The field of bioinformatics applies computer science and information technology to complex problems in the study of biological processes, such as the network of interactions between molecules within cells or the analysis of mutations in cancer.

Diagnostic biomarkers are tools used for the identification of a disease or predisposition to a disease, and can often influence the course of patient treatment. They can be anything from a single molecule or a specific biochemical process that measures disease progression and response to therapy.

Prognostic biomarkers can gauge the progress or outcome of a disease in patients. Such biomarkers are used most often in patients with cancer to better manage the design of therapeutic regimens at each stage of the disease.

Biostatistics applies statistical analysis to both the design of experiments in biomedicine and the understanding of the results of those experiments.

Cancer vaccines are designed to prevent the further development of a patient’s cancer by stimulating a patient’s immune response. The term can also be applied to vaccines against viruses that cause cancer. The Wistar Institute’s wide-ranging cancer vaccine development program encompasses treatment vaccines against colorectal cancer, melanoma, and the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer.

Computational genomics uses the power of computing, mathematics and statistics to study the genome, particularly DNA and RNA sequencing. Because deciphering the genome and gene function is essential to understanding basic biology at the molecular level, this analytical, data driven approach can help identify new targets for therapeutic and vaccine development.

Experimental therapeutics is the science of turning the basic processes and mechanisms of human biology into new, more effective drugs and medical devices. One goal is to create more “personalized” therapeutics to better fit the biology of individual patients with higher efficacy, more specificity, and lower side effects.

The new wealth of information about the human genome has led to a surge in the role of functional genomics, which seeks to uncover the function of newly discovered genes and their expressed proteins. Functional genomics explores the dynamic processes that regulate both genes and proteins.

The Wistar Institute uses mouse models of cancer, which play a significant role in the study of the disease, and have been instrumental in the development of a number of novel approaches to treatment. They provide biologically reliable models of many different cancers coupled with a critically important benefit – a living environment so that scientists can better understand the complex interplay of the various biological systems and processes that contribute to cancer.

The related fields of systems and integrative biology seek to understand the wide range of biologically complex processes in an organism as well as the mechanisms underlying those processes. This approach to biology involves a number of scientific disciplines from biochemistry to cell biology–on a scale that can range from the molecular, cellular or tissue level to entire systems within the organism itself.

Multidisciplinary in approach and collaborative in practice, translational research seeks to rapidly translate basic biomedical research into mainstream medicine. Now considered an invaluable component in achieving better patient results, translational research focuses on the accelerated development of lead therapeutic compounds and novel, more effective medical technologies.

Vaccines are a triumph of modern medicine. Vaccines encourage the body to produce antibodies against disease-causing agents. The Wistar Institute, which has a proven record of success in vaccine development against such diseases as rubella, rabies, and rotavirus, is committed to the development of vaccines for some of the most dangerous and widespread diseases worldwide.