Funds raised by Steps to Cure Sarcoma supports collaborative sarcoma research at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, Penn Veterinary School, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Take some time to explore what each researcher below is working on.
- The Eisinger Lab—Karin Eisinger, PhD: part of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Specific work is being done to identify druggable targets in the primary sarcoma as well as in the metastasis.
- Halder Lab—Malay Haldar, MD, PhD: part of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, and the Institute for Immunology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Manipulation of the local immune environment of the tumor are additional approaches in tumors such as synovial sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma, all of which occur in the CHOP patient population.
- Mason Immunotherapy—Nicky Mason, BVetMed, PhD, DACVIM: a translational research laboratory that focuses on ways to train the immune system to recognize and kill cancers in veterinary species. Work at the Penn Veterinary School (Nicola Mason) is focused on clinical trials in dogs with osteosarcoma using a listeria vaccine targeting Her-2-neu with promising results that may be translated to clinical trials in children.
- Margaret Chou, PhD: Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine; also involved with the Kristy Weber Research Program at CHOP.Her lab is working to understand the mechanisms underlying malignant transformation. Her laboratory also focuses on pathogenic mechanisms of Ewing sarcoma, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, and a newly described cancer, sinonasal sarcoma.
- Kristy Weber Research Program—Kristy L. Weber, MD, FACS: Led by Kristy L. Weber, MD, the Penn Sarcoma program has developed a collaborative basic/translational research program between Penn Medicine, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Penn Vet. This team is focused on developing new approaches to diagnosing and treating pediatric and adult bone and soft tissue tumors including Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop better therapies, improve cure rates and minimize treatment toxicities for patients with malignant bone and soft tissue tumors.