Development and Cancer Program

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The Development and Cancer (DC) Program at Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC) is a multidisciplinary program co-led by Joshua Mendell, MD, PhD, and Stephen Skapek, MD. The DC Program includes 41 basic, computational, and physician scientists from 18 departments and centers at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). The DC Program is unique among SCCC programs in that its members investigate the developmentally and evolutionarily conserved processes that are fundamental to cancer cell growth, division, and differentiation. DC investigators also study the organ and organism growth and developmental processes that are derailed in human cancer. DC Program members pursue four major aims to cover the diversity at the developmental and cancer biology interface: (1) Systematic analyses of stem cell biology and regeneration, (2) Exploring gene expression and cell fate, (3) Studies of cell differentiation and organogenesis, and (4) Analyzing cell–cell and cell–stroma interactions. DC Program Leaders promote utilization of the complete spectrum of resources from SCCC and the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) to provide a research environment that stimulates scientific interactions between laboratory-based investigators and translational and clinical researchers. As a result, DC Program members have fully participated in Kidney and Liver SPORE projects, NCI and CPRIT multi-investigator research awards, and exploration of topics with high potential for clinical translation. Many of these efforts are beginning to reach cancer patients, including those with lung and liver cancer and other malignancies that are particularly prevalent in the SCCC catchment area. Total direct peer-reviewed funding to the DC Program is $16.5M, with 29% from NCI. This represents an increase of $4.5M in peer-reviewed funding compared with 2014 data, which were adjusted to conform to new NCI guidelines. Since 2014, DC Program members have authored 552 publications: 16% represent intraprogrammatic work, 47% are interprogrammatic collaborations, and 30% are in journals with an impact factor >10. DC Program members benefit from the use of all six of the Cancer Center Shared Resources, especially Live Cell Imaging, Small Animal Imaging, and Tissue Management. To foster collaborations, the DC Program holds a large annual retreat, leads relevant campuswide seminar series, and organizes theme-focused research retreats. In addition, DC Program members received $1.5M in pilot project funding during the last grant cycle; those funds have helped to catalyze collaborations and research at the development and cancer biology interface. The program is highly invested in unraveling the fundamental elements of cancer biology in a manner that can ultimately improve the care provided to patients with cancer.