Color imaging method, younger cancer patients and more…

Here are a few newsworthy items in the world of cancer research:

  • A recent post on the NIH Director’s Blog, provided details of Dr. Roger Tsien’s (Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry in 2008) innovative imaging method to infuse electron microscopy with color. For more, see article in Cell Chemical Biology.
  • Scientists at Dana Farber have found a potential explanation as to why younger cancer patients are more vulnerable to treatment toxicities. They report in Cancer Cell that tissues in developing organs are more susceptible to cell death when exposed to chemotherapy and radiation.
  • Bioinformatics sheds light on new combination therapies to fight breast cancer. The analysis was conducted by researchers at the Institute for Research of Biomedicine in Barcelona.  An exhaustive assessment of the pairing of 64 therapies allowed scientists to identify 10 new combinations previously untested that may have potential for breast cancer treatment.  More in Cancer Research.
  • Addressing the matter of diversity and inclusion in cancer clinical trials was the topic of a recent New York Times article by Denise Grady. While more innovative treatments like immunotherapy are taking off, most patients benefiting from these therapies are mainly white. A major obstacle facing people of color include less awareness of medical studies.  Researchers are very aware of the issue and are trying to rectify it.

Try a Preprint Archive to Find the Newest Research in your Field

Preprint archives can be useful for discovering the most recent research in a scientific field. These archives can serve to supplement traditional searching in major databases and citation indices as they provide a glimpse into research on the cutting edge before it gets published in a scholarly journal. Hence the name “preprint.”

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Year End Blog Buzz

Dr. Francis Collins’, Director of the NIH, blog post titled, Merry Microscopy and a Happy New Technique!, is a story about the holidays, scientific discovery, and a tribute to a Nobel Laureate’s legacy.

From Nature News, Nature’s 10; Ten People who Mattered this Year. The Post gives profiles of individuals whose work made an impact in 2016 and folks to watch in the future. Each of “Nature’s 10” for 2016 is described as one of the following, “Gravity spy,” “Mind crafter,” “Reef sentinel,” “Cooling agent,” “Zika detective,” “Paper pirate,” “Fertility rebel,” “CRISPR cautionary,” “Planet hunter,” and “Diversity trailblazer.” Can you guess who they are?

Ed Yong brings us a very cool discussion of slime mold, A Brainless Slime That Shares Memories by Fusing. If that title didn’t grab you, please consider the subtitle, “The oozing yellow organism has no neurons, but it can solve mazes, make decisions, and learn by merging together.”