Reading time: 7 minutes Jessica Desamero, PhD Recently, I noticed I knew a good number of individuals that have developed cancer while pregnant or shortly after giving birth. Although there’s no direct correlation between pregnancy and the risk of cancer, could there be an indirect link? After researching potential causes, I found that pregnancy-associated cancer... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero, PhD Parasites, such as flatworms and amoeba, are like alien invaders: they live on or inside a host organism to obtain food and can cause the host much harm. For instance, they can cause parasitic diseases with severe symptoms, some of which are fatal. Similarly, cancer cells are invasive... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero Types of chromosomal abnormalities found in cancer Chromosomes are like books that store vast amounts of information, more precisely, DNA building blocks (genes) that compose all our genetic information. In this example, genes may seem as words spanning across the chromosomes that possess order and structure to give meaning... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Jessica Desamero Breastfeeding is essential for a baby’s first few months and can even reduce a mother’s risk of breast cancer. The exact cause is unclear, but it could be due to the associated hormonal changes that delay the mother’s menstrual cycles. This delay reduces the mother’s lifetime exposure to menstrual... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero Cancer and neurodegenerative disease (a group of disorders that involve progressive degeneration of the central nervous system) are two very serious and distinct ailments. The basis of their development is distinctly different, with hallmarks of cancer centering around abnormally prolonging cell life and hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease centering around... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 6 minutes Jessica Desamero Black in Cancer week, held from October 11-17, is a week-long event full of highlighting amazing Black scientists in cancer research and medicine, addressing cancer myths and disparities in the Black community, and discussing ways to diversify the cancer workforce. The Black in Cancer event was hosted by the... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Jessica Desamero With cancer, the environment that surrounds a tumor, or the tumor microenvironment (TME), can be just as important as the tumor itself in terms of cancer progression and drug resistance. How can this be? First, let’s take a look at what the TME is composed of. In a tumor... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Jessica Desamero Molecules can be portrayed as “ball-and-spring” models, where the balls are atoms and the springs are the chemical bonds that tether them. Just as a spring, the chemical bonds can be moved around in a variety of ways to cause masses to vibrate as well as move differently and... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero DNA is a two-stranded molecule that carries all our genetic information in the form of a code made up of four bases arranged in specific sequences. DNA has its own section of the cell, the nucleus, which serves to protect and contain it. As the cell divides and the... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero From the start, our mission here at OncoBites has been to share the complicated nature of cancer with our readers and to shed light on breakthroughs in understanding and treating the disease. One of our biggest messages has been that “cancer” is really a family of different but related... Continue Reading →
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