"I strongly believe that there will be a totally different way to treat cancer patients in the next 10 years," declared Michael V. Seiden, MD, PhD, shortly after he became president and CEO of Fox Chase Cancer Center in June 2007. "I think tumors will be removed and analyzed in a much more molecularly-based way. This is already being done at the research level, but in 10 years, therapies will be selected for people based on the molecular characterization of their tumors and how those therapies are working will be dissected in a much more sophisticated way, using techniques like molecular imaging."
Fox Chase's leader sets forth a bold challenge--one he thinks Fox Chase is uniquely positioned to meet. Its scientists and physicians conduct basic laboratory, clinical, translational, population and behavioral studies. Combining research in many disciplines with patient care enables Fox Chase to translate new research findings into medical applications to improve cancer care.
For example, Fox Chase biochemical studies of protein breakdown within cells via the ubiquitin enzyme system earned the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for Irwin A. Rose, PhD, and two Israeli colleagues who have been Fox Chase visiting scientists. The ubiquitin system has now become a target for drug development, including one drug in clinical trials for multiple myeloma.
For the past 13 consecutive years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Fox Chase among the nation's best. In the magazine's 2007 "America's Best Hospitals" list, Fox Chase is the highest-ranked cancer center in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey and ranks 11th in the entire country.
In The Scientist's recent report on the "Best Places to Work in Academia" (Oct. 1, 2006), Fox Chase ranked ninth in North America. In one way or another, the Center's 2,400 staff members work toward the goal of reducing the burden of human cancer.
"What makes Fox Chase unique, I believe, is the sense of common mission among all employees," says virologist Glenn Rall, PhD. "As a cancer center that sees many patients each day, we are constantly reminded of our singular emphasis."
Fox Chase nurtures scientific collaborations. Laboratory buildings have lounge areas to foster interactions. The longtime tradition of afternoon tea, served in the cafeteria every weekday from 3:30 to 4 p.m., provides an informal setting for staff from all areas to interact and exchange ideas.
Translational research is also increasingly important here. Fox Chase is the only center in Pennsylvania and the first of only two East Coast centers to receive a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant for ovarian cancer. The grant funds projects to translate basic research findings to clinical settings, including methods of earlier detection and improved prevention and treatment for ovarian cancer.
To facilitate both individual and collaborative research, Fox Chase has structured shared resources to supply information, reagents and technical expertise not readily available to individual laboratories. Among these resources for genetics investigators are the Biosample Repository and Cancer Prevention Biomarker and Genotyping facilities.
Current laboratory programs are wide-ranging, covering gene expression; molecular aspects of oncogenesis; viral molecular biology and pathogenesis; molecular structure and function analysis; pharmacology and therapeutics; regulation and development of the immune system; cell cycle control; human genetics; and cellular and developmental biology.
As just one example, Kenneth S. Zaret, PhD, who heads the Center's cell and developmental biology program, focuses on understanding how genes are activated and how early embryonic cells become specific mammalian tissue types, such as the liver and pancreas. In October 2007, he received the distinction of election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Zaret's research has provided insight into normal tissue function, the ability of the liver to regenerate, stem-cell biology and cell reprogramming during cancer.
Fox Chase has a long history of opening new frontiers in cancer research and care. In 2004, the Center celebrated the centennial of its hospital--the nation's first cancer hospital, founded as American Oncologic Hospital in November 1904, when most people considered cancer incurable.
Today the 100-bed Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center remains one of the few facilities in the country devoted entirely to cancer. In September 2000, Fox Chase became the nation's first comprehensive cancer center and Pennsylvania's first hospital to receive Magnet status for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which renewed this honor in 2004.
After the hospital joined the Institute for Cancer Research to form the freestanding Fox Chase Cancer Center in 1974, Fox Chase was among the first to receive the National Cancer Institute's elite designation as a comprehensive cancer center. Since that time, the staff and facilities have grown exponentially.
When immediate past president and current chancellor Robert C. Young, MD, came to Fox Chase in 1988, the Center saw 1,200 new patients a year. In 2006, it saw approximately 6,500 new patients.
Now Fox Chase is poised to grow even more. Construction has just begun on a five-floor, 125,000-square-foot Cancer Research Pavilion, which will house the region's first Center for Women's Cancers. This is the first phase of a projected $1 billion expansion that will include a new hospital and additional laboratory facilities.
Fox Chase has also been a pioneer in cancer prevention research. After Baruch S. Blumberg, MD, earned the 1976 Nobel Prize in medicine for identifying the hepatitis B virus at Fox Chase, a vaccine he and his colleagues devised became the first to prevent a human cancer--primary cancer of the liver caused by chronic hepatitis B infection.
In 2000, Fox Chase opened the Research Institute for Cancer Prevention, the first comprehensive program of its kind in the nation, in the Robert C. Young, MD, Pavilion for Cancer Prevention Research. Fox Chase researchers in population science work to identify people at high risk of cancer and to develop prevention and early detection programs to reduce the risk. Behavioral scientists develop strategies to help people cope with their cancer risk and make life-style changes to reduce that risk.
Services offered include programs to help people with family histories or other specific risks of breast and ovarian cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, melanoma and prostate cancer--among the first prevention-oriented cancer risk-assessment programs for healthy adults.
For more information about Fox Chase research and other programs, visit www.fccc.edu
