Kansas City, Kan. ? A panel that had been skeptical of the Kansas University Cancer Center’s application for federal designation is now supporting the bid.

The advisory panel says the center had made remarkable progress in the last year in its efforts to be named a National Cancer Institute. Such a designation would make it one of the nation’s most prominent cancer centers.

The cancer center plans to file its application in September.

The advisory panel told KU Cancer Center director Roy Jensen in a letter last week that it supports the bid.

The Kansas City Star reports that a year ago, the same panel suggested the university wait a year or two because it had not developed enough of the laboratory and patient research that the National Cancer Institute requires of applicants.