A synchrotron beamline for determining structures of proteins and other macromolecules, under joint administration of the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, will produce its first usable X-rays for crystallography in 2004 and will be fully operational a year later. The Division of Cancer Biology is the lead organization for the National Cancer Institute.

NCI teamed with NIGMS in initiating construction of a synchrotron beamline at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), located at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. In March 2002, NCI and NIGMS leadership signed a memorandum of understanding with the APS to build beamline facilities. Preliminary design review was approved at the time, clearing the way for construction later this year. The German company ACCEL Instruments is under contract to build the beamline. The construction budget of approximately $18 million will be shared equally between NCI and NIGMS. Once construction is complete, operation costs for the beamline are estimated to be $4 million a year, of which NCI has committed $1 million annually.

NCI and NIGMS grantees will have access to the beam through a peer review process for research projects. Half of the beam time will be allocated to peer-reviewed research, while 25% will be reserved for maintenance and staff use. The remaining 25% would be divided between the two collaborating institutes for "special uses.

A special design feature of the beamline will double the number of usable experiments possible from the beam. Two undulators, which produce the synchrotron radiation in the accelerator loop, will be offset slightly (0.06°) to produce two beams of radiation within the team's research area.

The Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium (MMHCC), assembled from multidisciplinary teams of scientists, was established to apply the collective scientific expertise of its members in model design and research on human cancer to derive or refine mouse models of human cancers. The consortium is dedicated to the collaborative development, characterization, and validation of mouse models that are analogs of human cancers. The consortium enables each individual team to pursue its most innovative ideas and experimental approaches and to interact with the other teams within the consortium to foster the rapid exchange of ideas, information, and technology. These activities are further stimulated and facilitated by interactions with the NCI, and enhanced by linkages to key research communities when augmentation of the scientific and technical expertise of the consortium is warranted. The consortium and the NCI work together to implement workshops and symposia, to provide information about the models and related technology, and to plan for distribution of the validated mouse models to the cancer research community.

The models that the MMHCC derives and validates will be made available to the entire research community and should serve to accelerate the pace of discovery of the genetic and epigenetic factors that underlie the initiation of cancer and define the functions of cancer-related genes that promote tumor progression and metastasis. It is expected that these models will be valuable as the means to test new therapeutic, preventive, early detection, and diagnostic imaging strategies. As the MMHCC progresses, NCI will ensure inclusion of additional partners from the academic and private sector research communities through the formation of specialized MMHCC forums. As forums are added to the MMHCC, the Consortium will be able to capitalize rapidly on discoveries in all facets of cancer research, mouse model research, and relevant technologies. The program is also open to NCI-funded investigators whose research involves investigations of mouse models and who require supplemental support to take advantage of new opportunities afforded by these cancer models.