MIT said the David Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research will be "the cornerstone of a major research initiative comparable to MIT's spearheading the development of radar technology in World War II."

The institute will be housed in a state-of-the-art cancer research facility to open in 2010.

Unique to the Institute is the concept of pooling MIT's molecular geneticists and cell biologists with engineers. "This is a new approach to cancer research with the potential to uncover breakthroughs in therapies and diagnostics," Koch said. "Conquering cancer will require multi-disciplined initiatives and MIT is positioned to enable that collaboration."

MIT Professor Tyler Jacks will serve as the institute's first director.

"By housing leading cancer biologists with world-class engineers, we are creating a formidable team motivated to understand cancer and to do something about it," said Jacks. "We expect to rapidly deliver important new tools for oncologists and their patients.

"Our goal is to make the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research the gold standard in interdisciplinary disease-focused research."