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A Wistar study shows the tumor suppressor Parkin, whose levels are reduced in different cancer types, causes acute metabolic and oxidative stress, suppresses mitochondrial trafficking, and blocks tumor cell movement, reducing primary and metastatic tumor growth.

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Wistar announces that the National Institutes of Health granted a five-year, $29.15 million Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research award to the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory to advance research towards a cure for HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy.

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Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an RNA processing mechanism that regulates gene expression by generating different ends on RNA transcripts of the same gene. A Wistar study describes an important function of APA in allowing certain mRNAs to reach specific sites of protein synthesis and reveals that length, sequence and structural properties can determine the destination (and fate) of mRNAs within the cell.

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New biomarkers that predict HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption are critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies that can achieve infection control without ART, a condition defined as functional cure. Wistar Scientists have identified metabolic and glycomic signatures in the blood of a rare population of HIV-infected individuals who can naturally sustain viral suppression after ART cessation, known as post-treatment controllers. T

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Wistar announces the appointment of Noam Auslander, Ph.D., as assistant professor in the Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program of The Wistar Institute Cancer Center.

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A team of scientists from The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia, discovered a new checkpoint mechanism that fine-tunes gene transcription.

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Wistar received a $599,969 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to scale up its Biomedical Technician Training (BTT) Program to train more students in a condensed timeline with a direct path to employment.

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Wistar and the University of Bologna (Unibo) in Italy have established the Wistar-Unibo Ph.D. Exchange Program in Cell and Molecular Biology to bring Unibo graduate students to Wistar for their three-year Ph.D. training.

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A synthetic DNA vaccine candidate for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) developed at The Wistar Institute induced potent immune responses and afforded protective efficacy in non-human primate (NHP) models when given intradermally in abbreviated, low-dose immunization regimen.

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Wistar scientists identified a new mechanism of transcriptional control of cellular senescence that drives the release of inflammatory molecules that influence tumor development through altering the surrounding microenvironment.

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Wistar is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard M. Horowitz as chair of its Board of Trustees.

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Wistar scientists identified a new function of ADAR1, a protein responsible for RNA editing, discovering that the ADAR1p110 isoform regulates genome stability at chromosome ends and is required for continued proliferation of cancer cells.

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Wistar researchers have discovered a new enzymatic function of the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) protein EBNA1, a critical factor in EBV’s ability to transform human cells and cause cancer. Published in Cell, this study provides new indications for inhibiting EBNA1 function, opening up fresh avenues for development of therapies to treat EBV-associated cancers.

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Wistar scientists discovered that EGR1 inhibits expression of pro-inflammatory genes in macrophages. The discovery expands the understanding of how macrophages are set off and deactivated in the inflammatory process, which is critical in many normal and pathological conditions.

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Wistar scientists have created an advanced humanized immune system mouse model that allows them to examine resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapies in melanoma. It has revealed a central role for mast cells.

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Wistar scientists found mutations that inactivate the ARID1A gene in ovarian cancer increase utilization of the glutamine amino acid making cancer cells dependent on glutamine metabolism. Researchers also showed that pharmacologic inhibition of glutamine metabolism may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for ARID1A-mutant ovarian cancer.

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Scientists at The Wistar Institute characterized an inhibitor that targets acetate metabolism in cancer cells. Cancer cells use acetate metabolism to support tumor growth in conditions of low nutrient and oxygen availability. This molecule caused tumor growth inhibition and regression in preclinical studies, demonstrating the promise of this approach as a novel therapeutic strategy for solid tumors. Study results were published today in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

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A team of scientists from The Wistar Institute, INOVIO, AstraZeneca, the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University has received a $37.6 million award over two years from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) for rapid preclinical development and translational studies of DNA-encoded monoclonal antibodies (DMAbs) as countermeasures for COVID-19.

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Wistar scientists have designed and tested the first-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine against Powassan virus (POWV), targeting portions of the virus envelope protein.

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Researchers at The Wistar Institute and collaborators from the University of Notre Dame are developing anticancer compounds targeting a pathway of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response implicated in the development of multiple myeloma (MM), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and lymphoma.

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Researchers at The Wistar Institute unraveled a mechanism employed by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells for their survival.

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The Wistar Institute announces the appointment of Ami Patel, Ph.D., as a Caspar Wistar Fellow in the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center.

