Evolution of The Wistar Institute

An advisory board composed of the country’s most influential anatomists convened at Wistar and declared “the principle object of the Institute to be research.”

International scientists came on yearly sabbaticals to Wistar. In 1906, Shinkishi Hatai, Ph.D., (second from left) was the first international scientist to join the Wistar faculty and later became known as the father of Japanese biology.

Wistar installed printing presses on site to support an academic publishing enterprise that began in 1905. The Wistar Press was printing and distributing eight scientific journals internationally by 1924, helping to make Wistar a center of American scientific influence.

Hilary Koprowski, M.D., was appointed director of the Institute and would lead Wistar for 34 years. Under his direction, the Institute entered its “modern era” and embarked on a major effort to create vaccines against viral diseases and study the biology of cancer.

While working at the Institute in 1959, the biochemist and expert in human nutrition David Kritchevsky, Ph.D., published the influential textbook Cholesterol, which explored his studies on the mechanisms of atherosclerosis, or fat deposits in blood vessels, and the role of cholesterol deposits in cardiovascular disease.

Leonard Hayflick, Ph.D., and Paul S. Moorhead, Ph.D, established the WI-38 cell line of human diploid fibroblasts in 1962. While many experimental cell lines available at that time derived from cancers or were genetically abnormal, WI-38 cells were the first and most extensively studied “normal” cell line to be grown in virtually unlimited quantities. WI-38 cells have been used to develop lifesaving vaccines.

In 1979, Wistar scientists were among the first to develop and license antiviral and anti-tumor cell monoclonal antibodies and Wistar moved to the forefront of monoclonal antibody research.

H. Fred Clark, D.V.M., Paul A. Offit, M.D., and Stanley A. Plotkin, M.D., of The Wistar Institute and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, began their effort to create a vaccine against a virus that causes severe diarrhea and vomiting among infants and young children and is responsible for tens of thousands of hospitalizations in the United States and hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world each year.

Kazuko Nishikura, Ph.D., discovered a mechanism of RNA regulation through which cells can make discrete changes in the sequence of nucleotides — the “letters” in the RNA code, ultimately affecting the protein product. She characterized a family of enzymes called ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) that are responsible for RNA editing.

Giorgio Trinchieri, M.D., discovered the cytokine Interleukin-12 (IL-12). Cytokines are small secreted proteins with important functions in the regulation of hematopoiesis, immunity and cancer. IL-12 has applications as adjuvant in cancer immune therapy and monoclonal antibodies against IL-12 are used to treat the skin disease psoriasis.

Meenhard Herlyn, D.V.M., D.Sc., developed a three-dimensional human skin reconstruct model that is instrumental in the study of melanoma biology and resistance to therapy.

In 1991, Giovanni Rovera, M.D., succeeded Dr. Koprowski. He recruited a talented group of young cancer investigators with expertise in genetics, structural biology, biology, and immunology. Dr. Rovera’s research focused on the molecular basis of leukemia and childhood malignancies.

In 1994, the Institute celebrated the centennial of the original Victorian research building opening. A dinner was held to honor Isaac’s request that one of the unique bequests he made to the Institute– a bottle of rum, be drunk “on the completion of the first century of its corporate existence.” On this occasion, the Wistar Award was established to honor individuals who have been instrumental in ensuring the continuing vitality of the Institute, and it was presented to Robert A. Fox.

William H. Wunner, Ph.D., Peter J. Curtis, Ph.D., and other Wistar scientists developed an oral rabies vaccine to be administered prophylactically through bait to particular wildlife populations. First approved in 1995 to prevent raccoon rabies, it is used worldwide to protect wild animals and, indirectly, neighboring human populations.

In collaboration with the Community College of Philadelphia, Wistar launched a two-year training program to prepare college students for a career as research technicians. The program, which was the first of its kind and continues to present day, was started by William H. Wunner, Ph.D., Wistar’s director of Academic Affairs and director of Outreach Education and Technology Training. Another goal of the BTT program is to bring more diversity to science: more than half of the graduates are minorities and seven out of 10 are women.

During his tenure, which began in 2002, Russel Kaufman, M.D., embarked on strategic planning and faculty recruitment, and fostered collaborations with regional academic and life sciences industry partners. Dr. Kaufman guided the Institute through its $35 million capital campaign, “Building Wistar, Changing the World,” which began in 2010 and supported the building of the Fox Tower and has substantially raised Wistar’s endowments. Dr. Kaufman stepped down as president and CEO in 2015.

Wistar celebrates the launch of the Wistar Vaccine Center with Hildegund C.J. Ertl, M.D., as its first leader. Extending Wistar’s history of accomplishment in vaccine development, the new Vaccine Center was designed to draw upon the Institute’s strengths in immunology, virology, and other research disciplines to develop new vaccines for HIV, rabies, influenza, Hepatitis C, malaria and other infectious diseases.

Emmanuel Skordalakes, Ph.D., was the first to decode the structure of the catalytic portion of telomerase, the enzyme that replicates DNA at the chromosome end (telomeres).

Wistar launched the The Wistar Melanoma Research Center under the direction of Meenhard Herlyn, D.V.M., D.Sc., in an effort to fast track basic research that could lead to defining new therapies. The Center would represent a hub to connect scientists and physicians at universities, research institutions, medical centers, and pharmaceutical companies.

Cancer biologist Dario C. Altieri, M.D., was appointed director of the Wistar Cancer Center, which he expanded by recruiting a “critical mass” of multidisciplinary researchers. In 2015, Dr. Altieri became president and CEO of the Institute while retaining his role as director of the Cancer Center. Dr. Altieri also leads a research program that studies how tumor cells evade programmed cell death and the role of mitochondria, power plant of the cells, in tumor metabolism.

The Robert and Penny Fox Research Tower opened its doors. The new addition adds nearly 90,000 square feet of cutting-edge laboratory space to the Institute, allowing a more integrated style of research and reflecting the contemporary “team science” discovery approach.

In 2016, Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D., and his research team identified a marker for myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), a population of immune cells implicated in tumor resistance to various types of cancer treatment, including targeted therapies, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The new marker has a potential clinical impact as it could be used to help direct treatment decisions and to target MDSCs for therapeutic benefit.

Wistar's Biomedical Research Technician (BRT) Apprenticeship is the first-ever registered, nontraditional apprenticeship program for biomedical research ratified by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. The apprenticeship offers apprentices a career pathway to becoming biomedical research technicians in a research laboratory environment and is an extension of the Institute's Biomedical Technician Training Program.

The Caspar Wistar Fellows Program was launched to provide recent Ph.D. or M.D. graduates with exceptional support and resources to pursue an accelerated path as independent principal investigators and join the next generation of scientific leaders. Rahul S. Shinde, D.V.M., Ph.D., joined as the inaugural Caspar Wistar Fellow.