-smart-cancer-drugs|access-date=13 May 2015|work=City of Hope Breakthroughs|date=June 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329093237/http://breakthroughs.cityofhope.org/art-riggs-smart-cancer-drugs|archive-date=29 March 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Riggs has been associated with the institute in several ways, including as director of the Beckman Research Institute from 2000 to 2007, now director emeritus.

Gerd Pfeifer was able to prove a definitive link between smoking and lung cancer, by demonstrating genetic damage in lung cells, caused by a chemical in cigarette smoke.<ref name=SmokingGun>{{cite news|last1=STOUT|first1=DAVID|title=Direct link found between smoking and lung cancer|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/18/us/direct-link-found-between-smoking-and-lung-cancer.html|access-date=13 May 2015|work=New York Times|date=October 18, 1996}}</ref><ref name=Biomarkers>{{cite journal|last1=Hecht|first1=Stephen S.|last2=Carmella|first2=Steven G.|last3=Murphy|first3=Sharon E.|last4=Foiles|first4=Peter G.|last5=Chung|first5=Fung-Lung|title=Carcinogen biomarkers related to smoking and upper aerodigestive tract cancer|journal=Journal of Cellular Biochemistry|date=1993|volume=53|issue=S17F|pages=27–35|doi=10.1002/jcb.240531005|pmid=8412204|s2cid=7492212}}<!--|accessdate=13 May 2015--></ref>

The Beckman Research Institute has partnered with the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation in the Health of Women Study (HOW), a long-term [[cohort study]] tracking the health of women via online and mobile platforms. It will study both women who have and who do not have breast cancer. The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation hopes to recruit one million women volunteers to become part of its participating "Army of Women".<ref name=Women>{{cite news|title=The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation And The Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope Launch The Groundbreaking Health of Women Study|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-dr-susan-love-research-foundation-and-the-beckman-research-institute-of-city-of-hope-launch-the-groundbreaking-health-of-women-study-172251821.html|access-date=14 May 2015|work=PR Newswire|date=October 2, 2012|archive-date=18 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518082435/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-dr-susan-love-research-foundation-and-the-beckman-research-institute-of-city-of-hope-launch-the-groundbreaking-health-of-women-study-172251821.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Army>{{cite web|title=Army of Women working for a future without breast cancer|url=http://www.armyofwomen.org/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414062442/http://www.armyofwomen.org/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=April 14, 2013|website=Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation|access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=Carrera>{{cite news|last1=Carrera|first1=Krysten|title=Author Susan Love Visits NCI|url=http://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2010/12_10_2010/story8.htm|work=NIH Record|date=2010-12-10}}</ref>

[[Hua Eleanor Yu]] and her group are studying the involvement of [[STAT3]] with cancer cells and the immune system, and developing possible drug treatments to attack tumor cells.<ref name=Bronchud>{{cite book|last1=Bronchud|first1=Miguel H.|title=Principles of molecular oncology|date=2008|publisher=Humana Press|location=Totowa, NJ|isbn=978-1-59745-470-4|edition=3rd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nN6U3bGcTgC&pg=PT877|access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref><ref name=Dranoff>{{cite book|last1=Dranoff|first1=Glenn|title=Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy|date=2011|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|location=Berlin, Heidelberg|isbn=978-3-642-14136-2|pages=47–48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSM545kh36oC&pg=PA47|access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref>

