Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research

In the 1970s, WFEB scientists undertook the first systematic study of anti-tumor effects of the anti-estrogen tamoxifen led by 2003 Kettering Prize recipient V. Craig Jordan and initial studies of aromatase inhibitors by 2005 Kettering prize recipient Angela Brodie, two important classes of drugs to treat breast cancer.

Selected high school juniors and seniors spent several weeks living in the dormitories of nearby Saint Mark's School and doing advanced biochemical lab work under the guidance of St. Mark's teachers, Frederick R. Avis and Anna Pliscz.

They also transplanted tumors from one mouse to another, isolated 17-ketosteroids from their own urine, and did blood counts and manometric oxygen consumption measurements on bovine livers and kidneys maintained in a perfusion apparatus, among other experiments.

The institution ran into severe financial troubles and was taken over by the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) in 1997.

[1] The site is now home to the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, led by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, at UMMS.