Cool Stuff

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11 Sep 2017

Nano Drills Destroy Cancer Cells

By Jay Goth

Researchers have long sought alternative treatments capable of killing cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. Now, a team of scientists from Rice, Durham, and North Carolina State Universities may have uncovered one: A new innovation uses light to activate microscopic “nanomachines” that can drill into individual cancer cells.

In one test, it took just 60 seconds for a nanomachine to pierce the outer shell of a prostate cancer cell with dozens of tiny holes; overall, it took 1-3 minutes to destroy the cell by necrosis.

“Once developed, this approach could provide a potential step change in non-invasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally.”

– Dr. Robert Pal of Durham University
Check out the entire article at CB Insights.

CB Insights

31 Aug 2017

Playing Sax During Brain Surgery

By Jay Goth

Dan Fabbio, a music teacher in New York, suddenly found that he had a mass in his brain. The good news is that is was benign, the bad news was that it needed to be removed. There was a chance based on the location of the mass that his musical ability could be impaired.

In order to make sure that the doctors weren’t affecting his musical aptitude, they actually had him playing a saxophone during his surgery!

“…it turned out to be one of the most amazing days of my life because if felt like all of my training was suddenly changing someone’s life and allowing this young man to retain his musical abilities.” – Dr. Web Pilcher, Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience

See the full article in Science Blog.

03 Jul 2017

Precision Medicine Beyond the Genome

By Jay Goth

Today, doctors can tailor a drug therapy to your unique genetic profile, giving you the full benefits of a drug while reducing unwanted side effects — all in harmony with the blueprints of your biology.

Now, through a new $30,000 grant from the J.R. & Inez Jay Fund, researchers at the University of Kansas and Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City are investigating how to tailor drug therapies using exosomes — nanoscale sacs full of biomarkers like lipids, proteins and nucleic acids found in bodily fluids — that can be used to achieve a noninvasive “liquid biopsy.”

“Beyond genetics, there are layers of complexities during development from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.”

–Michael Wang, University of Kansas

The new exosome-based technology could be especially useful in developing personalized medical treatments for children and teens, Wang said.

For the full story visit the University of Kansas website here.

Visit the University of Kansas

30 Jun 2017

Surfing with DAVE

By Jay Goth

The growth in cancer genomics has been one of the most exciting scientific and technological developments in cancer research, spurring significant advances in patient care and laying the groundwork for many future advances.

In the year since it was launched, the National Cancer Institute’s Genomic Data Commons (GDC) has collected and harmonized a vast quantity of cancer genomics data—more than 4.5 petabytes—which has been fundamental in the recent progress against cancer and holds the promise for continued improvement in our ability to diagnose, treat, and care for patients.

Now, as a data-analysis system, the GDC is taking major steps toward engaging the broader research community and encouraging further collaboration and data sharing. They recently introduced a new program – Data Analysis, Visualization, and Exploration Tools, an online, open-access cancer research resource called DAVE.

DAVE is a new web interface for exploring and analyzing cancer genomic data, in real time, online, without the need to download or process the data.

DAVE provides an unprecedented level of flexibility in exploring the data. Researchers can create custom cohorts for analysis by selecting patients with particular altered genes or other relevant biological and clinical features. And researchers are no longer bound to analyzing patients only in the context of their original project cohorts—a powerful innovation given the recent evidence that a tumor’s molecular features are far more accurate and informative for cancer subtyping than tissue of origin or histology.

Another step forward for precision medicine! For the details, visit the National Cancer Institute.

29 Jun 2017

Finding the Source of Cancers

By Jay Goth

Investigators at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and at Xijing Hospital and Sun Yat-sen Cancer Center in China say that DNA methylation can provide effective markers for at least four major cancers.

The biomarkers are able to differentiate malignant tissues from normal tissues and also provide information on prognosis and survival, according to the researchers.

“This new simple method will be of great value to pinpoint the primary source of the tumor.”

–Michael Karin, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology, UC San Diego School of Medicine.

“Choosing the proper cancer treatment with the best chance of recovery and survival depends greatly upon accurately diagnosing the specific type or subtype of cancer,” said Kang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine and co-director of biomaterials and tissue engineering at the Institute of Engineering in Medicine, both at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Read the entire article at Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News here.

22 Jun 2017

NGS Companion Diagnostic Approved by FDA

By Jay Goth

The US Food and Drug Administration today approved the first next-generation sequencing-based companion diagnostic that can analyze alterations in a panel of genes predictive of response across three non-small cell lung cancer treatments.

The panel, however, gauges alterations in 23 genes in total. The test report will not only indicate whether patients have ROS1, EGFR, and BRAF alterations linked to the three FDA-approved treatments, but also the presence or absence of variants in other genes.

This initial approval makes way for Thermo Fisher to quickly expand the indication of the panel into new markers predictive of drug response. The company is actively working with other drugmakers to expand the indications for the Oncomine Dx Target Test.

Read the entire article at Genome Web.

genomeweb logo

Get more genomic news at GenomeWeb

19 Jun 2017

Key to Metastasis?

By Jay Goth

A team at Johns Hopkins has discovered the biochemical mechanism that tells cancer cells to break off from the primary tumor and spread throughout the body, a process called metastasis. Some 90 percent of cancer deaths are caused when cancer metastasizes.

“…what we came up with through our studies was this drug cocktail that could potentially inhibit the spread of cancer.”

— Hasini Jayatilaka, post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins

Typically, cancer research and treatment has focused on shrinking the primary tumor through chemotherapy or other methods. But, the team said, by attacking the deadly process of metastasis, more patients could survive.
Check out the whole article in the Baltimore Sun by clicking here.

13 Jun 2017

Tissue Chips Matter!

By Jay Goth
tissue on a chip

Check this video from NCATS


How can we speed new drugs to market? One of the cool innovations coming to trials is the concept of “tissue on a chip”. Basically, scientists are mimicking human organs and testing drug compounds on these 3-D platforms. Check out this video for a quick explanation.

To find out more, go to the NCATS “Tissue on a Chip” website.

NCATS logo

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences main website

09 Jun 2017

Finding Brain Cancer 5 Years Early

By Jay Goth
the ohio state university logo

New research from academia


Interactions among proteins that relay information from one immune cell to another are weakened in the blood of brain cancer patients within five years before the cancer is diagnosed, said lead researcher Judith Schwartzbaum of The Ohio State University.

“this research could pave the way for techniques to identify brain cancer earlier and allow for more-effective treatment”

Read the entire article from The Ohio State University here.

17 May 2017

Spit Here for Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

By Jay Goth

Your spit may hold a clue to future brain health. Investigators at the Beaumont Research Institute, part of Beaumont Health in Michigan, are hopeful that their study involving small molecules in saliva will help identify those at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease – a neurologic condition predicted to reach epidemic proportions worldwide by 2050.

New Test for Alzheimer’s?


Researcher Stewart Graham, Ph.D. said, “We used metabolomics, a newer technique to study molecules involved in metabolism. Our goal was to find unique patterns of molecules in the saliva of our study participants that could be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the earliest stages, when treatment is considered most effective. Presently, therapies for Alzheimer’s are initiated only after a patient is diagnosed and treatments offer modest benefits.”

“Worldwide, the development of valid and reliable biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease is considered the No. 1 priority for most national dementia strategies. It’s a necessary first step to design prevention and early-intervention research studies.”

–Dr. Stewart Graham
Read the entire article from Beaumont Health here.

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