Every year, a series of athletic games connect the Boilermaker community's love for football, basketball, and finding a cure for cancer. The Hammer Down Cancer games raise money for the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, one of only seven National Cancer Institute-designated basic laboratory cancer centers in the United States.
The Purdue Center for Cancer Research translates ideas into innovative technology and therapeutics that improve lives. More than 125 researchers across campus come together to fight cancer. Importantly, this research is working; with multiple drugs in the pipelines, hundreds of patents, and many active clinical trials, Purdue is truly hammering down cancer.
When you donate, 100% of your gift goes directly to our most promising cancer research and helps continue the development of innovative technologies and therapeutics that improve lives. Please take a moment to help us continue to make a impact on cancer.
WHAT WE DO:
Cell Identity and Signaling
The Cell Identity and Signaling (CIS) Research Program is comprised of faculty members at Purdue University in the broad range of research areas from basic science studies using non-mammalian model organisms, to highly cancer-focused studies using animal models and human tumors. Significantly, studies-to-date with non-mammalian models have enabled better understanding of human biology and cancer, because essential cellular processes, such as cell growth, cell division, cell migration, and gene expression, are highly conserved. CIS members use non-mammalian model organisms, including yeast, Drosophila, Arabidopsis and zebrafish, as well as genetically engineered mouse models, mammalian cell lines, and human tumors. Employing state-of-the-art approaches of molecular, cellular and computational biology, biochemistry and genetics, CIS investigators use these model systems to examine essential questions that focus on mechanisms of cell signaling, gene expression and epigenetics, cell migration, metastasis, pluripotency and cell differentiation, among others.
Drug Delivery and Molecular Sensing
The Drug Delivery and Molecular Sensing (DDMS) Research Program is comprised of faculty members at Purdue University with the mission of providing physical science/engineering and technology solutions to advance the understanding of cancer biology, and to improve prevention, detection and treatment of cancers. These solutions that the Program provides are the result of integrating diverse Purdue University core strengths into collaborative studies that are launched from DDMS-associated expertise and that include innovation at the forefront of physics, chemistry and engineering disciplines. These solutions include molecular conjugates and nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery, new imaging modalities for surgical guidance and detection of drug sensitivity, and new in vitro tumor models to study cancer biology that can be applied to basic discoveries and translational efforts in cancer research.
Targets, Structures and Drugs
The Targets, Structures and Drugs (TSD) Research Program is comprised of faculty members at Purdue University with the mission to accelerate the discovery, development, and evaluation of small molecule agents and biologics with anti-cancer potential through a pipeline reinforced by the member faculty with broad expertise in the drug development process. This is achieved by harnessing the TSD world-class expertise in synthetic chemistry, macromolecular structure determination, creation of targeted agents, screens to identify new cancer targets, hit-to-lead maturation, preclinical testing, and clinical evaluation of new therapeutic modalities in canine tumor models that are more reflective of the human condition.