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Ben Z. Stanger, MD, PhD
4cHanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research
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Department: Medicine
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Graduate Group Affiliations
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- Cell and Molecular Biology 5c
- Immunology e
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Contact information
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Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute
24 Division of Gastroenterology
1e Department of Medicine
3e University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
34 512 Biomedical Research Bldg II/III (Office)
31 527 Biomedical Research Bldg II/III (Lab)
36 421 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
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24 Division of Gastroenterology
1e Department of Medicine
3e University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
34 512 Biomedical Research Bldg II/III (Office)
31 527 Biomedical Research Bldg II/III (Lab)
36 421 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
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Publications
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Education:
21 7 SB 1a (Life Sciences) c
3e Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.
21 7 MD 15 (Medicine) c
2f Harvard Medical School, 1997.
21 8 PhD 15 (Genetics) c
2f Harvard Medical School, 1997.
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21 7 SB 1a (Life Sciences) c
3e Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.
21 7 MD 15 (Medicine) c
2f Harvard Medical School, 1997.
21 8 PhD 15 (Genetics) c
2f Harvard Medical School, 1997.
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Links
cc Search PubMed for articles
70 Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute
79 CAMB website
8c Division of Gastroenterology website
62 Ben's personal (author) website
70 Penn Pancreatic Cancer Research Center
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cc Search PubMed for articles
70 Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute
79 CAMB website
8c Division of Gastroenterology website
62 Ben's personal (author) website
70 Penn Pancreatic Cancer Research Center
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Post-Graduate Training
24 73 Intern and Resident in Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1997-1999.
24 ac Research and Clinical Fellow in Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA Fellowship Director: Daniel Podolsky, MD, 1999-2003.
24 b2 Research Fellow in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Laboratory of Douglas Melton, PhD, 2000-2006.
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Permanent link24 73 Intern and Resident in Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, 1997-1999.
24 ac Research and Clinical Fellow in Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA Fellowship Director: Daniel Podolsky, MD, 1999-2003.
24 b2 Research Fellow in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Laboratory of Douglas Melton, PhD, 2000-2006.
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1b Cellular Plasticity
19 Pancreatic Cancer
18 Tumor Immunology
12 Metastasis
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4e Key words: Pancreatic Cancer, Tumor Immunology, Cell Plasticity
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26 Description of Research
17 Pancreas Cancer
2e2 Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is poised to become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This poor outcome is attributable to two facts: (1) pancreatic cancers metastasize early, before clinical detection, and (2) current anti-cancer therapies are inadequate. Our laboratory tackles these problems by understanding how tumors evolve and identifying vulnerabilities that will lead to better therapies. Our efforts include studies of the tumor microenvironment (with a focus on immune cells), metabolism, cellular plasticity and metastasis biology. We rely on genetically engineered mice that recapitulate salient features of the human disease, functional genomics, epigenetics, and human samples.
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20 Rotation Projects
7c Please contact Dr. Stanger directly to discuss potential projects. We currently have NO open postdoctoral positions.
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1d Lab personnel:
35 Ben Stanger, MD, PhD - Principal Investigator
21 Lily Watson - Lab Manager
2c Sean O'Connor - Research Coordinator
35 Austin Good, MD PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
34 Cole Edwards, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
30 Feiyan Mo, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
33 Minh Than, MD PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
2e Erin Hollander - Post-Graduate Student
2f Benjamin Kahn – Post-Graduate Student
2b Margo Orlen - Post-Graduate Student
25 Noah Cheng - Graduate Student
29 Jayne McDevitt - Graduate Student
2b William Sullivan - Graduate Student
23 Jane Xie - Graduate Student
28 Misha Gujja - Penn Undergraduate
28 Shreya Nair - Penn Undergraduate
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27 Executive Administrator:
14 Fran Tucker
3f ftucker@upenn.edu
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Description of Research Expertise
2b Research Interests8
1b Cellular Plasticity
19 Pancreatic Cancer
18 Tumor Immunology
12 Metastasis
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4e Key words: Pancreatic Cancer, Tumor Immunology, Cell Plasticity
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26 Description of Research
17 Pancreas Cancer
2e2 Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is poised to become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. This poor outcome is attributable to two facts: (1) pancreatic cancers metastasize early, before clinical detection, and (2) current anti-cancer therapies are inadequate. Our laboratory tackles these problems by understanding how tumors evolve and identifying vulnerabilities that will lead to better therapies. Our efforts include studies of the tumor microenvironment (with a focus on immune cells), metabolism, cellular plasticity and metastasis biology. We rely on genetically engineered mice that recapitulate salient features of the human disease, functional genomics, epigenetics, and human samples.
