The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus today announced the creation of the Gates Institute, a state-of-the-art facility that will focus on rapidly translating laboratory findings into regenerative, cellular and gene therapies for patients.

Working in partnership with CU Anschutz, the Gates Institute, fueled by a philanthropic investment from the Gates Frontiers Fund, and an investment by CU Anschutz, is expected to grow to $200 million over the next five years. The institute will build on the success of the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Gates Biomanufacturing Facility, which have conducted groundbreaking stem cell research for cancer and rare diseases, pioneering new therapies in recent years.

The Gates Frontiers Fund, represented by co-trustees Diane Gates Wallach and John Gates, helped create the original center and new institute. Their goal is to expand the quest of their father, Charles C. Gates, to more swiftly move scientific discoveries from the lab to the clinic.

“It takes a dynamic, innovative medical ecosystem for an institute like this to thrive and be successful,” said Diane Gates Wallach. “And that’s what makes CU Anschutz so unique. Its outstanding educational facilities and world-class researchers share a campus with two top-ranked hospitals.”

This new institute means that CU Anschutz scientists will now have a place to develop cell and gene therapeutics more effectively.

“The Gates Institute will make it possible for our faculty to achieve the vast potential of cell and gene therapies,” said John J. Reilly Jr., MD, dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs at CU Anschutz. “With previous support, we have recruited talented faculty and staff, and we have invested in state-of-the-art equipment. With this investment, we will build on that foundation so our scientists can develop a new generation of therapies that allow our clinicians to offer hope to those facing serious disease.”

Wallach adds, “We share CU Anschutz’s vision to simultaneously fuel medical innovation while reducing the time required to get those innovations where they are needed most – to the patient. Our father believed that to move the needle, it’s important to invest in places that aren’t constrained by convention and are led and staffed by those driven to enhance the quality of life for those in our community and beyond.”

Terry Fry, MD, a world-renowned researcher in chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, will become the inaugural executive director. Fry will remain senior vice president, head of T-cell therapeutics at Sana Biotechnology and a clinical professor of pediatric oncology at the CU School of Medicine at CU Anschutz.

Find out more in the press release.