When the CTRC opens this May, it will occupy the top four floors of the 10-story building.

It will be one of a few centers in the country dedicated to expediting development of new medical tests and treatments—propelling them from the laboratory to the physicians and their patients who need them.

Murphy is senior associate dean for clinical and translational research at the medical school and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of medicine and microbiology and immunology.

An experienced translational researcher, Murphy is an internationally recognized expert in infectious diseases. He specializes in vaccine development for otitis media—ear infections, primarily affecting children—and lower respiratory tract infections in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

He has been involved in planning the CTRC since its inception.

“Dr. Murphy has the special skill set needed to bring together scientists from diverse backgrounds who have a common interest in improving the public health through innovative research,” said Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

“He is already creating a unique environment that is enabling powerful synergies across departmental barriers and bringing medical innovation from the bench to the bedside.”

The UB-owned and operated CTRC is a 170,000-square-foot research facility that will feature:

• modern, open-architecture laboratories for up to 31 principal investigators
• a Clinical Research Center with eight examination rooms and an adjacent biorepository that will allow researchers to collect, store and catalog valuable tissue samples to study a wide variety of disease conditions
• state-of the-art research imaging facilities featuring magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and positron emission tomography
• a UB Biosciences Incubator that will help UB researchers develop medical products and businesses spun off from their research
• administrative offices
  

Under Murphy’s leadership, the CTRC already has produced innovative collaborations with its consortium partners, which include:

• UB’s five health sciences schools (the medical school, dental medicine, nursing, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, public health and health professions)
• UBMD (the UB medical school’s practice plan)
• UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences
• UB Research Institute on Addictions
• Roswell Park Cancer Institute
• Great Lakes Health System of Western New York
• Hauptman Woodward Medical Research Institute

In just the past year, these collaborations have attracted UB pilot study grants under a multi-institution strategic plan spearheaded by the Buffalo Translational Consortium that aims to grow clinical and translational research in the region.

The pilot studies program is funded by the dean’s offices of UB’s five health sciences schools, the UB Office of the Vice President for Research, the UB Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Pilot grant winners were chosen based on the likelihood that their research would attract extramural funding. A second round of funding is currently under review, and winners will be announced in February.