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Research Programs

Research at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is organized into five Research Programs that are supported by a Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute.

These complementary research programs work together to deliver Simmons Cancer Center's mission to ease the burden of cancer through ground-breaking discovery, transdisciplinary research, impactful community engagement, education, and exceptional patient care.

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Cellular Networks in Cancer

Promotes research to increase understanding of molecular mechanisms altered in tumor cells and their microenvironment that support cancer initiation and metastatic progression

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Chemistry and Cancer

Focuses on the discovery of drug-like chemicals that affect biological processes causal to the development and progression of cancer.

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Development and Cancer

Brings together investigators in developmental and cancer stem cell biology to discover how aberrant developmental processes contribute to initiation and progression of cancer.

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Experimental Therapeutics

Promotes, develops, and exploits mechanism-based research for improved therapy of human cancer, and serves as the main hub for therapeutic clinical trials.

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Population Science and Cancer Control

Focuses on cross-cutting themes of cancer health disparities and health services research in the catchment’s safety-net systems, recognizing Dallas’s great socioeconomic and ethnic diversity.