To Each His Own

Cancer treatment becomes more and more personal.

| 3 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
3:00
Share

ANDRZEJ KRAUZEFor the past four years, the April issue of The Scientist has focused on cutting-edge cancer research. A look at the four covers gives a taste of each year’s hottest topics. In 2011, molecularly guided melanoma therapies claimed the cover; in 2012, that spot went to cancer stem cells; 2013 featured zebrafish embryos as a new model for the study of cancer dynamics and drug screening; and last year’s April cover was devoted to cancer immunotherapy.

This year’s cover story on mouse avatars, and much of the issue’s other content, focuses on the remarkable progress made in designing cancer therapies that embody the ideals of precision, or personalized, medicine—increasingly patient- and tumor-specific, and often less toxic to normal cells. Both next-generation sequencing data and advances in basic science continue to rewrite the narrative of cancer research. There is now palpable excitement about how new insights into cancer biology will soon drive ever more precise tumor targeting, even though treating each patient’s disease as unique still faces many hurdles, which Adam Marcus outlines in a Critic at Large essay.

How personalized can such targeting get when cancer is such a mess of things gone awry? In “My Mighty Mouse,” Megan Scudellari reports ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here
Image of a woman in a microbiology lab whose hair is caught on fire from a Bunsen burner.
April 1, 2025, Issue 1

Bunsen Burners and Bad Hair Days

Lab safety rules dictate that one must tie back long hair. Rosemarie Hansen learned the hard way when an open flame turned her locks into a lesson.

View this Issue
Conceptual image of biochemical laboratory sample preparation showing glassware and chemical formulas in the foreground and a scientist holding a pipette in the background.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Quality Control Standards

sartorius logo
An illustration of PFAS bubbles in front of a blue sky with clouds.

PFAS: The Forever Chemicals

sartorius logo
Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

dna-script-primarylogo-digital
Concept illustration of acoustic waves and ripples.

Comparing Analytical Solutions for High-Throughput Drug Discovery

sciex

Products

Atelerix

Atelerix signs exclusive agreement with MineBio to establish distribution channel for non-cryogenic cell preservation solutions in China

Green Cooling

Thermo Scientific™ Centrifuges with GreenCool Technology

Thermo Fisher Logo
Singleron Avatar

Singleron Biotechnologies and Hamilton Bonaduz AG Announce the Launch of Tensor to Advance Single Cell Sequencing Automation

Zymo Research Logo

Zymo Research Launches Research Grant to Empower Mapping the RNome