Italy's largest biomedical research charity, the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) has announced that it will open a new high-tech cancer research center in Milan at the start of next year.

The IL60 billion (US$30 million) 7,500 m2 Institute for Molecular Oncology (IFOM) will employ 200 researchers and is to be located on the former Boehringer Mannheim industry research campus. Its novelty lies in the fact that it represents the first time a charity-funded research center has been supported by leading research institutions from both the public and private sector—the University of Milan, the National Institute of Oncology, the European Institute of Oncology, the Scientific Institute San Raffaele and the Mario Negri institute. Paolo Di Fiore from the European Institute of Oncology, is tipped to head the IFOM.

Italy's scientific community has welcomed the enterprise as a solution to its current public funding crisis, which was accentuated this year when the government suspended its five-year IL30 billion oncology research program at the National Research Council. AIRC has donated IL40 billion annually to cancer research over the past five years, demonstrating the increased activity of the private sector in funding cancer research in Italy.