The Tumor Biology Program aims to catalyze research within the ACC to advance understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer pathogenesis and to translate this knowledge to identify new and more effective preventive, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic approaches. This Program, which was founded in the early 1970s, continues to progressively respond to advances in cancer research. Its overarching scientific aims are to: 1) Elucidate the molecular and cellular basis of carcinogenesis, and 2) Translate these findings into durable clinical applications. To that end, the Program is organized around three central goals or themes: 1) Structural biology of molecules relevant to cancer, 2) The molecular and cellular basis of cancer, and 3) The use of model organisms to study cancer in vivo. Interactive, intra-Programmatic scientific affinity groups foster collaboration within and across themes, including: 1) Tthe tumor microenvironment, 2) RNA biology, 3) DNA repair and genomic stability, 4) Cancer cell metabolism (this spawned a new ACC Basic Science Center of Excellence), and 5) Organ-specific cancers, such as pancreatic (this has been integrated into the new ACC Pancreatic Translational Center of Excellence). The Program continues under the strong leadership of Anil Rustgi, MD, who fosters deep and impactful intra- and inter-Programmatic collaborative relationships. Program Leadership is also instrumental in recruiting new members (e.g., Drs. Berger, Feldser, Garcia, and Pur), mentoring junior faculty, establishing scientific affinity groups to leverage and further develop common research interests among faculty members, and organizing conferences and symposia. Program members are extremely actively involved in the training and mentorship of PhD students, MD/PhD students, and MD or PhD postdoctoral fellows by virtue of their leadership roles in the Penn Biomedical Graduate Studies, MD/PhD (MSTP) program and NIH T32 training grants. Program Leadership was highly successful in harnessing Institutional support to catalyze a tumor biology translational research initiative and increased translational research has been pursued in both thematic and organ-specific contexts. Its success is evident in the emergence of new transdisciplinary, disease-specific collaborations that join Program members with colleagues in Clinical Research and Population Science to study cancers, such as pancreatic and esophageal, in which there is an unmet need for improved diagnosis and treatment. Currently, the Program has 50 members from 16 departments and four different schools with total funding of $22M (annual direct costs) of which $18.7M is peer-reviewed and $5.6M is NCI-funded. Since 2010, members published 466 cancer-related papers, of which 15% were intra-Programmatic, 32% were inter-Programmatic, and 30% were multi-institutional.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Center Core Grants (P30)
Project #
5P30CA016520-43
Application #
9618142
Study Section
Subcommittee I - Transistion to Independence (NCI)
Project Start
2018-12-01
Project End
2020-11-30
Budget Start
2018-12-01
Budget End
2019-11-30
Support Year
43
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pennsylvania
Department
Type
DUNS #
042250712
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19104
Rosenfeld, Aaron M; Meng, Wenzhao; Luning Prak, Eline T et al. (2018) ImmuneDB, a Novel Tool for the Analysis, Storage, and Dissemination of Immune Repertoire Sequencing Data. Front Immunol 9:2107
Lang, Fengchao; Sun, Zhiguo; Pei, Yonggang et al. (2018) Shugoshin 1 is dislocated by KSHV-encoded LANA inducing aneuploidy. PLoS Pathog 14:e1007253
Buljan, Vlado A; Graeber, Manuel B; Holsinger, R M Damian et al. (2018) Calcium-axonemal microtubuli interactions underlie mechanism(s) of primary cilia morphological changes. J Biol Phys 44:53-80
Kushner, Carolyn J; Hwang, Wei-Ting; Wang, Shiyu et al. (2018) Long-term risk of second malignancies in women after breast conservation therapy for ductal carcinoma in situ or early-stage breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 170:45-53
Chang, Changgee; Kundu, Suprateek; Long, Qi (2018) Scalable Bayesian variable selection for structured high-dimensional data. Biometrics :
Min, Eun Jeong; Safo, Sandra E; Long, Qi (2018) Penalized Co-Inertia Analysis with Applications to -Omics Data. Bioinformatics :
Singh, Rajnish Kumar; Lang, Fengchao; Pei, Yonggang et al. (2018) Metabolic reprogramming of Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpes virus infected B-cells in hypoxia. PLoS Pathog 14:e1007062
Pei, Yonggang; Singh, Rajnish Kumar; Shukla, Sanket Kumar et al. (2018) Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 3C Facilitates Cell Proliferation by Regulating Cyclin D2. J Virol 92:
Nicastri, Michael C; Rebecca, Vito W; Amaravadi, Ravi K et al. (2018) Dimeric quinacrines as chemical tools to identify PPT1, a new regulator of autophagy in cancer cells. Mol Cell Oncol 5:e1395504
Micallef, Ivana N; Stiff, Patrick J; Nademanee, Auayporn P et al. (2018) Plerixafor Plus Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor for Patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma: Long-Term Follow-Up Report. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 24:1187-1195

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