USC Trustee Harlyne J. Norris attends the dedication of the 10-story building aiming to ‘make cancer a disease of the past.’

The Keck School of Medicine of USC dramatically expanded its laboratory research space today with the opening of the Harlyne J. Norris Cancer Research Tower.

The 10-story structure spanning 172,440 square feet at the corner of Biggy Street and Eastlake Avenue is an expansion of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

USC Trustee Harlyne J. Norris joined university officials and donors at USC’s Health Sciences campus to celebrate the opening of the new laboratory facility that will house one of the nation’s first centers focused exclusively on the study of epigenetics.

“Programs housed at the Norris Cancer Research Tower will help scientists around the world develop new ways of approaching treatment and prevention of disease,” said Peter Jones, director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The facility offers tremendous opportunities to expand and advance the research that is already under way at USC.”

The building is dedicated to continuing the vision of the late USC Trustee Kenneth Norris Jr., husband of Harlyne J. Norris, to “make cancer a disease of the past.”

A first-floor bridge connects the new building with the Renette and Marshall Ezralow Family Research Tower and the Norman Topping Research Tower, completing a trio of structures that combine innovative cancer research and clinical trials with high-quality patient care.

“The opening of this tower is an important milestone in our strategic efforts to expand our research facilities so that our outstanding faculty can address the compelling biomedical issues of the day,” said Brian Henderson, dean of the Keck School.

“We are in the midst of a building boom on this campus. The Norris Cancer Research Tower reflects significant progress toward our strategic goal of increasing our research space. This is critically important in order to recruit additional investigators who will increase our research funding as well as the number of important scientific discoveries that our faculty contribute to the community.”

Among the key features of the building are:

• five floors dedicated to basic research

• two floors for preventive medicine research

• the Hinderstein Family Meditation Garden

• the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Conference Center, housing a 200-seat auditorium. The conference center will be utilized for medical and scientific meetings and community educational seminars.

“I’m enormously proud of this beautiful building and what may come from the research being done here,” Norris said. “There’s been a great deal of cancer in my family, and I have great hopes that a cure will be found here.”

One floor of the new tower will be dedicated to the new Epigenome Center. Jones, a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research, is a leader in epigenetics, the study of how chemicals that attach to DNA can be switched on and off without changing the fundamental genetic information. Understanding how specific genes switch on and off has vast implications for cancer prevention and treatment.

“We are already recognized as a center of excellence in this arena,” Jones said. “With the opening of the Epigenome Center, we will really be able to develop breakthroughs in this explosive field.”

The tower also will provide a temporary home to USC’s growing Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Scientists with the program will focus on basic stem cell biology in the new laboratories – including human embryonic stem cells, developmental biology and the biology of tissue regeneration and repair, said Martin Pera, who heads the center.

“Access to this research space will allow us to move ahead with our recruitment program to build up a critical mass of outstanding stem cell scientists,” Pera said. “The new tower will also house our Stem Cell Core facility that will support work in stem cells through training, research materials and provision of space for pilot and collaborative research projects.”

University officials broke ground on the $97 million structure in 2003. The tower was funded initially by a $15 million grant from the Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation. The contributions of about 15 families and groups of donors who named laboratories, floors and research offices inside the tower were recognized with individual dedications.