ChristianaCare Launches Organoid Core to Personalize Cancer Treatment

Mini-tumors grown from patients’ own cancers could guide more effective, personalized treatments

ChristianaCare’s Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research has unveiled a first-of-its-kind organoid core in a community cancer center program. The new laboratory facility within the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute grows and tests living, patient-derived tumor models, giving doctors and researchers a faster, more precise way to identify the therapies most likely to work for each patient. This innovation could change how cancer is treated in Delaware and serve as a model for community centers nationwide.

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There are only a handful of organoid core centers, or “tumor-on-a-chip” programs, in the United States, and ChristianaCare’s is the first within a community cancer center setting.

What the Organoid Core Does

Tumor organoids are tiny, three-dimensional cultures grown from a patient’s tumor tissue. They preserve the genetic and molecular traits of the original tumor, making them far more accurate than traditional cell lines.

“These mini-tumors enable researchers to screen drugs faster, identify new biomarkers and discover which treatments are most likely to work for each patient,” said Thomas Schwaab, M.D., Ph.D., Bank of America Endowed Medical Director of ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and Research Institute. “This core is a bridge between the lab and the clinic. By growing living tumor models from cells of individual patients, we can test real-world drug responses and tailor treatments for them in ways that were not possible before.”

How It Advances Patient Care

The organoid core strengthens the Cawley Center's research capabilities by enabling drug screening and biomarker discovery. It will bank organoids representing the wide variety of tumors seen in the community, giving scientists a realistic system for testing therapies.

ChristianaCare treats more than 70 percent of cancer patients in Delaware, giving researchers unique access to treatment-naïve samples. These are tumor tissues that have not yet been exposed to chemotherapy or other therapies. Studying them provides a more accurate picture of how cancer behaves naturally and how it might respond to new treatments.

Bringing a new cancer drug to patients is expensive and risky. Estimates show it can cost $1.3 to $2.8 billion, with up to a third spent on preclinical development, and only about one in 10 compounds ever reach human trials. Traditional mouse models often fail to fully mimic human tumors, making early testing less reliable. By using organoid screening, the Cawley Center can test therapies more accurately, reduce costs and failure rates and move promising treatments into clinical trials faster. Combined with existing tissue collection programs, clinical trial infrastructure and community partnerships, these resources create a direct pathway to bring lab discoveries to patients faster.

Turning Point in Translational Research

“Our goal is to shorten the distance between discovery and treatment,” said Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D., director of the Cawley Center. “Too many promising drugs fail because early models do not capture the complexity of real tumors. The organoid core helps solve that problem. We can now test therapies in models that reflect the patients we actually serve.”

“This is a turning point for translational research in community health,” said Jennifer Sims Mourtada, Ph.D., associate director at the Cawley Center. “Organoid technology lets us study cancer in a way that feels personal. We are not just looking at data points. We are studying living models of a patient’s tumor, which can reveal how that person’s cancer might behave or respond to treatment. This approach brings science closer to the people it is meant to help.”

Looking Ahead

In the coming months, the organoid core will focus on building a diverse biobank of tumors common in Delaware. Plans include collaborations with academic institutions, shared access for external researchers, and development of immune-tumor co-culture models.

By combining advanced technology, strong community partnerships and direct patient access, ChristianaCare and the Cawley Center are showing how translational cancer research can thrive in a community setting, making breakthroughs not only in the lab but also in patients’ lives.

About the Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research

The Cawley Center for Translational Cancer Research is a 7,000-square-foot laboratory within ChristianaCare's Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, one of only five community cancer centers in the nation with a dedicated wet lab. Researchers focus on solid tumors and population health to accelerate new discoveries for patients. The center includes a tissue procurement facility, organoid and drug-screening cores, histology services and advanced flow cytometry. It also trains University of Delaware students, research fellows and early-career physician scientists. A community research advisory board helps set priorities that reflect local needs. Through partnerships with academic institutions — including a long-standing collaboration with the Wistar Institute — along with industry and community partners, the Cawley Center continues to advance new cancer therapies and prevention strategies.

About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, and innovating to make high-quality care more accessible, equitable and affordable. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, four hospitals (1,440 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute and a 10-bed neighborhood hospital in West Grove, PA.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work. ChristianaCare is rated by Newsweek as one of the World’s Best Hospitals and is continually ranked among the best in the U.S. in national quality and safety ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

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“Our goal is to shorten the distance between discovery and treatment. Too many promising drugs fail because early models do not capture the complexity of real tumors. The organoid core helps solve that problem." - Nicholas J. Petrelli, M.D.