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Combining their expertise in protein engineering and synthetic DNA technology, Wistar scientists successfully delivered nanoparticle antitumor vaccines that stimulated robust CD8 T cell immunity and controlled melanoma growth in preclinical models.

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Wistar scientists and top HIV researchers from the BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory to Cure HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy (BEAT-HIV Collaboratory) compiled the first comprehensive set of recommendations on how to best measure the size of persistent HIV reservoirs during cure-directed clinical studies.

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According to a Wistar study, breast cancer cells starved for oxygen send out messages that induce oncogenic changes in surrounding normal epithelial cells.

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Wistar scientists may have discovered a new way of identifying and targeting hidden HIV viral reservoirs during treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART).

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Wistar scientists discovered a novel pathway that enables detection of DNA in the cytoplasm and triggers inflammation and cellular senescence. This pathway may be modulated during senescence-inducing chemotherapy to affect cancer cell response to checkpoint inhibitors.

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Wistar announces today that they are part of a team to develop a vaccine against the recently emerged strain of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that has infected hundreds in China and other countries, including the U.S., and resulted in numerous deaths to date. Wistar is part of a collaboration funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

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In the past six months, scientists at The Wistar Institute received funding from private foundations totaling $2,418,000 that will fuel new discoveries in cancer, immunology and infectious diseases.

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A Wistar study demonstrated that NAMPT, an enzyme critical for NAD+ biosynthesis, mediates selection of stem-like chemoresistant cells following cisplatin treatment.

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See cellular images as distinct as abstract art, minerals appear as future urban landscapes, single-celled organisms of the microscopic netherworld, and much more from the 2019 Nikon Small World competition of photomicrography.

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Wistar and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) formalized a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions to explore a postdoctoral training exchange program in immunology, cancer research and vaccine biology. The Wistar-Schoemaker International Postdoctoral Fellowship would bring recent Ph.D. graduates trained at LUMC to Wistar to advance their research education under the mentorship of cutting-edge biomedical research leaders.

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Wistar scientists applied synthetic DNA-based technology to drive in vivo production of broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies in small and large-animal models, providing proof of concept for a simple and effective next generation approach to HIV prevention and therapy. These results were published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

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The American Cancer Society has awarded a Research Professorship to Wistar's Dmitry l. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D. This lifelong designation, accompanied by a five-year $400,000 commitment, is the most prestigious research grant made by ACS.

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Wistar and collaborating institutions have received a major grant from the National Institutes of Health to further research on new melanoma targeted therapies integrating the role of the tumor microenvironment in influencing response to therapy and development of resistance.

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Wistar scientists described a novel mechanism through which astrocytes, the most abundant supporting cells in the brain, also promote cancer cell growth and metastasis in the brain.

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A novel anticancer molecule created by researchers at The Wistar Institute showed therapeutic activity in preclinical models of various cancer types.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced that Zachary T. Schug, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Molecular & Cellular Oncogenesis Program at Wistar, was awarded the prestigious NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in support of his research on the link between a high sugar/fat diet, alcohol use and cancer.

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Wistar was awarded two major grants totaling more than $12 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, to fund an international multidisciplinary clinical research consortium spearheaded by Wistar’s HIV Research Program.

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Wistar researchers have described the role of mitochondrial fission factor (MFF) in controlling survival of cancer cells, suggesting the protein could represent a promising therapeutic target.

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Wistar has received a grant of approximately $4.6 million from the National Institutes of Health in support of innovative research to tackle antibiotic resistance.

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Contrary to the long-held view that semen can only act as a way to transmit HIV-1 from men to women, scientists at The Wistar Institute and the University of Puerto Rico found that frequent and sustained semen exposure can change the characteristics of the circulating and vaginal tissue immune cells that are targets for infection, reducing the susceptibility to a future infection.

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New research from The Wistar Institute sheds light on the function of the ARID1A protein, encoded by a gene that is among the most frequently mutated across human cancers.

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Wistar and the University of South Florida researchers have advanced a novel compound that specifically targets the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response that is frequently hyperactivated in cancer and promotes survival of cancer cells during stressful conditions.

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The Wistar Institute’s Cancer Center has received an “exceptional” rating on its Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) application from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the second review cycle in a row and the grant has been recommended for renewal, providing $13.6 million to the Cancer Center scientific enterprise.