Fox Chase Cancer Center is a

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

-designated

Comprehensive Cancer Center NCI-designated Cancer Centers are a group of 71 cancer research institutions in the United States supported by the National Cancer Institute. Program Three designations are recognized: Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Clinical Cancer Centers, and B ...

research facility and hospital located in the Fox Chase section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The main facilities of the center are located on property adjoining Burholme Park. The center is part of the

Temple University Health System Temple Health also known as Temple University Health System is a non-profit academic healthcare network based in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The healthcare network serves Pennsylvania and its flagship hospital is Temple Universi ...

(TUHS) and specializes in the treatment and prevention of cancer. The center was formed in 1974 by the merger of the American Oncologic Hospital, which was founded in 1904 as the first cancer hospital in the United States, and the Institute for Cancer Research, founded in 1927. The center was an independent, non-profit institution until it became part of TUHS July 1, 2012. Today it has almost 2,400 employees and an operating budget of $300 million. Research is conducted in more than 80 laboratories by a staff of more than 325 physicians and scientists who hold medical degrees, Ph.D.s or both. Fox Chase's 100-bed hospital is one of the few facilities in the country devoted entirely to cancer care. Annual hospital admissions average about 4,100 and outpatient visits to physicians exceed 69,000 a year. As of 2014, the Fox Chase Cancer Center was ranked as the 19th best cancer hospital in the United States by '' U.S. News & World Report''. In 1995, Fox Chase also became a founding member of the

National Comprehensive Cancer Network National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is an alliance of 32 cancer centers in the United States, most of which are designated by the National Cancer Institute (one of the U.S. National Institutes of Health) as comprehensive cancer centers. It ...

, an alliance of 21 of the nation's leading academic cancer centers. On December 15, 2011, Fox Chase Cancer Center and Temple University Health system signed an affiliation agreement. Under the agreement, Fox Chase has connected and extended its current operations into the adjoining 176-bed and 33-acre Jeanes Hospital, which is already a part of the Temple University Health System. Fox Chase is considered the "Cancer Hub" of the Temple University Health System. Fox Chase became the first US cancer center and the first hospital in Pennsylvania to earn the

American Nurses Association The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is ba ...

Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence in 2000. Fox Chase has continued to win this designation for a total of five awards. In 2020, Fox Chase Cancer Center received the Press Ganey's Guardian of Excellence Award for excellence in clinical care in outpatient services.

History of research advances and awards

A short history of notable achievements by Fox Chase researchers: * 2018

Anna Marie Skalka Anna Marie (Ann) Skalka (née Sturn) is an American virologist, molecular biologist and geneticist who is professor emeritus and senior advisor to the president at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. She is a co-author of a textbook on virology, ''Princ ...

is awarded the

William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement The William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement is an award given by Sigma Xi, a scientific-research honor society. The Procter Prize is presented annually to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to scientific research and has d ...

, given to scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to scientific research and demonstrated an ability to communicate this research to scientists in other disciplines * 2011 The 6th Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research was awarded to

Beatrice Mintz Beatrice Mintz (January 24, 1921 – January 3, 2022) was an American embryologist who contributed to the understanding of genetic modification, cellular differentiation, and cancer, particularly melanoma.Martha J. Bailey, ''American women in ...

by the

National Foundation for Cancer Research National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1973. It provides funds to cancer scientists and researchers, with the ultimate goal of a cure for cancer. Awards The Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progre ...

for her discoveries of the relationship between development and cancer, based on construction and analysis of chimeric and transgenic mouse models. * 2004 The

Kyoto Prize The is Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences. It is given not only to those that are top representatives of their own respective fields, but to "those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, ...

in Basic Science is awarded to

Alfred G. Knudson Alfred George Knudson, Jr. (August 9, 1922 – July 10, 2016) was an American physician and geneticist specializing in cancer genetics. Among his many contributions to the field was the formulation of the Knudson hypothesis in 1971, which exp ...

for lifetime achievement and contributions to the betterment of mankind. * 2004 The

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

is awarded to

Irwin Rose Irwin Allan Rose (July 16, 1926 – June 2, 2015) was an American biologist. Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. Education ...

and his colleagues

Aaron Ciechanover Aaron Ciechanover ( ; he, אהרן צ'חנובר; born October 1, 1947) is an Israeli biologist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for characterizing the method that cells use to degrade and recycle proteins using ubiquitin. Biography Early ...

and

Avram Hershko Avram Hershko ( he, אברהם הרשקו, Avraham Hershko, hu, Herskó Ferenc Ábrahám; born December 31, 1937) is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004. Biography He was born Herskó Ferenc in Karc ...

for their discovery of

ubiquitin Ubiquitin is a small (8.6 kDa) regulatory protein found in most tissues of eukaryotic organisms, i.e., it is found ''ubiquitously''. It was discovered in 1975 by Gideon Goldstein and further characterized throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. Fo ...

