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whitehead home > research news > on topic > cancer

Cancer

In 1971 Richard Nixon declared war on cancer, and now, more than 30 years later, it’s not clear who’s winning. Nevertheless, researchers at Whitehead Institute are continuing to unravel the molecular mysteries of cancer development. Years ago, Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg characterized the gene mutations that initiate cancer growth. Today, researchers at Whitehead are focusing on areas such as breast cancer and metastasis, an area which, according to Weinberg, is the last frontier of cancer research.

Video

Robert Weinberg In this Science Accessible Lecture, Whitehead Member Robert Weinberg describes how changes in cancer stem cells allow them metastasize and move throughout the body. [view video 220k]   Video length: 1:03:48

Whitehead Feature Story

A simple twist of cell fate (2008)
Shedding light on cancer stem cells (2007)
Pumping up (2007)
A slow saga of success: the story of Gleevec (2007)
The unusual suspect: cancer researchers look beyond the genome to the epigenome (2007)
Is it time to sequence tumor genomes and epigenomes? (2007)
Silencing cancer (2006)

Whitehead News Stories

High levels of master heat shock protein linked to poor prognosis in breast cancer patients (2011)
Cancer stem cells made, not born (2011)
Key metabolic pathway implicated in intractable form of breast cancer (2011)
Signaling pathways point to vulnerability in breast cancer stem cells (2011)
Leucine deprivation proves deadly to malignant melanoma cells (2011)
Scientists identify a surprising new source of cancer stem cells (2011)
Whitehead scientist helps revisit "Hallmarks of Cancer" (2011)
Tiny RNA shown to cause multiple types of leukemia (2010)
Protein that predicts prognosis of leukemia patients may also be a therapeutic target (2010)
Embryonic stem cells reveal oncogene’s secret growth formula (2010)
The ends of mRNAs may prevent the beginnings of cancer (2009)
New method takes aim at aggressive cancer cells (2009)
RNA snippet suppresses spread of aggressive breast cancer (2009)
Multiple myeloma cells get what they want (2009)
Cell pathway on overdrive prevents cancer response to dietary restriction (2009)
Preventing prostate cancer the complex way (2009)
Tracking the molecular pathway to mixed-lineage leukemia (2008)
How cells size up their growth opportunities (2008)
DNA methylation promotes colon tumors (2007)
Cancer cells enlist adult stem cells to promote metastasis (2007)
MicroRNA convicted of triggering metastasis(2007)
Heat shock proteins are co-opted for cancer (2007)
Newly created cancer stem cells could aid breast cancer research (2007)
Exposing the genetic roots of metastasis (2007)
3D model reveals secrets of metastasis (2006)
Novel mechanism for blood disease may lead to new drugs (2005)
Researchers discover why melanoma is so malignant (2005)

Related Links

American Cancer Society
National Cancer Institute
The Angiogenesis Foundation
The WWW Virtual Library of Cell Biology
Cancer Genomics
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Cancer: the facts
Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy

Last updated November 2, 2011.

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