Research at Fox Chase »Research Areas »Keystone Programs

The Keystone Programs for Collaborative Discovery are a suite of innovative team-based cancer research initiatives launched by Fox Chase Cancer Center in February 2008. At the heart of each Keystone Program is a self-organized group of scientists, clinicians, and other research professionals seeking to integrate and focus their joined expertise on a significant question in cancer. The expectation is that this team-based, thematic research approach will accelerate the pace of medical progress against cancer. The first five Keystone Programs are:

• The Keystone Program in
  Personalized Risk and Prevention
  • Goal: To discover molecular markers that predict cancer risk and to develop risk reduction strategies tailored to the profile and personal values of the individual.
    For more information go to
    The Keystone Program in Personalized Risk and Prevention
• The Keystone Program in
  Epigenetics and Progenitor Cells
  • Goal: To investigate two new views of the origins and maintenance of tumor cells with the aim of creating novel approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
    For more information go to
    The Keystone Program in Epigenetics and Progenitor Cells
• The Keystone Program in
  Blood Cell Development and Cancer
  • Goal: To identify the genes essential for blood precursor cells to give rise to the many distinct blood cell types, a critical step towards understanding blood cell cancers and improving the treatment of patients with leukemias and lymphomas.
    For more information go to
    The Keystone Program in Blood Cell Development and Cancer
• The Keystone Program in
  Personalized Kidney Cancer Therapy
  • Goal: To investigate the mechanisms of kidney cancer metastasis and to uncover the molecular signals that anticipate how a kidney tumor will respond to therapies in order to optimize therapy for individual patients.
    For more information go to
    The Keystone Program in Personalized Kidney Cancer Therapy
• The Keystone Program in
  Head and Neck Cancer
  • Goal: Program scientists are engaged in the development of new combination therapies, and the creation of new therapeutic agents. In collaboration with the Institute for Personalized Medicine, Keystone investigators also seek to reduce the overall incidence of head and neck cancers, and to devise the optimal treatment strategies for individual patients.
    For more information go to
    The Keystone Program in Head and Neck Cancer

Additional Keystone Programs are in development and will be added to Fox Chase's research portfolio as soon as is feasible.