Cancer Research Breakthroughs Archives - Page 2 of 6 - NFCR

Cancer Research Breakthroughs

Breakthrough: Single-Cell Sequencing

Genomics, the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of an individual’s genes, is already revolutionizing the way medicine treats cancer. Like many sciences, genomics has “niches;” single-cell genomics is a rapidly developing field, and current technologies can assay a single cell’s gene expression, DNA…...

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Albert Szent-Györgyi’s discovery of vitamin C

In a world of ever-changing fad diets, it can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly constitutes as proper nutrition. Luckily, there are some basic nutrition tips that everyone can agree on. It’s no secret that fruits and vegetables are the key to a well-balanced diet, regardless of the current fad.…...

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Breakthrough: Dr. César Milstein And The MAbs

They are called “mAbs,” short for monoclonal antibodies, and they are a big deal in oncology. One of the immune systems most elegant soldiers, mAbs are formed by B cells, a type of white blood cell produced in the spleen, in response to specific foreign invaders (real and perceived) known…...

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At Its Root

Chaos can be surprisingly orderly. While cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell growth, that growth is, nevertheless, the result of a very particular cascade of events, from carcinogen exposure to genetic mutations. Interfere with that cascade, and cancer can be ground to a halt, or even killed off. The efforts…...

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Ancient Wisdom, Modern Cure

“Chinese traditional medicine” (TCM) is a cultural catch-all term for a series of practices including herbal medicine, diet, acupuncture, massage and exercise (like tai chi) whose combined history stretches back over four thousand years. Western science acknowledges the benefits of some forms of TCM — acupuncture and Chinese massage techniques,…...

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Shining a Light (on Tumors)

There is a necessary truth about a surgical procedure: It’s not “neat.” There will be blood. There will be stitches. There will be some pain, discomfort and a recovery period. In the case of cancer, there might also be a second surgery. “When surgeons go in to remove a cancer,…...

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An Analytical Tool Like Few Others

When he passed away in April 2004, Dr. Csaba Horváth had more than a few laurels upon which he could eternally rest. Though most famously, Horváth was the first scientist to design, construct and show molecular separations using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The analytical technology has since served as foundation…...

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When The Internet First Took On Cancer

It was 2001 and Graham Richards, Ph.D., a scientist funded from 1982 to 2007 by the National Foundation for Cancer Research, was faced with a challenge: How to harness the power of a supercomputer for virtual cancer drug models when you have neither the budget nor the space required? The…...

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Crizotinib Plus Radiation May Reduce NF2-Related Hearing Loss

A study co-authored by National Foundation for Cancer Research Fellow Dr. Rakesh Jain hints that adding the cancer drug crizotinib to the radiation therapy for tumors associated with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) may lessen the hearing loss that often precipitates from radiotherapy. Although not a cancer, NF2 is characterized by benign…...

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Targeted Lung Cancer Therapy

A Match Made Possible A discovery by a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital’s Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist supported by the National Foundation for Cancer Research since 2003, now represents a source of hope for many patients with metastatic lung cancer. He and his colleagues correctly linked very…...

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