The lobby of Building 549 at NCI at Frederick bustled with activity for two hours on Tuesday, May 1, as several dozen scientists and staff gathered for the NCI Core Open House. The event aimed to encourage discussion and educate visitors about the capabilities of the cores, laboratories, and facilities that offer support to NCI’s Center for Cancer Research.
At the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Spring Town Hall, new director Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless, M.D., summarized his goals for NCI’s role in cancer research. The event, which was held at NCI Shady Grove and livestreamed to eight other major NCI locations, was Sharpless’ first town hall since his six-month “listening and learning tour” concluded.
A collaboration between the National Cancer Institute (NCI); the Frederick National Laboratory (FNL); and the National University of Ireland, Galway, has shown that two key biomarkers are co-expressed in an aggressive subtype of breast cancer and that inhibiting those two molecules can significantly improve patient survival outcomes.
Last week, Director Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless spoke with Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of The Cancer Letter, regarding his six-month “listening tour,” a project he embarked on after being named the new director, as well as his vision for the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
(Updated May 8) A study led by the Baylor College of Medicine and supported by NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) has demonstrated that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy can be used to treat solid triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors. The investigation is the first work using CAR T-cell therapy against TEM8, a cell surface protein that is frequently overexpressed both in TNBC cells and cells lining the blood vessels that sustain TNBC tumors.
To get a closer look at one CRISPR complex, researchers from NCI’s Center for Cancer Research and their collaborators recently put it “on ice” with cryo-electron microscopy, creating highly detailed images that show its biological structures in multiple states at a molecular level.
Scientists and professionals from multiple governmental agencies recently gathered at NCI at Frederick for a forum on newly emerging infectious diseases, threats to public health, and ongoing efforts to study high-risk pathogens. During the one-day event, which was sponsored by the National Interagency Confederation for Biological Research’s Scientific Interaction Subcommittee, nine speakers from four agencies shared their research and their agencies’ endeavors to address current and future biological threats.
To understand how bacterial and viral infections contribute to human cancers, four NCI at Frederick scientists turned not to the lab bench, but to a computer. The team has created the world’s first—and currently, only—3-D computational approach for studying interactions between pathogen proteins and human proteins based on a molecular adaptation known as interface mimicry.
The Frederick National Laboratory Advisory Committee recently met to discuss the future of several high-profile Frederick National Lab initiatives in a meeting that included a chance to meet the new NCI and FNLCR leaders. Here is a look at a few of the highlights from the last of the 2017 FNLAC meetings.
From December 6–8, the Advanced Technology Research Facility of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research was abuzz with conversation and collaboration as nearly 450 scientists, academics, and industry partners gathered for the Second RAS Initiative Symposium. Attendees hailed from 14 nations, dozens of institutions, and diverse scientific backgrounds, but they shared a common purpose: to present and discuss their research on RAS genes and cancer.