-mediated protein degradation. * 1993

produces the first mouse model of human malignant melanoma, in which the disease resembles the human malignancy. * 1991 Philip Tsichlis, Alfonso Bellacosa, and Joseph Testa clone the

AKT1 RAC(Rho family)-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''AKT1'' gene. This enzyme belongs to the AKT subfamily of serine/threonine kinases that contain SH2 (Src homology 2-like) protein domains. It ...

and

AKT2 AKT2, also known as RAC-beta serine/threonine-protein kinase, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''AKT2'' gene. It influences metabolite storage as part of the insulin signal transduction pathway. Function This gene is a putative o ...

genes - the first viral oncogenes described that inhibit programmed cell death. * 1991 Timothy Yen discovers that a molecular motor controls the way human cells sort their chromosomes when cells divide during

mitosis In cell biology, mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Cell division by mitosis gives rise to genetically identical cells in which the total number of chromosomes is mainta ...

. * 1982 William Mason and Jesse Summers demonstrate that the hepatitis B virus utilizes reverse transcription for genome replication, previously thought to be unique to retroviruses. * 1981

's laboratory is one of the first to introduce a cloned gene into fertilized mouse eggs and prove that it is retained in animals developing from those eggs, and is transmitted to their progeny. * 1980 Discovery of critical aspects of

-dependent protein degradation by

and

. * 1980

develops the "two-hit" hypothesis, predicting the existence and behavior of tumor suppressor genes. * 1980 Discovery of the SCID mouse, a mouse strain with no natural immunity, by Melvin Bosma. The SCID mouse is an essential research tool in devising new treatments. * 1979

shows that a fatal genetic anemia of mice can be prevented in utero by injecting normal blood-forming stem cells into the fetus through a placental blood vessel. * 1976 The

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

is awarded to

Baruch Blumberg Baruch Samuel Blumberg (July 28, 1925 April 5, 2011), known as Barry Blumberg, was an American physician, geneticist, and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with Daniel Carleton Gajdusek), for his work on the hepat ...

for his discovery of the

Hepatitis B virus ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) is a partially double-stranded DNA virus, a species of the genus ''Orthohepadnavirus'' and a member of the ''Hepadnaviridae'' family of viruses. This virus causes the disease hepatitis B. Disease Despite there bein ...

and development of the HBV vaccine, the first "anti-cancer vaccine", which has reduced the incidence of liver cancer. * 1975 The first

transgenic A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...

mammals containing foreign DNA are produced by

and

Rudolf Jaenisch Rudolf Jaenisch (born April 22, 1942) is a Professor of Biology at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch h ...

. * 1974 Discovery by Robert Perry that the messenger RNAs of mammalian cells and their precursors contain a novel structure at their leading ends. * 1972

Helen M. Berman Helen Miriam Berman is a Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University and a former director of the RCSB Protein Data Bank (one of the member organizations of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank). A structural b ...

and Jenny Glusker report the crystal structure of a nucleic acid-drug complex as a model for anti-tumor agent and mutagen action. * 1968 Development of the first

Hepatitis B vaccine Hepatitis B vaccine is a vaccine that prevents hepatitis B. The first dose is recommended within 24 hours of birth with either two or three more doses given after that. This includes those with poor immune function such as from HIV/AIDS and th ...

and

Irving Millman Irving Millman (May 23, 1923 – April 17, 2012) was a noted virology, virologist and microbiologist. He was a member of the U.S. Army's Eighth Armored Division during the Second World War, earning a Bronze Star. In 1948, Millman earned a bachelor's ...

