The Kansas University Medical Center has received the go-ahead to receive $26.4 million over 10 years from a Kansas Bioscience Authority committee.

The money would be used to help fund a $50 million renovation to KU Med’s Wahl Hall/Hixon research complex in Kansas City, Kan., said Erica Brown, a KU Cancer Center spokeswoman.

KU’s Cancer Center would be the beneficiary of the new space, which would house 30 to 40 cancer researchers, including their team members.

If approved by the full KBA board, it would represent another step toward the center’s quest for designation as a National Cancer Center from the National Cancer Institute.

“It moves us closer to meeting our critical success factor,” for the application, Brown said. “We have to have space to be able to recruit people.”

The KU Cancer Center has set a date to apply for NCI designation on Sept. 25, 2011.

Brown said that, if approved, the renovation of the space could begin in the second quarter of 2009 and could be ready to move in by June 2010.

The funds from the KBA would be used to pay off the first 10 years of a 20-year bond, with KU being responsible for the remainder of the bond and for equipment costs, Brown said.

In total, the newly renovated area will encompass about 170,000 square feet, she said.