News: cancer research

We’ve come a long way in the 40 years since declaring a “War on Cancer.”

Biostatisticians like Xi (Steven) Chen, Ph.D., are integral to cancer research, especially in the modern genomics era.

Picture a railroad track, running across the countryside. DNA looks something like that track. Its “rails” are chains of chemicals called nucleotides, each pairing with a partner on the opposite chain to form the “ties.” To ensure timely train traffic – and prevent catastrophic derailments – the railroad track needs regular maintenance. So does DNA. […]

Richard Peek, M.D., laughs at the memory of his introduction to Helicobacter pylori – a twisted sausage-shaped bacterium that takes up residence in the human stomach. He was a medical student at the time – around 1987 – and was following a patient with a bleeding ulcer. The patient had an endoscopy procedure to view […]

On iTunes U, a lecturer predicts that we will one day be routinely giving drugs to computers. When you get sick, someone will load your medical history and your genome sequence (and perhaps other selected data about your biochemical composition) into a simulator. As various drugs are entered, you’ll learn of their predicted effects in […]

In an economic crisis that has led to some of the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression, Sergey Ivanov, Ph.D., is very relieved to have found a position at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Ivanov’s wife had accepted a new position at Vanderbilt, so the couple moved from New York to Nashville in 2009. But Ivanov […]

Busting myths about cancer clinical trials Using elements of “Jeopardy,” “Saturday Night Live” and the Discovery Channel show “MythBusters,” Vanderbilt cancer survivors and researchers have developed an entertaining program to skewer myths about cancer clinical trials. The educational project, “Mythbusters: Cancer Research in Jeopardy,” was presented recently by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Research Advocates and members […]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is committed to conducting innovative, high-impact basic, translational and clinical research with the greatest potential for making a difference for cancer patients, today and in the future. Here’s a sampling of recent work published in peer-reviewed journals by center investigators: Protein suppressor of colon tumors In the March 1 Journal of Clinical […]

On April 17, 2006, Jeff Kidwell bent over to pick up a 5-gallon paint bucket and felt a stabbing pain in his back. The residential contractor shook it off — pains like that seem to come with the job. That evening there was blood in his urine. Still, he wasn’t concerned. At 5 o’clock the […]