Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence
Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR)

The Center for Applied Molecular Medicine (CAMM) at the Keck School of Medicine

The Center for Applied Molecular Medicine (CAMM) at the Keck School of Medicine includes a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to furthering the development and use of technologies to guide doctors in patient management decisions. The principle goal of the Center is the development, validation and application of technologies for the diagnosis and management of disease. Towards this vision, CAMM is actively applying existing proteomics and nanotechnology techniques to clinical and biological samples to better understand the biology of cancer and other diseases, and developing new technologies that will allow the extraction of more information from biological and clinical samples. Computationally, its focus is on the reliable and reproducible extraction and comparison of quality assurance and quantitative information from high-resolution mass spectrometric proteomics and nanosensor data. CAMM also utilizes computational linguistics methods for comparison of clinical annotations from multiple datasets. The Westside Prostate Cancer Center (WPCC) is a free standing unit of the Norris Cancer Center for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer that is directed by Dr. David Agus. WPCC's clinical trial component is run by Dr. Mitchell Gross. The goal of the Center is to provide high quality care multidisciplinary for patients with prostate cancer including access to clinical trials and the application of molecular technologies. WPCC has a close translational relationship with the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine, and is located in a state-of-the-art building with all cancer pharmaceutical and infusional capacities.

The USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a national resource for cancer research, treatment, prevention and education. Nearly 200 basic scientists, physicians from the faculty of Keck School of Medicine of USC and several USC professional schools/departments and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences who are members of the USC/Norris Cancer Center investigate the complex origins and progression of cancer, develop prevention strategies and search for cures. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has designated the USC/Norris Cancer Center as one of the nation's 40 comprehensive cancer centers, a select group of institutions providing leadership in cancer treatment, research, prevention and education. USC/Norris has held this designation since 1973, when it was named as one of the first eight comprehensive cancer centers. Research at USC/Norris is organized into five thematic programs (molecular genetics, epigenetics and regulation, tumor microenvironment, cancer epidemiology and cancer control research), five translational research programs (genitourinary cancers, gastrointestinal cancers, women's cancers, and hematologic and viral-associated malignancies) and a "bridge" program in developmental therapeutics.