Cancer Research

The new tool in fighting cancer: Antibiotics

The antibiotic vancomycin alters the gut microbiome in a way that can help prime the immune system to more effectively attack tumor cells after radiation therapy.

Penn Today Staff

Positive results in first-in-U.S. trial of CRISPR-edited immune cells

Genetically editing a cancer patient’s immune cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, then infusing those cells back into the patient appears safe and feasible based on early data from the first-ever clinical trial to test the approach in humans in the United States.

Penn Today Staff

Blood test can predict prognosis in deadly brain cancer

A Penn study points to clinical utility of liquid biopsy in glioblastoma, allowing doctors the ability to measure the progression of the cancer based on the amount of cell-free DNA in the bloodstream

Penn Today Staff

Basser Center takes aim at BRCA

Twenty-five years after the discovery of genetic mutations that dramatically increase cancer risk, the Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA is building scientific knowledge alongside public awareness about BRCA-related cancers.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Associated Press

A new strategy to attack aggressive brain cancer shrank tumors in two early tests

A clinical trial led by Stephen Bagley of the Perelman School of Medicine suggests that targeting two associated proteins with CAR T cell therapy could be a viable strategy for shrinking brain tumors.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn’s BRCA cancer vaccine trial aims to prevent the disease in healthy people

A trial led by Susan Domchek of the Perelman School of Medicine could use a preventive vaccine to protect people with a BRCA gene mutation from cancer.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

UPenn scientists among those developing vaccines that arm the immune system to fight cancer

Penn Medicine researchers like Nobel laureate Drew Weissman are leading efforts to develop a vaccine that prevents cancer, with remarks from Susan Domchek of the Basser Center for BRCA and Robert H. Vonderheide of the Abramson Cancer Center.

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Psychology Today

AI detects cancers and immunotherapy biomarker

Daiwei Zhang and Mingyao Li of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues have developed an AI tool called iStar that can automatically spot tumors and types of cancer that are difficult for clinicians to see or identify and can predict candidates for immunotherapy.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn started giving cancer patients free rides to appointments. It helped reduce no-shows and increase clinical trial enrollment

The Abramson Cancer Center is attempting to address one of the most common challenges cancer patients face: lack of transportation to critically important appointments. Robert Vonderheide and Carmen Guerra of the Perelman School of Medicine are quoted on the Ride Health initiative.

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Forbes

Gut health could play a role in how blood cancer patients respond to therapy

Marco Ruella of the Perelman School of Medicine says that researchers need to tackle the problems with CAR T cell therapy to increase survival rates and improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

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