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SDSU-led research center to find new uses for approved drugs
By Christie Delfanian
Developing new formulations and therapeutic targets for approved drugs may help treat cancer and other diseases. This is the concept behind the South Dakota State University-led Center for Drug, Disease and Delivery, which recently received a five-year, $3.9 million award from the South Dakota Research and Commercialization Council.
The 3D (Drug, Disease and Delivery) Center will provide an integrated framework for drug development and build academic, industry and clinical partnerships to advance these new treatments, according to director Om Perumal, a professor and head of SDSU’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences Joshua Reineke will be the center’s associate director.
“This was definitely a team effort from those within and outside SDSU to get all the pieces together, but the timing was right,” Perumal said.
He acknowledged the integral role state funding for the Translational Cancer Research Center, which concluded its work in 2015, and infrastructure-building grants as well as a $1.1 million commitment for bridge funding from Kevin and Lorie Haarberg through the SDSU Foundation played in making this center possible.
Kevin Haarberg is a 1979 pharmacy graduate, and Lorie lost both parents to cancer in their 50s. That has motivated them to invest in research within the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions.
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A deeper dive into the unknown started last year when the pandemic was declared and the health system found itself not unlike other businesses, which had to modify its operating procedures in light of uncertain times. In April 2020 it put the new hospital on hold and even cut back 60% of its procedures to focus on COVID-19 patients, according to reporting by the Herald. By June, it said it would cut 7% of its workforce to help navigate the economic challenges of the pandemic.
Much has been learned since then, Weiser said, including “how to manage a pandemic in a community, but we know how to right our ship. Our ship is sailing with a full mast, and we’re excited about where we’re going.”
The seven-story hospital is a joint construction operation with Minneapolis-based PCL Construction and Grand Forks-based Community Contractors (PCL/Community), who partnered with JLG Architects and HKS Architects to build the new hospital.
The PCL/Community and JLG team recently completed the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a $105 million education building.
Design and preconstruction of the hospital started in spring 2018.
The future hospital will include 226 patient beds and a 16-bed observation unit. The patient rooms are expected to exceed code requirements for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also will house private rooms in the neonatal intensive care unit, pre- and post-operative rooms and state-of-the-art operating rooms, according to Altru. The hospital will feature a dedicated trauma operating room with a trauma elevator for quick transport, and on-site equipment not present in the current facility.
The construction site of the new hospital is about 17 acres of the 63-acre Altru campus off Columbia Road in Grand Forks. Around 18% of the work already was completed when construction paused, according to information from Altru. The company said the site was properly secured during the construction pause and that no work already completed will have to be redone.
“We are thrilled to share our new plans for an even better hospital than we first imagined,” Dave Molmen, Altru’s interim CEO said. “The facility will serve our region for generations to come with the innovation, world-class care and calming environment our patients, their families and our staff deserve.”