Oncogen

General information

Center for Gene and Cellular Therapies in the Treatment of Cancer (OncoGen) is a research center of Emergency Clinical County Hospital „Pius Branzeu” Timisoara. It was built with European financing support by Structural Funds, call POSCEE-A2-O2.21-2009-4. The construction was begun in September 2010 and will be finished in October 2015.

The goal of the project was to create a research-development and innovation infrastructure able to discover, sustain and facilitate the translation to clinical trials, and eventually to the medical practice of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods, bearing the potential to complete or even replace classic methods.

The total amount of money invested was about 12.000.000 euro (including VAT).

The building surface is 2910 square meters (distributed on 6 floors) and it includes 15 new compartments/laboratories. The top facility of OncoGen Center is the GMP area; a space about 150 square meters will enable the processing of biological materials in standard GMP (good manufacturing practice) conditions, specific for drug and other therapeutics industry. The area includes 3 working spaces class A placed in B class (ISO 5) rooms, where the environment parameters are strictly monitored and the access is restricted only for specialized personnel. Other OncoGen facilities are:

Bank of human cells and tissue equipped with cryopreservation systems (liquid nitrogen tanks and controlled rate freezers).
Advanced research laboratories (cell culture, genomic, proteomic, microarray, flowcytometry, confocal microscopy, cytology, gas and liquid chromatography, etc)
High performance diagnosis laboratories:
Immune-phenotyping for diagnostic of malignant hemopathies
Detection of specific tumor antigens by molecular biology
Laboratories for HLA typing – analysis of donor/recipient compatibility for bone marrow and solid organ transplantation
Small animal house facility for experimental models required for validation of new therapeutic approaches
The general objective of our activity is to increase the quality and efficiency of research-development activity in the medical field in order to improve the health status of population and to promote economic competitiveness among biotechnology producers.

The main fields of interest are:

Advanced therapies in cancer – Tumor cells biology
Regenerative medicine – Adult stem cells study
Health and environmental factors
Immunotherapies