{"entity":{"id":"wistar","kind":"institution","name":"The Wistar Institute","aka":["Wistar Institute Cancer Center"],"tldr":"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.","asOf":"2026-09-09","links":[{"label":"The Wistar Institute","url":"https://wistar.org"},{"label":"Cancer Center","url":"https://wistar.org/our-scientists/research-centers/cancer-center"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["melanoma","ovarian","glioblastoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":["monoclonal-antibody","shared-antigen-vaccine"],"targets":["ezh2"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["penn-abramson"],"pathways":[],"terms":["synthetic-lethality"],"trials":[],"people":["dario-altieri"],"bottlenecks":["b-preclinical-models"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"city":"Philadelphia, PA","country":"US","lat":39.951,"lng":-75.196,"institutionType":"research-institute","website":"https://wistar.org","nci":"basic","programs":["Melanoma biology","Immunotherapy and vaccines","Ovarian cancer epigenetics","Antibody engineering"]},"route":"/institutions/wistar/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"},{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"ovarian","kind":"cancer","name":"Ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/ovarian/"}],"technology":[{"id":"monoclonal-antibody","kind":"technology","name":"Monoclonal antibodies","route":"/technologies/monoclonal-antibody/"},{"id":"shared-antigen-vaccine","kind":"technology","name":"Off-the-shelf cancer vaccines","route":"/technologies/shared-antigen-vaccine/"}],"target":[{"id":"ezh2","kind":"target","name":"EZH2","route":"/targets/ezh2/"}],"institution":[{"id":"penn-abramson","kind":"institution","name":"Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania","route":"/institutions/penn-abramson/"},{"id":"nci","kind":"institution","name":"National Cancer Institute (NIH)","route":"/institutions/nci/"}],"term":[{"id":"synthetic-lethality","kind":"term","name":"Synthetic lethality","route":"/terms/synthetic-lethality/"}],"person":[{"id":"dario-altieri","kind":"person","name":"Dario C. Altieri","route":"/people/dario-altieri/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-preclinical-models","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Lab models that fail to predict what happens in patients","route":"/bottlenecks/b-preclinical-models/"}],"collection":[{"id":"nci-cancer-centers","kind":"collection","name":"NCI-Designated Cancer Centers","route":"/collections/nci-cancer-centers/"}]}}