Cancer's Grip

Meet some of the people featured in the April 2016 issue of The Scientist.

Defeating cancer is many times more difficult than planting a flag on our lunar satellite.

April 2016's selection of notable quotes

Four apparently unrelated individuals share a common ancestor from whom they inherited a rare mutation that predisposed them to the cancer they share.

One man’s waste is another man’s treasure trove of stem cells.

The discovery of a tumor-protecting role for a fatty acid found in fish oil has sparked debate about the product’s safety.

Teenager Lauren Bendesky turned her cancer diagnosis on its head, using herself as a research subject to test potential therapies.

Studying tumor development and treatment in dogs and cats, in parallel with research on rodents and humans, could improve the successful translation of new cancer drugs.

In mice, malignant cells genetically modified to express an anticancer cytokine home in on tumors and reduce their growth.

A braided structure and some adhesive hydrogel make therapeutic microRNAs both stable and sticky.

A tumor’s physical environment fuels its growth and causes treatment resistance.

Exosomes are emerging as key players in metastasis.

Metastatic cancer cells use nanotubes to manipulate blood vessels.

After surgery to remove a tumor, neutrophils recruited to the site spit out sticky webs of DNA that aid cancer recurrence.

An open mind and collaborative spirit have taken Hans Clevers on a journey from medicine to developmental biology, gastroenterology, cancer, and stem cells.

Instructor, Department of Systems Biology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Age: 38

Systems biology approaches offer new strategies for finding hard-to-identify drug targets for cancer.

A tour of evolving strategies for identifying circulating disease biomarkers

How close are liquid biopsies to replacing current diagnostics?

Like cancer, ecological scourges result from the breakdown of regulatory processes, and may be treated with similar logic.

Lab Girl, The Most Perfect Thing, Half-Earth, and Cosmosapiens

Now hailed as the father of immunotherapy, William Coley pioneered extraordinary methods to treat cancer.