OnCo
institutionsInstitution

NCI Center for Cancer Research (intramural programme)

aka CCR, NCI intramural

The NCI's own laboratories and clinic at the NIH Clinical Center, home of Rosenberg's cell therapy branch, the HPV vaccine and lymphoma genomics.

The Center for Cancer Research is the NCI's intramural research programme, with laboratories in Bethesda and Frederick and a clinical arm at the NIH Clinical Center, the largest hospital in the world devoted to research, where patients on protocol are treated free of charge. Steven Rosenberg's Surgery Branch produced the first effective cancer immunotherapy (high-dose IL-2), the first gene-modified T cells (1990), TIL therapy and neoantigen-directed TCR therapy; Douglas Lowy and John Schiller invented the virus-like-particle technology behind HPV vaccines; Louis Staudt's lymphoma genomics defined the ABC and GCB subtypes of DLBCL. The Pediatric Oncology Branch (Brigitte Widemann, Nirali Shah) led selumetinib for NF1 and CD22 CAR-T, and James Gulley and Raffit Hassan run immunotherapy and mesothelin programmes. Most CCR trials are open to referral from any physician.

Location
Bethesda, MD, US
Type
government
Newsweek 2026 oncology rank
Not in top 300 listing used
OnCo score
#103 · 34 points (0 Newsweek + 0 NCI + 34 from 17 linked objects) · ranking

Programmes

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  • Surgery Branch (TIL, TCR-T)
  • HPV vaccine science
  • Lymphoid malignancies
  • Pediatric Oncology Branch
  • NIH Clinical Center trials

People

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Steven A. Rosenberg
Chief, Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research
Adoptive cell therapyTIL therapyNeoantigen-specific T cells

Father of cancer immunotherapy: first to cure patients with IL-2 and with their own tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes.

Louis M. Staudt
Director, Center for Cancer Genomics; Chief, Lymphoid Malignancies Branch
Lymphoma genomicsMolecular subtypes of DLBCLBTK signalling

Louis Staudt defined the molecular subtypes of large B-cell lymphoma that guide targeted therapy.

Douglas R. Lowy
Principal Deputy Director, National Cancer Institute
HPV biologyVaccine developmentCancer prevention

Co-developed the HPV vaccine technology that is eliminating cervical cancer in vaccinated populations.

James L. Gulley
Co-Director, Center for Immuno-Oncology, Center for Cancer Research
Genitourinary cancersCancer vaccinesBifunctional immunotherapies

Runs NCI's immuno-oncology clinical programme, from prostate cancer vaccines to bifunctional checkpoint fusion proteins.

Brigitte C. Widemann
Chief, Pediatric Oncology Branch; Special Advisor to the NCI Director for Childhood Cancer
Paediatric oncologyNeurofibromatosisMEK inhibitors

Led the selumetinib trials that gave children with neurofibromatosis their first approved drug.

Nirali N. Shah
Head, Hematologic Malignancies Section, Pediatric Oncology Branch
Paediatric leukaemiaCAR-TCD22

Nirali Shah developed CD22 CAR-T for children whose leukaemia escaped CD19 therapy.

Raffit Hassan
Chief, Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch
MesotheliomaMesothelin-targeted therapyImmunotoxins

Made mesothelin a drug target, from immunotoxins to ADCs and CAR-T, and leads NCI's mesothelioma programme.

Connected

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