About the Center for Personalized Diagnostics

Personalized Diagnostics and Targeted Therapies

The Philadelphia Chromosome provided the first evidence that genetic abnormalities were linked to cancer. This discovery at Penn more than 50 years ago ushered in the modern period of cytogenetics. Founded in 2012, the Center for Personalized Diagnostics (CPD) builds on this legacy, and paves the way for a new era of genomic and therapeutic pathology.

The CPD is a collaboration between the Abramson Cancer Center and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and offers four core components to physicians and researchers:

A CAP/CLIA certified clinical laboratory for high throughput, next-generation DNA sequencing and other genomic analyses to provide diagnostic tests to clients within and beyond Penn Medicine
A clinically oriented research group with a focus on developing new tools for personalized diagnostics, new methods for data analysis, particularly of the large volumes of data derived from massively parallel "-omics" technologies, and on collaborating to gather data correlating diagnostic information with patient outcomes
A test development laboratory for generating additional clinical diagnostic tests that fall within the realm of personalized medicine in order to translate research into the clinical environment
A clinical and translational education service for trainees as well as established pathologists and clinicians to guide them through this highly complex, rapidly evolving field and to aid in the understanding and implementation of genomic medicine

The Treatments of Tomorrow are Being Designed at Penn Medicine Today

Since the launch of operations in February 2013, the Center for Personalized Diagnostics has performed more than 10,000 advanced diagnostics on patients representing a wide range of cancers. Through cutting-edge and large-scale gene sequencing, we analyze enormous amounts of genetic data to find useful information that could dramatically change the course of treatment and improve outcomes for patients. Our progress is driven by transformational philanthropy and with your continued help, we’ll soon be able to transform the lives of every cancer patient.

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CPD by the Numbers

Since the launch of operations in February 2013, the CPD has performed more than 10,000 advanced diagnostics on patients, representing a wide range of cancers:

24% lung cancer
16% gastrointestinal cancers
12% brain cancers
9% acute myeloid luekemia
5% melanoma
34% other, including rare cancers

Penn Medicine CPD Services

Using customized computational methods, including large-scale, massively parallel DNA sequencing and chromosomal analysis, the CPD identifies personal mutations signatures for distinct tumor subtypes.

Penn's Center for Personalized Diagnostics is a CAP/CLIA certified laboratory and offers the following precise cancer gene-sequencing panels:

PennSeq™ Hematologic Malignancies Panel, containing 116 genes known to be mutated in a range of hematologic and lymphoid malignancies
PennSeq™ Solid Tumor Panel, containing 183 genes known to be mutated in a range of solid tumors
Penn Precision Panel, with a subset of 59 genes if sample is not adequate for full solid tumor panel
Fusion Transcript Panel, containing 55 genes known to be involved in gene fusions in a range of solid tumors

Research Center

The CPD serves as a cancer research center, helping detect clinical correlations for treatment and outcome, with the goal to identify prognostic markers for future diagnostic and treatment options. Interested researchers should contact the CPD Research and Development coordinator.