Wistar has received a $10 million gift for a new Center for Advanced Therapeutics

The Wistar Institute, a National Cancer Institute-recognized research facility in West Philadelphia, has received $10 million from an anonymous donor for a new research hub.

The new Center for Advanced Therapeutics will be a hub for early-stage drug research, including how vaccines may be used to treat and prevent cancer.

Wistar has already received $20 million from the same anonymous donor to put toward design and construction of the Center for Advanced Therapeutics, expected to begin this summer.

Wistar is planning a $5-to-8-million renovation of 12,000 square feet of unused administrative space at its Spruce Street headquarters for the new center, which will have labs and specialty rooms for analyzing radioactive materials and tissue cultures.

» READ MORE: Wistar Institute is opening a new center to research vaccines that could treat and prevent cancer

“Generous gifts like this enable Wistar researchers to pursue discoveries that can lead to breakthrough cures, and this new Center for Advanced Therapeutics will allow us to accomplish just that,” said Ronald Caplan, chair of Wistar’s Bold Science // Global Impact fundraising campaign.

Wistar was founded in 1892 as the nation’s first independent biomedical research institution. It is not part of a health system or university, which means it must partner with outside organizations to continue its research beyond early-stage discovery.

Wistar already works closely with University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Through the new Center for Advanced Therapeutics, Wistar hopes to forge stronger partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to advance drug development.