Science

By Nathalie Walker, Guest Writer

Could nanotechnology—the study of tiny matter ranging in size from 1 to 200 nanometers—be the future of cancer treatment?

Although it is a relatively new field in cancer research, nanotechnology is not new to everyday life. Have you ever thought about the tennis ball you’ve thrown with your dog at the park and wondered what it is made of? Nanotechnology is used to make the tennis ball stronger.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; image by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

The additional funding requested for Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) in the Fiscal 2016 Bypass Budget was $25 million, or approximately 3.5 percent of the total additional funding request of $715 million.  

Officially called the Professional Judgment Budget, the Bypass Budget is a result of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which authorizes NCI to submit a budget directly to the president, to send to Congress. With a focus on NCI’s research priorities and areas of cancer research with potential for investment, the Bypass Budget specifies additional funding, over and above the current budget, that is needed to advance

By Frank Blanchard, Staff Writer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved dinutuximab (ch14.18) as an immunotherapy for neuroblastoma, a rare type of childhood cancer that offers poor prognosis for about half of the children who are affected. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Biopharmaceutical Development Program (BDP) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research produced ch14.18 for the NCI-sponsored clinical trials that proved the drug’s effectiveness against the disease.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer

The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) recently formed a partnership with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) to award a one-year fellowship to two scientists whose research will help lead to new therapies for pancreatic cancer. The scientists will focus on KRAS, a gene in the RAS family that is mutated in 95 percent of pancreatic cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). 

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; photo by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Normal cells have mechanisms to prevent the development of cancer. Among these is a type of tumor suppressor mechanism known as oncogene-induced senescence, or OIS, which halts the uncontrolled growth of cells caused by mutations in oncogenes. The oncogene Ras plays a crucial role in inducing OIS through a specific cascade of proteins, as reported in a recent article in Molecular and Cellular Biology by Jacqueline Salotti, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Eukaryotic Transcriptional Regulation Section of the Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research (CCR).

By Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer, and Mark Wance, Guest Writer; photo by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Editor's note: This article was updated April 30, 2018.

Transferring big data, such as the genomics data delivered to customers from the Center for Cancer Research Sequencing Facility (CCR SF), has been difficult in the past because the transfer systems have not kept pace with the size of the data. However, the situation is changing as a result of the Globus project.

By Nancy Parrish, Staff Writer; photos by Richard Frederickson, Staff Photographer

Scientists who attended the 2015 NCI Intramural Scientific Investigators Retreat on Jan. 13 had a chance to discuss research results with other investigators from across the National Cancer Institute. And this year, they could also explore new possibilities for the future of their research.

By Frank Blanchard, Staff Writer

A first-of-its-kind drug is showing early promise in attacking certain lung cancers that are hard to treat because they build up resistance to conventional chemotherapy.

The drug, CO-1686, performed well in a preclinical study involving xenograft and transgenic mice, as reported in the journal Cancer Discovery. It is now being evaluated for safety and efficacy in Phase I and II clinical trials.

By Howard Young

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from Dr. Young’s January 12, 2015, post to the I am Intramural Blog of the Intramural Research Program.

When I started this project, it was not my objective to develop a model for any specific disease, nor did I even suspect that the ultimate result would be some insight into autoimmune disease. The basic research question I was asking was why there are sequences in the 3? untranslated region (3?UTR) of the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) mRNA that are more highly conserved than in the coding region of the gene.

Two NCI scientists received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. The award was announced by President Obama in October. The honorees, John Schiller, Ph.D., Laboratory of Cellular Oncology (LCO), Center for Cancer Research, NCI, and Douglas Lowy, M.D., also from LCO and NCI deputy director, received their medals at a White House ceremony on Nov. 20.