Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP) Organization
Office of the Associate Director
The Office of the Associate Director provides planning, implementation, and oversight for all DTP activities, including participation in the NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT).
Preclinical Therapeutics Grants Branch
The Preclinical Therapeutics Grants Branch resides in a unique situation in relation to the extramural grant community and DTP’s drug discovery and development activities. Through management of a large grant and cooperative agreement portfolio, PTGB staff maintain extensive interactions with the external research community and can provide advice to foster DTP’s drug discovery mandate.
Molecular Pharmacology Branch
The Molecular Pharmacology Branch (MPB) runs the classical NCI60 cell line screen as a service available to the global cancer community. Investigators can submit compounds and biologics to the MPB for testing in this well-validated resource. The MPB can also provide investigators with frozen pellets, DNA, and RNA from the NCI60 cell lines for their specific studies.
Biological Testing Branch
The Biological Testing Branch operates at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (NCI-Frederick). It provides budgetary oversight and technical direction for an extensive contractual effort designed to discover chemotherapeutic agents for cancer. This includes in vivo study model development and screening, distribution of experimental animal and human tumor cell lines, as well as production and distribution of genetically and biologically defined rodents.
Toxicology and Pharmacology Branch
The primary responsibility of the Toxicology and Pharmacology Branch is to obtain the toxicology and pharmacology data necessary for NCI to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA in order to conduct phase I clinical trials of new oncolytic agents in humans.
Drug Synthesis and Chemistry Branch
NCI's Drug Synthesis and Chemistry Branch provides worldwide scientific liaison activities with universities and industries. The branch stimulates the submission of a wide variety of synthetic compounds and pure natural products for in vitro anti-cancer screening. It manages the storage, inventory, documentation, synthesis, acquisition, and distribution of chemical samples for research purposes to NIH and external investigators.
Natural Products Branch
The Natural Products Branch is responsible for the acquisition and distribution of crude natural product materials from terrestrial and marine environments worldwide. It oversees the operations of the Natural Products Repository and the Natural Products Extraction Laboratory.
Biological Resources Branch
The Biological Resources Branch oversees the Biopharmaceutical Development Program (BDP) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (NCI-Frederick), which produces a variety of biopharmaceuticals under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) for Phase I/II human clinical trials or advanced preclinical animal testing. BRB also oversees a biological Preclinical Repository for the distribution of cytokines, monoclonal antibodies, and a grant program in the area of biological agents, immunological concepts, and animal models for cancer treatment.
Pharmaceutical Resources Branch
The Pharmaceutical Resources Branch (PRB) provides the clinical research community with high-quality and well-characterized chemical substances and drug products. Whenever possible, USP/NF grade excipients with a proven track record for consistency and safety are used. The clinical supplies PRB provides are guaranteed to meet or exceed FDA accepted potency and purity requirements while in use.
Information Technology Branch
The Information Technology Branch (ITB) manages the chemical and biological databases to support DTP’s ongoing research efforts. ITB employs state-of-art software and hardware facilities to provide support for DTP and engages in collaborative research to promote further implementation of information technology within the branch.
ImmunoOncology Branch
The ImmunoOncology Branch initiates and coordinates various projects and initiatives to advance immunotherapy research. This includes fostering collaborations with academia and industry, providing guidance on drug development processes, identifying promising immunotherapeutic agents, reviewing grant proposals, and collaborating with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) to optimize clinical trials and drug combinations.