National Comprehensive Cancer Network

· The St. Jude Hartwell Center for Bioinformatics and Biotechnology is one of the leading facilities of its kind in the world. The center features extensive capabilities in high-throughput DNA sequencing and genotyping, macromolecular synthesis, cDNA and Affymetrix microarray analysis, proteomics and mass spectrometry, molecular interaction analysis and a complete bioinformatics infrastructure to support the entire system. The center's mission is to be the best in applying modern bioinformatics and biotechnology to the study and treatment of pediatric catastrophic diseases.

· St. Jude is the world's only pediatric cancer research center to have an on-site Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility. The 64,000-square-foot GMP facility has a core unit dedicated to producing highly specialized medicines and vaccines under government-approved Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines. The GMP facility is equipped to make vaccines, drugs, proteins, gene-based molecules and other biological products. The facility also has Biological Safety Level (BSL) 3 laboratories that can accommodate work with microorganisms that must be specially contained.

· Among the projects underway are an avian influenza seed vaccine, parainfluenza vaccine and monoclonal antibody to treat neuroblastoma.

· The late entertainer Danny Thomas founded both St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and ALSAC^®, the hospital's fund-raising organization. No child who is eligible for enrollment on an institutional research protocol is ever turned away from St. Jude because of an inability to pay. ALSAC assumes all patient treatment expenses not covered by third-party insurers and all expenses when insurance is not available.

About 5,400 patients visit St. Jude yearly, most of who are treated on a continuing outpatient basis as part of ongoing research programs. The hospital is licensed for 78 inpatient beds. St. Jude has treated children from across the United States and around the world.