# The Wistar Institute

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/wistar/  
OnCo record `wistar` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

America's first independent biomedical research institute (1892), an NCI basic cancer centre known for melanoma biology, monoclonal antibodies and DNA vaccines.

## Summary

The Wistar Institute, founded in 1892 on the University of Pennsylvania campus, has held NCI basic laboratory designation since 1972. Hilary Koprowski and Zenon Steplewski's 17-1A antibody (edrecolomab) was among the first monoclonal antibodies tested in cancer patients; Meenhard Herlyn built one of the world's leading melanoma biology programmes and 3D skin and tumour models; David Weiner pioneered DNA vaccines, including candidates for glioblastoma; Rugang Zhang identified the ARID1A-EZH2 synthetic lethality in ovarian clear-cell carcinoma. President Dario Altieri studies survivin and mitochondrial signalling. Wistar has no clinic and translates through Penn, Jefferson, Fox Chase and industry partners.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: Wistar Institute Cancer Center
- City: Philadelphia, PA, US
- Type: research-institute
- NCI designation: basic
- Website: https://wistar.org

## Sources

- The Wistar Institute: https://wistar.org
- Cancer Center: https://wistar.org/our-scientists/research-centers/cancer-center

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/), [Ovarian cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/ovarian/)
- technologies: [Monoclonal antibodies](https://onco.cc/technologies/monoclonal-antibody/), [Off-the-shelf cancer vaccines](https://onco.cc/technologies/shared-antigen-vaccine/)
- targets: [EZH2](https://onco.cc/targets/ezh2/)
- institutions: [Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania](https://onco.cc/institutions/penn-abramson/), [National Cancer Institute (NIH)](https://onco.cc/institutions/nci/)
- terms: [Synthetic lethality](https://onco.cc/terms/synthetic-lethality/)
- people: [Dario C. Altieri](https://onco.cc/people/dario-altieri/)
- bottlenecks: [Lab models that fail to predict what happens in patients](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-preclinical-models/)
- collections: [NCI-Designated Cancer Centers](https://onco.cc/collections/nci-cancer-centers/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/wistar.json