The National Cancer Institute, the nation's top cancer research organization, has renewed its designation of UC Davis Cancer Center for five years. The distinction comes with $14 million in new federal funding through the year 2010 to support the Cancer Center's rapidly expanding research program, now comprising 179 scientists at work on 317 cancer projects on three campuses.

UC Davis Cancer Center first achieved NCI designation in July 2002. That designation came with a $3.9-million grant over three years. The Cancer Center's research partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the first of its kind in the nation, was a key factor in winning designation. In that partnership, physicians and scientists work to turn technology developed for the defense industry into new cancer therapies, detection methods and prevention strategies.

California has nine NCI-designated centers. Only two are in Northern California, at UCSF and UC Davis. UC Davis Cancer Center serves the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region the size of Pennsylvania.