Features

Echoes from the Past: BRMP, Bastion of Progress, Resonates Decades Later

Though it lasted just 15 years, Frederick’s first clinical oncology program answered multiple fundamental questions in the fledgling field of immunotherapy and primed the local medical community to become the oncology research hub it is today. The Biological Response Modifiers Program (BRMP) received formal recognition from the Department of Health and Human Services 40 years ago today, on April 27.

Echoes from the Past: Program Pioneers a Path for Frederick’s Science, Part 3

Unsurprisingly, the new Basic Research Program at the Frederick Cancer Research Center took some time to gain momentum despite the preparations that had been made. Margaret Kripke, Ph.D., head of the program’s Immunobiology of Physical and Chemical Carcinogenesis Section at the time, recalls that her first year was dedicated to setting up her new laboratory, hiring staff, moving around, and finishing projects she had started in her former laboratory at University of Utah.

Echoes from the Past: Program Pioneers a Path for Frederick’s Science, Part 1

As the winter of 1973 turned to spring, the Frederick Cancer Research Center (FCRC), the forerunner to the Frederick National Laboratory and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Frederick that exist today, neared the one-year mark since its opening. The more than 250 employees had made sound progress, given the challenges of converting the old Fort Detrick biowarfare facilities into a fledgling cancer center. Their efforts had drawn some attention, too.

Serendipitous Collaboration Leads to Potential Therapy for Liver Cancer

The old adage that says two heads are better than one certainly seems true for Mitchell Ho, Ph.D., a senior investigator in the Center for Cancer Research, and Xiaolin Wu, Ph.D., a principal scientist in the Genomics Technology Laboratory, a CCR Core at the Frederick National Laboratory. Together, these two scientists are using next-generation genomics technology to develop, in an animal model, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy that might help patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer.

Echoes from the Past: A New Institution for Cancer Research Is Born

On October 18, 1971, President Richard Nixon emerged from the U.S. Army Post Headquarters at Fort Detrick into the sunlight of one of Frederick’s signature autumn mornings. Nearby, a crowd of dignitaries, Army officers, and journalists from local and national news outlets had gathered to hear his remarks about the former biowarfare research facility. He greeted them, paused to make a good-natured joke about the Baltimore Orioles, then delivered an announcement that altered the course of biomedical research in the United States.

NCI to Dedicate Millions of Dollars to Help Patients Enrolled in Clinical Trials

During an address to the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, NCI Director Norman “Ned” Sharpless, M.D., announced that the National Cancer Institute is committing $10 million to support NCI-run clinical trials this year. The funds, which will be given in addition to the normal budget, are dedicated to trials conducted within the NCI Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) and the NCI Community Oncology Research Program.