. * 1967 Discovery of the

and development of the blood test for Hepatitis B by

. * 1962 The first demonstration, by Robert Perry, that ribosomal RNA is synthesized in the nucleolus as a large precursor molecule that is subsequently processed into mature components. * 1962

's development of the first mammal comprising two genetically different cell populations in all tissues, as a tool for analyses of embryonic development and disease in mouse models. * 1960 Discovery of the

Philadelphia chromosome The Philadelphia chromosome or Philadelphia translocation (Ph) is a specific genetic abnormality in chromosome 22 of leukemia cancer cells (particularly chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells). This chromosome is defective and unusually short becaus ...

, the first genetic abnormality associated with a human cancer, by

David Hungerford David A. Hungerford (1927–1993) was an American cancer researcher and co-discoverer of the Philadelphia chromosome. This discovery was the first association between a genetic abnormality and a type of cancer, and it changed the direction of cancer ...

of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and

Peter Nowell Peter Carey Nowell (February 8, 1928 – December 26, 2016) was a cancer researcher and co-discoverer of the Philadelphia chromosome. At the time of his death, he was the Gaylord P. and Mary Louise Harnwell Emeritus Professor of Pathology and Labo ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. * 1952 First nuclear transplantation (or '

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, cl ...

') experiment is performed by Robert Briggs and Thomas King using eggs of the frog '' Rana pipiens''. * 1946 Mary Bennett identifies an essential nutrient later revealed to be

Vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. It ...

Notable current and former researchers

* Manfred Bayer, electron microscopist who obtained the earliest images of hepatitis B virus *

, former director of the

Protein Data Bank The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a database for the three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The data, typically obtained by X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, or, increasingly, cry ...

, (d. 5 April 2011) awarded the

in 1976 for discovery of Hepatitis B and the Hepatitis B vaccine * Robert Briggs, pioneer in cloning by embryonic nuclear transfer * Marie A. DiBerardino, pioneer in amphibian cloning * Wafik El-Deiry, discoverer of WAF1 * Jenny Pickworth Glusker, noted crystallographer *

, co-discoverer of the

V. Craig Jordan Virgil Craig Jordan, , is a scientist with American and British citizenship specializing in drugs for breast cancer treatment and prevention. Currently, he is Professor of Breast Medical Oncology, and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncology a ...

, "Father of

Tamoxifen Tamoxifen, sold under the brand name Nolvadex among others, is a selective estrogen receptor modulator used to prevent breast cancer in women and treat breast cancer in women and men. It is also being studied for other types of cancer. It has b ...

" *

, architect of the "two-hit hypothesis" (

Knudson hypothesis The Knudson hypothesis, also known as the two-hit hypothesis, is the hypothesis that most tumor suppressor genes require both alleles to be inactivated, either through mutations or through epigenetic silencing, to cause a phenotypic change. It was ...

) about the role of accumulated genetic errors in cancer development, awarded the

in 2004 and the Albert

Lasker Award The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was ...

in 1998 * H. Paul Meloche (1929 – 1999), research biochemist who specialized in the field of enzyme stereochemistry *

(d. 17 April 2012), who helped

develop the first hepatitis B vaccine *

, pioneering cancer researcher, noted for many embryonic and genetic advances, and member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and of the

Pontifical Academy of Sciences The Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( it, Pontificia accademia delle scienze, la, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum) is a scientific academy of the Vatican City, established in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. Its aim is to promote the progress of the math ...

* Arthur Lindo Patterson, who developed the

Patterson function The Patterson function is used to solve the phase problem in X-ray crystallography. It was introduced in 1935 by Arthur Lindo Patterson while he was a visiting researcher in the laboratory of Bertram Eugene Warren at MIT. The Patterson function is ...

, a key step in determining the structures of molecules using X-ray crystallography *

, awarded

in 2004 for the discovery of

-mediated

protein degradation Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called protease ...

* Harry Rozmiarek, noted veterinarian, academic, and laboratory animal care specialist. * Alton Sutnick, noted for the early clinical work that led to the identification of the

* Shirley M. Tilghman, president of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

from 2001 to 2013

References

External links

* {{authority control Hospitals in Philadelphia Medical research institutes in Pennsylvania Cancer hospitals Cancer organizations based in the United States Fox Chase, Philadelphia NCI-designated cancer centers 1904 establishments in Pennsylvania Temple University

History of research advances and awards

Notable current and former researchers

See also

References

External links