Reading time: 5 minutes Rachel Cherney Patients with metastatic cancer usually have a lower survival rate than patients without metastatic cancer, so it is important to understand how metastatis occurs, so we can learn how to improve patient survivability. Metastatic cancer makes up about 90% of cancer deaths. Cancer metastasis occurs when tumor cells break... Continue Reading →
Predicting the future: when cancer drugs only work for some patients
Reading time: 5 minutes Shaye Hagler The discovery of accelerators and brakes in our immune system in the early 1990s was fundamental to designing the cancer immunotherapy platforms we use today, which is why it won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Now, immune checkpoint inhibitors like anti-PD-1 can work in tandem with... Continue Reading →
Is Cancer Elimination Really a Mission Impossible?
Reading time: 4 minutes Jason Tetro Imagine a world in which cancer is no longer a threat to the world. Naturally, the task sounds unachievable. But much like Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Missions Force team, the Australian government has accepted this mission in the hopes of eliminating cervical cancer from the country. Now, a... Continue Reading →
Are humans immune to CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing?
Reading time: 4 minutes Morgan McSweeney CRISPR-Cas9 is the molecular gene editing system that has inspired hopes for a solution to genetic disease. By studying how bacteria use the CRISPR-Cas system to defend themselves against bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria), scientists have developed methods to use those same molecular scissors to cut out human genes... Continue Reading →
Double agents save the day?
Reading time: 6 minutes Manisit Das Sometimes double agents can be critical players in changing the course of conflicts, wars, and history. If you are a Potterhead like me, you are probably aware of how Professor Severus Snape played an important role in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. He instigated many of the major... Continue Reading →
When good cells go bad: White blood cells may aid in tumor recurrence
Reading time: 4 mins Sara Musetti “I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace.” This line, from John Green’s bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars, hits hard. A young teenage survivor of cancer has had a widespread relapse picked up in one of his many routine scans since going into remission years earlier.... Continue Reading →