An assortment of news items worth sharing….

• On September 26, Memorial Sloan Kettering will be co-hosting a conference on Mesothelioma.  The general public as well as health care professionals are welcome. Registration and conference details can be found here.
• From the MSK On Cancer Blog, Sloan Kettering Institute marks its seventy year anniversary.
• A study published recently in JAMA (Sep 3, 2015) linked exposure to Agent Orange to an increased risk of developing a blood disorder which is a precursor to (but does not always develop into) the blood cancer multiple myeleoma. Dr. Ola Landgren, a hematologic oncologist at MSK is the study lead.
• Cancer treatment and age – more factors to consider?  Dr. Stuart Lichtman, Medical Oncologist from MSK shares his comments.
• Dr. Mark Souweidane, has been named chair of the editorial board for The Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

A selection of news items about MSK and staff!

• Lehigh Valley Health Network of Salisbury joined the MSK Cancer Alliance.  Dr. Craig Thompson, President and CEO of MSK is quoted.

• From the MSK Blog, Neurologist Gavril Pasternak’s lab has developed an opioid derivative that works as well as traditional opioids for pain management.

• Lightpoint Medical, a device company specializing in imaging technologies announced that it has received an R01 grant of $2.6 million from the US National Cancer Institute. The funding will support clinical trials of Lightpoint’s EnLight™ molecular imaging technology in lymph node cancer and a range of gynecologic cancers at MSK.

• The Cancer Research Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the discovery and development of immunotherapies for all forms of cancer will be honoring three scientists for their contributions at an upcoming awards dinner scheduled for Wednesday, September 17, 2015, in New York city.  One of the researchers to receive the 2015 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic Immunology is Alexander Rudensky, Ph.D., Chairman of the Immunology Program and Director of the Ludwig Center at MSK. Continue reading →

A selection of recent news items about MSK and staff….

• Treatment of tenosynovial giant-cell tumors, a rare disorder of the joints, with an investigational drug (PLX3397) resulted in a prolonged regression in tumor volume in most patients.  The findings from this phase 2 trial were published in the July 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  Lead author is William Tap, MD, Chief of the Sarcoma Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01004861)

• Based on encouraging results of JCAR015 in its Phase 1 adult relapsed-refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) trial conducted by Memorial Sloan Kettering, Juno will in the near future begin its first pivotal trial investigating this product candidate in a multi-center study.

• IBM Watson has come a long way since gaining fame in 2011 when it was able to defeat two human champions on the TV game show, Jeopardy. Now, Watson EMR Assistant support physicians by providing additional information “…through a process of collaborative problem-solving during which the computer recommends treatment options and explains in natural language what it found in the patient and the literature that led to its conclusions.”  Memorial Sloan Kettering is mentioned. Continue reading →