===HIV/AIDS===
John Rossi has worked on treatments for [[AIDS-related lymphoma]], pancreatic cancer and liver cancer.<ref name=AAASRossi/>  He was the first researcher to use RNA to block the progress of the virus that causes HIV/AIDS by degrading the HIV virus within infected cells.<ref name=AAASRossi>{{cite news|last1=Raney|first1=Rebecca Fairley|title=John Rossi is fighting HIV with gene therapy|url=http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/member-spotlight/john-rossi-fighting-hiv-gene-therapy|access-date=13 May 2015|work=AAAS Member Science|date=August 24, 2012}}</ref> He is involved in ongoing work with David DiGiusto and others to develop disease-resistant immune systems by transplanting gene-modified HIV-1-resistant stem and progenitor cells.<ref name=DiGiusto2013>{{cite journal|last1=DiGiusto|first1=David|last2=Stan|first2=Rodica|last3=Krishnan|first3=Amrita|last4=Li|first4=Haitang|last5=Rossi|first5=John|last6=Zaia|first6=John|title=Development of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Based Gene Therapy for HIV-1 Infection: Considerations for Proof of Concept Studies and Translation to Standard Medical Practice|journal=Viruses|date=November 22, 2013|volume=2013|issue=5|pages=2898–2919|doi=10.3390/v5112898|pmid=24284880|pmc=3856421|doi-access=free}}</ref> With John Zaia and others, Rossi has worked on Lentiviral vectors for delivering RNA-based gene therapy.  This approach combines stem cell and gene therapy to deliver RNA molecules that can block the genes that the HIV/AIDS virus uses to infect immune cells.<ref name=DiGiusto2010>{{cite journal|last1=DiGiusto|first1=D. L.|last2=Krishnan|first2=A.|last3=Li|first3=L.|last4=Li|first4=H.|last5=Li|first5=S.|last6=Rao|first6=A.|last7=Mi|first7=S.|last8=Yam|first8=P.|last9=Stinson|first9=S.|last10=Kalos|first10=M.|last11=Alvarnas|first11=J.|last12=Lacey|first12=S. F.|last13=Yee|first13=J.-K.|last14=Li|first14=M.|last15=Couture|first15=L.|last16=Hsu|first16=D.|last17=Forman|first17=S. J.|last18=Rossi|first18=J. J.|last19=Zaia|first19=J. A.|title=RNA-Based Gene Therapy for HIV with Lentiviral Vector-Modified CD34+ Cells in Patients Undergoing Transplantation for AIDS-Related Lymphoma|journal=Science Translational Medicine|date=16 June 2010|volume=2|issue=36|pages=36ra43|doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.3000931|pmid=20555022|pmc=3130552}}</ref><ref name=WhiteCOH>{{cite news|last1=White|first1=Nicole|title=City of Hope awarded $8 million to launch stem cell therapy clinic focused on fighting incurable disease|url=http://www.cityofhope.org/city-of-hope-awarded-cirm-grant|access-date=13 May 2015|work=City of Hope Press Release}}</ref><ref name=Chung>{{cite journal|last1=Chung|first1=Janet|last2=Scherer|first2=Lisa J|last3=Gu|first3=Angel|last4=Gardner|first4=Agnes M|last5=Torres-Coronado|first5=Monica|last6=Epps|first6=Elizabeth W|last7=DiGiusto|first7=David L|last8=Rossi|first8=John J|title=Optimized Lentiviral Vectors for HIV Gene Therapy: Multiplexed Expression of Small RNAs and Inclusion of MGMTP140K Drug Resistance Gene|journal=Molecular Therapy|date=28 February 2014|volume=22|issue=5|pages=952–963|doi=10.1038/mt.2014.32|pmid=24576853|pmc=4015224}}<!--|accessdate=13 May 2015--></ref><ref name=McCormack>{{cite news|last1=McCormack|first1=Kevin|last2=Lytal|first2=Cristy|title=California stem cell agency celebrates 10 years of progress|url=https://news.usc.edu/71879/california-stem-cell-agency-celebrates-10-years-of-progress/|access-date=14 May 2015|work=USC News|date=December 2, 2014}}</ref>  John Zaia is also investigating the possibility that cancer chemotherapy can perturb reservoirs of HIV, which has relevance to therapeutic interventions to cure HIV.<ref name=amfAR>{{cite web|title=amfAR Consortium To Speed Search for HIV/AIDS Cure|url=http://amfar.org/articles/in-the-lab/arche/amfar-consortium-to-speed-search-for-hiv-aids-cure/|access-date=14 May 2015|website=amfAR Making Aids History|date=May 11, 2010|archive-date=23 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323010706/http://amfar.org/articles/in-the-lab/arche/amfar-consortium-to-speed-search-for-hiv-aids-cure/|url-status=dead}}</ref>