2 CHICAGO TRIBUNE Ô METRO Ô SECTION 2 Ô FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008
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By James KimberlyTRIBUNE REPORTER
Northern Illinois Univer-sity broke ground Thursdayfor a $160
million proton ther-apy cancer treatment centerin West Chicago, a
projectthat will be the first of its kindin Illinois and one the
schoolplans to build in less than twoyears.
If the college meets its ag-gressive construction dead-line—it
hopes to treat its first
patient by March 1, 2010—itwould be a record time forsuch a
complex project. Oncebuilt, the center will providebetter treatment
for pediatricand certain types of soft-tis-sue cancers in adults
whonow have to travel far awayfor treatment, oncologistssay.
Officials from NIU say theyare up to the challenge.
“We’re right at or slightlyahead of schedule,” said JohnLewis,
associate vice presi-dent for administration anduniversity
outreach. “Wehave a lot of people workingvery hard to meet that
24-month schedule.”
NIU, which is building thecenter in the DuPage Na-tional
Technology Park, isunder such a tight construc-tion timeline
because of theunusual way it received stateapproval. When seeking
per-mission from the IllinoisHealth Facilities PlanningBoard, NIU
requested an ex-emption from the stateboard’s regulation on
thegrounds it was a university,not a health facility.
The school received ap-proval to build—a certificateof exemption
from the board’sregulation—but it came withthe caveat that the
facilityopen within 24 months.
It’s not clear what wouldhappen if NIU fails to do so.However,
health board rulesdo say that if an applicantfails to complete a
projectwithin 24 months, the certifi-cate of exemption expires
andcannot be extended.
That has never happenedbefore, an Illinois Depart-ment of Public
Health spokes-man said, and officials wereunwilling to
speculate.
DuPage County BoardChairman Robert Schiller-strom said the
project willspur more development forthe park.
“This facility will helpbring jobs to the DuPage
Technology Park,” Schiller-strom said. “That, in turn,will bring
more businesses tothe park and will create evenmore jobs.”
The project also will benefitcancer patients in Illinois,who
currently have to travelto Bloomington, Ind.; Jack-sonville;
Houston; Boston; orLoma Linda, Calif., for thetreatment.
Proponents of proton thera-py say it is the most effectiveway to
deliver radiation treat-ment to sensitive tissues be-cause proton
beams can bemore precise than othermethods, enabling doctors touse
lower dosages and caus-
ing fewer side effects. “This is a glorious day,”
said Cherilyn Murer, chair-man of the NIU board of trust-ees.
‘‘This is a true collabora-tion of science, medicine
andeducation.”
Lewis said constructioncrews will begin movingearth on the site
within theweek. Construction will bene-fit from years of
preplanningthat went into the design,Lewis said.
The Northwestern MedicalFaculty Foundation will bethe center’s
provider of clini-cal services.
[email protected]
NIU breaks ground for proton clinicCancer centerto be 1st in
state
By Tim De ChantTRIBUNE REPORTER
Government scientists ex-pressed relief Thursday thatsurveys of
the Illinois and DesPlaines Rivers did not revealany further
movement of theAsian carp toward the vul-nerable waters of Lake
Michi-gan.
Scientists with the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers andthe U.S. Fish
and WildlifeService sighted two bigheadcarp and six silver carp
about30 river miles from an electricfish barrier near
Romeoville
that is meant to keep Asiancarp from reaching the lake—close,
but no closer than fishspotted by previous surveys.
The agencies monitor theadvance of the two ravenousinvasive
species each year bytraveling the rivers and“electrofishing,” or
tempo-rarily stunning the fish witha species-specific
electriccurrent so they rise to the sur-face. Nine boats of
scientistswere out scanning the water-ways Wednesday and
Thurs-day.
During this year’s “CarpCorral,” the 13th such annualsurvey,
scientists were hop-ing to capture bighead carpclose to the
electric fish barri-er so they could implantthumb-size ultrasonic
trans-mitters.
But the fish have provedelusive, darting away after be-ing
shocked, and by Thurs-day, the teams had not suc-ceeded in netting
any carp inthe waterways near Channa-hon. If they are still
unsuc-cessful Friday, they will tryagain later this summer.
Scientists plan to place can-ister-like sensors in the riverthat
will listen for each trans-mitter’s sonic signature,tracking
individual carp as
they advance toward the fishbarrier in the Chicago Sani-tary and
Ship Canal near Ro-meoville.
“Right now the main worryis to keep them out of LakeMichigan,”
said John Chick,
aquatic ecologist with the Illi-nois Natural History Survey.
Brought to the UnitedStates to control algal bloomsin fish
farms, bighead and sil-ver carp can consume up to 20percent of
their weight in
microscopic plankton perday.
Compared with the plank-ton-rich Illinois River, thelake is an
aquatic desert. Be-cause Lake Michigan’s nativespecies already
compete with
zebra and quagga mussels forplankton, more mouths at thetable
could push those popu-lations to extinction, expertssay.
[email protected]
Tribune photo by Abel Uribe
Scott Bartell (right) of the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources joins other biologists in searching for Asian carp.
Asian carp’s invasionmay have stalledScientists say fishno
closer to lake
Comments, questions and sug-gestions about articles in
thissection are welcome.Write:Peter KendallAssociate Managing
Editor for Metropolitan News435 N. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: 312-222-3540E-mail: [email protected]
How to contact us
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