Morgan McSweeney Cancer is not a single disease. It is a broad term that describes a number of related conditions in which cells’ growth has begun to bypass the usual checks and balances. To study the spectrum of cancers, the National Institutes of Health have established The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a collaborative project aimed... Continue Reading →
Immunotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer: Does Bacteria hold the answer?
Manisit Das Your gut is crawling with bacteria, despite your devoted hygiene practices. Disgusting for your sophisticated self, isn’t it? Surprising as it is, over the course of evolution our bodies tolerated the microbial communities in our body, even cherished them. Hundreds of thousands of bacteria and other microorganisms call us home and play a... Continue Reading →
Cancer Vaccines: Educating Your Immune System Since the 1800s
Sara Musetti Historians love to say that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. In science, failing to remember and understand our history means that we may need to make the same discoveries again and again. This appears to be the case for cancer immunotherapy, a new branch of research... Continue Reading →
We’ve got a new FDA Approved Immunotherapy: How does it work?
Elizabeth Wayne, PhD Everything you need to fight cancer is inside of you. Well sort of. This is the inspirational way that I like to think of cancer immunotherapy. It’s using your own immune cells to fight cancer. We do this by trying to get immune cells to recognize cancer as a foreign pathogen, thereby... Continue Reading →
Cancer Epigenetics: More Twists and Turns in Tumors
Tamara Vital We’re still just getting started here at Oncobites, but the story is already clear: Cancer is complicated. So far Morgan has covered the underlying risk factors of cancer-- the environmental and lifestyle factors that influence cancer development. Sara has explained that cancer arises in cells that acquire mutations in the genes that control... Continue Reading →