A new collaborative cancer research effort between Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute will become the largest private cancer research initiative in the nation, Harvard Medical School (HMS) announced last week.

The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center will fuse the cancer research efforts of seven Harvard-affiliated institutions: the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and four Harvard-affiliated hospitals.

The seven institutions will pool more than $125 million in National Cancer Institute (NCI) grants each year, the largest sum of NCI money in the world, said David G. Nathan, president of Dana-Farber and the cancer center's director.

"This is really a massive collaborative effort," Nathan said.

"Nothing of this magnitude has ever been attempted at Harvard."

Each member institution has previously conducted separate basic, clinical, and population-based research.

Through their membership in the center, researchers from different institutions will now be able to coordinate efforts and share laboratory resources.

"[The goal is to]produce a cancer center without walls, one that has three times the firepower [of] the original one," Nathan said.