Here are a few highlights of cancer research news that have recently caught my attention:

• The journal Science recently published a paper about the uncertainty surrounding funding for biomedicine. Those in the scientific world are closely monitoring congressional activity as politicians debate government spending. Also of note, is the fact that budgets at the NIH have remained flat during the last several years. For more, please read Chasing the Money.
• The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) has named a new Clinical Innovations Director. Beginning May 4th, Dr. Petra Kaufmann will head this division and oversee the Clinical and Translational Science Awards. 
• Dr. Harold Varmus, Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), wrote an open letter to the cancer community regarding community clinical trials.
• Using a 3-D printer, researchers in China and the US have successfully created a model of a cancerous tumor.  This may help with the discovery of new drugs and provide a better understanding of how tumors grow and metastasize in the body. Results were published in the journal Biofabrication.
• Recently the issue of overtreatment as a result of mammography screening has made headlines. A blog post in the New York Times Well sheds further insight on the subject where it cites a recent paper in JAMA.  The debate will continue.
• A New York Times article explores new tools to spot cancer and highlights how simple blood tests are being used to analyze cancer.

Please feel free to contact Marisol Hernandez for comments on the latest cancer research news.