The University of Nebraska Board of Regents will be asked on Friday to approve the creation of the UNMC Center for Transplantation Medicine. They also will get an update on renovation plans for the College of Dentistry.
If approved, the transplant center will allow UNMC to build on its reputation as a national leader in the world of transplantation by increasing the medical center’s transplant research and education capabilities.
“The transplant center is a unique opportunity to get all the different professionals who work in transplantation together into one academic vessel,” said Alan Langnas, D.O., a professor of surgery at UNMC who would head the new center. “This will facilitate interactions that are symbiotic in nature and that will allow us to continue the types of things we are doing now while also working toward new advances in the field.”
The new center will draw on expertise from several departments across the campus to promote the development of innovative clinical therapeutics and translational research leading to enhanced diagnosis, treatment and outcomes for transplant patients.
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The center would focus primarily on:
- Innovative approaches to treating patients with organ failure including cellular and organ replacement therapies;
- The molecular genomics for transplant immunology phenomena including allograft rejection, graft versus host disease and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders; and
- Population based-outcomes studies utilizing UNMC’s clinical data base.
Also on Friday, UNMC will present the design development report to the regents for the renovation of the UNMC College of Dentistry at 40th and Holdrege streets in Lincoln.
The report details the proposed renovations to the dental college, which will replace building infrastructure, restore the building to code compliance, reorganize and renovate teaching clinics, class labs and support space and renew patient waiting and circulation space. These renovations are being funded through LB 605.
A major change to the dental college will be the enclosure of the main entrance to allow installation of an elevator, creating an accessible entry. This also will create additional space for faculty offices and mechanical and electrical equipment rooms.
Other building renovations include upgrades to the radiology clinic, an expanded dental hygiene clinic and expansion of an existing research lab to provide wet research space for two research teams. Cost of renovations is $8.4 million.
An advanced clinical practice area will be renovated apart from the LB 605 funding. The advanced clinic will contain the faculty dental practice and will provide educational opportunities for students to observe or participate in delivery of dental care in a private practice-type clinical environment. This clinic will be relocated to an area closer to the public entry. Construction of the advanced practice clinic is supported by clinical income and other non-state funding sources. Cost of those renovations is $465,000.
Construction is expected to be completed by fall of 2010.