Emily B. Harrison, PhD Perhaps the only time most people consider their lymph nodes is at a doctor’s office. Often, when examining you, a physician will touch the sides of your neck, feeling for enlarged lymph nodes. In this case, swollen nodes indicate that your body is mounting an immune response. This immune response is... Continue Reading →
What exactly is cancer?
Sara Musetti I came to a realization this week. Here at OncoBites, we made a cancer research blog and then… forgot to tell our readers what cancer is. And I know, most of you reading are thinking “I know what cancer is!” because you read about it all the time. And maybe, if you’re a... Continue Reading →
Cancer – how much of it is preventable?
Morgan McSweeney What percent of cancer cases are due to lifestyle choices or environmental conditions, and are therefore potentially preventable? Take a guess: 10%, 25%, 75%, or 90%? A paper by Anand et. al set out to answer exactly this question nearly ten years ago, pulling data from large-scale epidemiological studies across a large range... Continue Reading →
Engineering aggressive breast cancer subtype may allow more treatment choices
Manisit Das Breast cancer may sound like a single disease, but it is not. There are many subtypes of the disease, which guide the course of disease progression and treatment strategy. One of these subtypes, referred to as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is particularly difficult to treat. Recently, researchers at Lund University, Sweden identified a... Continue Reading →
From bacteria in your gut to cancer in your skin, everything is connected
Sara Musetti The word “bacteria” is often accompanied by a nose wrinkled in disgust and thoughts of infection and disease. Even though we have as many microbial cells as human cells within each of us—that’s right, we’re 50% bacteria—most people still find bacteria something to avoid. However, recent research into the gut microbiome, the ecosystem... Continue Reading →