Research

There are three main themes that comprise SKCC's Cancer Risk and Control Program. The cancer risk theme will concentrate on both intrinsic and extrinsic risks for cancer including genetic, environmental, physiologic and molecular alterations. The second theme is cancer control in which novel methods of treatments are being evaluated to address cancer risks for patients both during cancer therapy and extending into survivorship. The third theme will focus on novel paradigms to reduce health disparities including methods to create equity using various methods of cancer care delivery. The integration of these themes will help identify novel cancer risks and find creative ways to address them. The program is led by Nicole Simone, MD.

The Immune Cell Regulation and Targeting Program focuses on immune cell functions and alterations that occur during transformation, on the cancer promoting effects of the viruses that infect them, and on the strategies to harness and enhance their anti-tumor functions for cancer therapy. The cancer focus area in IRT is hematologic malignancies, as well as immune cell-based approaches for the treatment of multiple non-hematologic malignancies. The program is led by Christine Eischen, PhD, and Pierluigi Porcu, MD.

The overarching mission of the Molecular Oncology Regulation and Approaches Program is to reduce cancer mortality through the mechanistic understanding of cancer pathogenesis and the development of novel molecular targeted approaches. MORA members have expertise in various tumor types (e.g., prostate, breast, and pancreatic cancers, among others) resulting in multiple collaborative grants and high impact publications. MORA members’ main focus is on discovering novel actionable nucelar gene regulation and genome stability-DNA repair mechanisms, as well as developing new clinical interventions to reduce cancer mortality by designig and testing through early phase clinical trials. The program is led by Russell Schilder, MD.

The Translational Cellular Oncology Program, aims to identify and understand the signaling and metabolic pathways that are crucial in supporting malignancy at the cellular and inter-cellular levels, with the potential of impacting both imaging and therapeutic modalities.

The program also aims to uncover tumor cell crosstalk among heterogenous cancer cell populations and translate newly acquired information into means for precision medicine by preventing or counteracting tumor progression. The ultimate goal is to identify novel molecular targets, powerful imaging modalities, and curative therapeutics with the potential to reshape the clinical care of cancer patients in the SKCC catchment area. The program is led by Mauricio Reginato, PhD, Alessandro Fatatis, MD, PhD, and Ubaldo Martinez-Outschoorn, MD.

Benjamin Leiby, PhD -  Director 

Division of Biostatistics
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Provides investigators across the cancer center with high-quality biostatistics support at all levels of investigation, from initial concept to publication of results. Offers expertise regarding study design, staffing recommendations, development of grant applications, statistical analysis, and preparation of reports and manuscripts.  

Ensures that state-of-the-art statistical methodologies are identified and used as appropriate in cancer center research and develops new statistical methods when applicable. Also plays a central role in clinical research oversight through participation in the Protocol Review Committee (PRC), Data and Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMC), and Clinical Research Leadership Committee (CRLC). 

Jianke Zhang, PhD - Director 

Flow Cytometry iLAB Shared Resources Services 

Provides state-of-the-art fluorescence-activated cell sorting and analysis capabilities, as well as consults on current protocols, analysis techniques and data presentation, and services can be tailored to suit experimental designs in a variety of fields. The most commonly used applications are multi-color cell surface phenotyping, detection of intracellular cytokines and signaling molecules, transfection measurements, studies of apoptosis, cell cycle analysis, cell proliferation, and real-time analysis of Ca2+ mobilization kinetics. The sorters, analyzers and workstations allow for affordable, reliable and accurate characterization of a wide variety of biological samples.  

 
The facility currently has 5-laser-16-color BD AriaII high-speed sorter, 5-laser-16-color BD Fortessa, 4-laser-14-color BD LSRII.

Garth Ehrlich, PhD -  Director 
Paolo M. Fortina, MD, PhD - Co-Director 

MetaOmics iLAB Shared Resources Services

Formed in 2016 through a merger of the SKCC Cancer Genomics Core (SCGC) at Thomas Jefferson University, and the Center for Genomic Sciences (CGS) and the Center for Advanced Microbial Processing (CAMP) at Drexel University.  A multi-site, interdisciplinary teaching and service environment for scientists, bioinformaticians and clinicians who consult on experimental design and data analyses. Offers many high-throughput and high-fidelity services. Technical services include genomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics, metabolomics, lipidomics, proteomics, and glycomics. 

Tests new equipment and implements novel assays in collaboration with biotech companies, including  ultra-long DNA sequencing, whole genome non-modified epigenetic analyses, ultra-precise nucleic acid quantification technologies, imaging mass spectroscopy (MS), and ion-mobility MS, all of which provide significant value to researchers with non-standard and complicated questions relating to oncogenesis. 

Stephen C. Peiper, MD -  Director
Wei Jiang, MD - Co-Director
Haifeng Yang, PhD - Co-Director

Translational Pathology iLAB Shared Resources Services

Provides outstanding full range histopathology services and access to unique banked tissue collections and Laser Capture Microdissection of tissues to capture individual cells for SKCC members, TJU and external users. Utilized by more than 100 investigators and has provided key data to support numerous publications and grant applications.

Gino Cingolani, PhD -  Director, X-ray Crystallography
Michael J. Root, MD, PhD -  Director, Molecular Characterization

X-ray Crystallography & Molecular Characterization iLAB Shared Resources Services

Serves the needs of cancer center research programs in crystallization, X-ray data collection, structure determination, refinement and structural analysis of macromolecules. Offers HydraIIPlusOne and Oryx8 crystallization robots for high-throughput crystallization screening and maintains Rigaku MicroMax-007HF microfocus rotating anode X-ray generator dual equipped for data collection from macromolecular crystals and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS). The facility also provides access to instrumentation for biophysical characterization of proteins, and protein/protein and protein/DNA interactions. 

Circulating Tumor Cell 
Hushan Yang, PhD, Director 
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Clinical Cancer Immunology 
Larry Harshyne, PhD, Director
Clinical Cancer Immunology Core

MitoCare
Gyorgy Hajnockzy, MD, PhD, Director
Gyorgy Csordas, MD, TEM Director
Erin Seifert, PhD, Seahorse Director
David Weaver, Confocal/Multiphoton Director
MitoCare Shared Resources