SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden is set to visit the Huntsman Cancer Institute on Friday as part of the White House's cancer "moonshot," an ambitious effort to double the rate of progress toward curing cancer and ramp up federally funded research on the disease.
He'll be touring and speaking with officials at the University of Utah center that was started with a $10 million gift from Utah billionaire Jon Huntsman, Sr.
Scientists there study how genetic and molecular changes lead to cancer. Among other tools, they use the Utah Population Database, which contains detailed family history and medical information for 8 million people.
Working toward a cure for cancer is personal for Biden, whose 46-year-old son, former Delaware state Attorney General Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in May.