8
20 Rotation Projects
7c Please contact Dr. Stanger directly to discuss potential projects. We currently have NO open postdoctoral positions.
8
1d Lab personnel:
35 Ben Stanger, MD, PhD - Principal Investigator
21 Lily Watson - Lab Manager
2c Sean O'Connor - Research Coordinator
35 Austin Good, MD PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
34 Cole Edwards, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
30 Feiyan Mo, PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
33 Minh Than, MD PhD - Postdoctoral Researcher
2e Erin Hollander - Post-Graduate Student
2f Benjamin Kahn – Post-Graduate Student
2b Margo Orlen - Post-Graduate Student
25 Noah Cheng - Graduate Student
29 Jayne McDevitt - Graduate Student
2b William Sullivan - Graduate Student
23 Jane Xie - Graduate Student
28 Misha Gujja - Penn Undergraduate
28 Shreya Nair - Penn Undergraduate
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27 Executive Administrator:
14 Fran Tucker
3f ftucker@upenn.edu
6e
Description of Other Expertise
111 I am the author, most recently, of a book entitled FROM ONE CELL, which tells the incredible story of embryonic development through the eyes of the scientists who shaped our knowledge over the past century. See https://www.bstanger.com for more information.e 29
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1a5 Orlen MI, Vostrejs WP, Sor R, McDevitt JC, Kemp SB, Kim IK, Kramer AB, Tovbis Shifrin N, Markosyan N, Clendenin C, Singh M, Quintana E, Menard M, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: T-cell dependency of tumor regressions and complete responses with RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibition in preclinical models of PDAC. Cancer Discov 15(8): 1697-1716, Aug 2025.
12f Kahn BM, Ng RWS, Kim IK, Eskandarian C, Chen CO, Huang B, Lucas A, Li L, Maillard I, Stanger BZ: Intrinsic properties of the lymph node render it immunologically susceptible to metastasis. Cancer Discov 15(9): 1949-1968, Sep 2025.
142 Katsuda T, Sussman JH, Ito K, Katznelson A, Yuan S, Takenaka N, Li J, Merrell AJ, Cure H, Li Q, Rasool RU, Asangani IA, Zaret KS, Stanger BZ: Cellular reprogramming in vivo initiated by SOX4 pioneer factor activity. Nat Commun 15(1): 1761, Feb 2024.
196 Kim I-K, Diamond MS, Yuan S, Kemp SB, Kahn BM, Li Q, Lin JH, Li J, Norgard RJ, Thomas SK, Merolle M, Katsuda T, Tobias JW, Baslan T, Politi K, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: Plasticity-induced repression of Irf6 underlies acquired resistance to cancer immunotherapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Nat Commun 15(1): 1532, Feb 2024.
1ca Kemp SB, Cheng N, Markosyan N, Sor R, Kim I-K, Hallin J, Shoush J, Quinones L, Brown NV, Bassett JB, Joshi N, Yuan S, Smith M, Vostrejs WP, Perez-Vale KZ, Kahn B, Mo F, Donahue TR, Radu CG, Clendenin C, Christensen JG, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: Efficacy of a small molecule inhibitor of KrasG12D in immunocompetent models of pancreatic cancer. Cancer Discov 13(2): 298-311, Feb 2023.
