New Atlas

Medical Audio available

Cancer DNA study helps uncover specific chemical causes of tumors

Rich Haridy April 15, 2019

We have known for well over a century that exposure to certain environmental agents can result in DNA mutations that ultimately cause cancer. Now a team of UK scientists has developed a way to identify specific mutational signatures in tumors that can be linked to certain carcinogens.

New research reveals specific DNA signatures of 41 different carcinogenic agents can be identified in tumors

Medical

Melanin injections found to highlight and hinder tumors

Michael Irving April 8, 2019

The pigment melanin is a natural defense against skin cancer – and now it could help fight other cancers too. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Zentrum München have found that melanin-loaded nanoparticles can help diagnose tumors and slow their growth.

An infrared image of a tumor injected with melanin-loaded nanoparticles (right), compared to one that had ...

Medical Audio available

MIT's "DOLPHIN" could spot tiny tumors for early cancer detection

Michael Irving March 8, 2019

The earlier cancer is detected, the better the odds of treating it, but tumors can be hard to spot until they get to a certain size, at which point it might be too late. Now MIT researchers have developed a new optical imaging system that could be used to spot tiny tumors deep inside the body.

An MIT team has developed a new method for imaging smaller fluorescent particles deep inside the ...

Medical Audio available

New chemo drug keeps platinum nanoparticles on target for liver cancer

Michael Irving February 15, 2019

Chemotherapy drugs are effective at killing cancer cells – but they’re also pretty good at killing healthy cells. Making these drugs more selective for tumors is a key area of research, and now a team at ETH Zurich has found a way to keep a common treatment – platinum nanoparticles – on target.

Researchers have found a way to make platinum nanoparticles more effective against liver cancer, without harming ...

Biology Audio available

New Oxford-developed tool reads the life histories of cancer cells

Michael Irving February 12, 2019

Tumors are made up of many different types of cancer cells, and we can’t always clear them all out. Now Oxford researchers have developed a way to track the genetic “life histories” of thousands of individual cancer cells at once, which may lead to more effective and personalized cancer treatments.

Oxford researchers have developed a new technique that can track the "life histories" of cancer cells

Medical Audio available

Novel nano-gel promises to help kill leftover cancer cells after surgery

Rich Haridy December 10, 2018

The first step in many cancer treatments is to surgically remove the tumor, however this often isn’t enough. As long as a few cancer cells remain the tumors often grow back, but a new innovative spray gel, administered onto a cancerous site during surgery, may help prevent the tumors recurring.

The gel helps the immune system target and kill any cancer cells that remain after tumor-removal ...

Science

Biosensors developed to detect whether cancer is likely to spread

Rich Haridy December 5, 2018

A new study is reporting the development of novel biosensors that can detect the metastatic potential of individual cancer cells. The research is hoped to produce a system that can accurately let doctors know how likely a cancer is to spread, helping inform what treatment to administer.

Scientists are developing a biosensor to detect and measure whether a cancer cell is likely to ...

Medical Audio available

Two experimental cancer drugs team up after unexpected discovery

Michael Irving December 4, 2018

Researchers at MIT have combined two experimental cancer drugs, protein kinase inhibitors and ribonuclease drugs, and found that they worked better together than alone. The discovery could help reduce side effects of cancer treatments and make them more effective.

MIT researchers have combined two experimental cancer drugs into one treatment that's more effective than either ...

Medical

Golden hitchhikers avoid cancer's defences by riding on white blood cells

Michael Irving May 15, 2017

Cancer treatments could benefit from being more like a sniper and less like a shotgun blast. A new technique is taking that approach, allowing doctors to attach drugs to white blood cells and sneak them past the tumor’s defenses for a targeted attack that doesn’t affect healthy tissue.

Researchers have found a way to let golden nanoparticles hitchhike on white blood cells, to get ...

Medical

Sifting cancer cells into a "muffin pan" for better treatment options

Lisa-Ann Lee December 15, 2016

Prescribing treatments for lung cancer patients often involves invasive procedures like biopsies. However a new noninvasive blood test could change all this. Better yet, it costs less than $30.

A MagSifter chip used to extract CTCs from blood samples