Associated Press
DULUTH -- A health care system has given the University of Minnesota-Duluth $1.2 million to bolster its fledgling effort in molecular medicine.
St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System announced the 10-year gift Thursday, which established the Duluth Clinic Chair in Molecular Medicine. The goal is to capitalize on a revolution in cancer genetics.
The gift allowed UMD to hire Ed Perkins, a biochemist who specializes in gene therapy, to the new faculty position. Perkins previously was director of chromosome engineering for a Canadian biotechnology company.
Four of the university's 40-member medical school faculty study cancer biology.
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Medicine gained a powerful weapon against cancer when scientists compiled a map of the human genome, said George Trace, a pharmacology professor and UMD's associate dean for research.