1eb Maddipati R, Norgard RJ, Baslan T, Rathi KS, Zhang A, Saeid A, Higashihara T, Wu F, Kumar A, Annamalai V, Bhattacharya S, Raman P, Adkisson CA, Pitarresi JR, Wengyn MD, Yamazoe T, Millstein ID, Bermeo J, Carpenter EL, McAuliffe, Oktay MH, Brekken RA, Lowe SW, lacobuzio-Donahue CA, Notta F, Stanger BZ.: MYC levels regulate metastatic heterogeneity in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discov 12(2): 542-561, Feb 2022.
a0 Li J, Stanger BZ: The tumor as organizer model. Science 363(6431): 1038-1039, Mar 2019.
b4 Ben Stanger: From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine. W.W. Norton Aug 2023.
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Selected Publications
c8 Than MT, Stanger BZ: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: the Everest of cancer biology. J Clin Invest 135(14): e191936, Jul 2025.1a5 Orlen MI, Vostrejs WP, Sor R, McDevitt JC, Kemp SB, Kim IK, Kramer AB, Tovbis Shifrin N, Markosyan N, Clendenin C, Singh M, Quintana E, Menard M, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: T-cell dependency of tumor regressions and complete responses with RAS(ON) multi-selective inhibition in preclinical models of PDAC. Cancer Discov 15(8): 1697-1716, Aug 2025.
12f Kahn BM, Ng RWS, Kim IK, Eskandarian C, Chen CO, Huang B, Lucas A, Li L, Maillard I, Stanger BZ: Intrinsic properties of the lymph node render it immunologically susceptible to metastasis. Cancer Discov 15(9): 1949-1968, Sep 2025.
142 Katsuda T, Sussman JH, Ito K, Katznelson A, Yuan S, Takenaka N, Li J, Merrell AJ, Cure H, Li Q, Rasool RU, Asangani IA, Zaret KS, Stanger BZ: Cellular reprogramming in vivo initiated by SOX4 pioneer factor activity. Nat Commun 15(1): 1761, Feb 2024.
196 Kim I-K, Diamond MS, Yuan S, Kemp SB, Kahn BM, Li Q, Lin JH, Li J, Norgard RJ, Thomas SK, Merolle M, Katsuda T, Tobias JW, Baslan T, Politi K, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: Plasticity-induced repression of Irf6 underlies acquired resistance to cancer immunotherapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Nat Commun 15(1): 1532, Feb 2024.
1ca Kemp SB, Cheng N, Markosyan N, Sor R, Kim I-K, Hallin J, Shoush J, Quinones L, Brown NV, Bassett JB, Joshi N, Yuan S, Smith M, Vostrejs WP, Perez-Vale KZ, Kahn B, Mo F, Donahue TR, Radu CG, Clendenin C, Christensen JG, Vonderheide RH, Stanger BZ: Efficacy of a small molecule inhibitor of KrasG12D in immunocompetent models of pancreatic cancer. Cancer Discov 13(2): 298-311, Feb 2023.
1eb Maddipati R, Norgard RJ, Baslan T, Rathi KS, Zhang A, Saeid A, Higashihara T, Wu F, Kumar A, Annamalai V, Bhattacharya S, Raman P, Adkisson CA, Pitarresi JR, Wengyn MD, Yamazoe T, Millstein ID, Bermeo J, Carpenter EL, McAuliffe, Oktay MH, Brekken RA, Lowe SW, lacobuzio-Donahue CA, Notta F, Stanger BZ.: MYC levels regulate metastatic heterogeneity in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discov 12(2): 542-561, Feb 2022.
a0 Li J, Stanger BZ: The tumor as organizer model. Science 363(6431): 1038-1039, Mar 2019.
b4 Ben Stanger: From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine. W.W. Norton Aug 2023.
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Contact us
4eInstitute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
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Smilow Center for Translational Research
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3400 Civic Center Boulevard, 12th Floor
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Philadelphia, PA 19104
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Phone: 215-898-0198 | Fax 215-898-5408
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