Resources

Mouse Hospital

The Pancreatic Cancer Mouse Hospital of the Abramson Cancer Center was established with both institution and philanthropic funds as a facility to conduct preclinical trials on mice. It is housed in the Vivarium located on the 6th floor of the Smilow Center for Translational Research at the University of Pennsylvania. The space consists of a 700-cage holding room and two procedure rooms with two Vevo 2100 state-of-the-art small animal ultrasound machines. The Mouse Hospital is able to conduct 10-15 large-scale preclinical trials per year. For more information, download the Overview PDF of the Mouse Hospital.

 

Cynthia Clendenin, VMD

Cynthia Clendenin, VMD

Scientific Director, Mouse Hospital
 cclenden@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 215-746-8949

8-113, Smilow Center for Translational Research
Building 421, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-5156

Rina Sor

Rina Sor

Research Specialist


Liquid Biopsy Laboratory

Erica L. Carpenter, MBA, PhD

Erica L. Carpenter, MBA, PhD

Director, Liquid Biopsy Labooratory
 erical@upenn.edu
 215-746-4427

SPE 8th Floor, Room 8-104
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
 

Melinda Yin

Melinda Yin

Laboratory Manager, Liquid Biopsy Laboratory
 melinda.yin@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
 215-746-4426

The Liquid Biopsy Laboratory, led by Director Dr. Erica Carpenter, focuses on the identification, capture, and analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from cancer patients, including those with pancreatic cancer. Blood, bone marrow, pleural effusions, and other non-invasively captured patient samples are used to detect biomarkers which allow: 1) early detection of disease as well as post-therapy monitoring of minimal residual disease, 2) an efficient means of determining clinical and biological response to therapy and, thus, clinical decision making, and, 3) cancer genetic phenotyping to drive personalized medicine that obviates the need for serial biopsies in a population of patients for which these procedures are difficult, risky, and insufficient.

The focus of the Liquid Biopsy Laboratory is driven by the needs of clinicians and translational investigators, and realized through collaborative work with investigators in the Penn School of Medicine, the Penn School of Engineering, and the Center for Personalized Diagnostics. Moreover, when it is determined that outsourcing of technology development is preferable, collaborative efforts with industry partners are actively sought, and these efforts have already been initiated in focused areas. In the case of pancreatic cancer, Dr. Carpenter’s lab focuses on studying early stages of human pancreatic cancer and cancer progression in collaboration with academic and industry partners.