Oct. 4, 2005 (Vol. 3, No. 2) The Hutchinson Center E-newsletter is a quarterly e-newsletter of cancer research and health-care advances from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Read this e-newsletter online at: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/enews/fhcrc-enews/2005-09/ Hibernation on demand: It's not science fiction Hutchinson Center researchers have, for the first time, induced a state of reversible metabolic hibernation in mice. This achievement, the first demonstration of "hibernation on demand" in a mammal, ultimately could lead to new ways to treat cancer and prevent injury and death from insufficient blood supply to organs and tissues. For more information, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/2005/may5/sart1.html Health tip: Yoga helps fight middle-age fat A new study led by Hutchinson Center researchers has found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight. The study — the first of its kind to measure the effects of yoga on weight — involved 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women. For more information, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/2005/jul21/sart1.html Built-in cancer protection Center scientists have discovered a promising experimental system that could be used to develop cancer treatments that harness a patient's own immune system to fight his or her disease. Once translated to the clinic, researchers believe the method could be applied to create tumor-fighting vaccines or to produce immune-system cells that attack breast, ovarian and many other types of cancers. For more information, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/2005/jun2/sart1.html Colorectal cancer: a discriminating killer The risks of developing advanced-stage colorectal cancer and dying from the disease vary even more extensively with ethnicity than previously known. A new Hutchinson Center study — the first to evaluate variation in risk across numerous racial and ethnic subgroups — provides information that could be useful for focusing future efforts to reduce cancer-risk disparities. For more information, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/2005/aug4/sart1.html Translating the language of smell Nobel Prize winner Dr. Linda Buck has succeeded in mapping the unique patterns of brain activity produced by a wide range of odors, including vanilla, skunk, fish, urine, musk and chocolate. Revealing these distinct — but often overlapping — patterns of neural activity represents a significant step in understanding how the brain translates complex signals from odorant receptors in the nose into odor perception in the brain. For more information, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/center_news/2005/jun16/sart1.html We want to hear what you think! Give us feedback on the e-newsletter by e-mailing us at enews@fhcrc.org. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home of three Nobel laureates, is an independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical technology to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal diseases. For information on Fred Hutchinson's privacy policy, go to: http://www.fhcrc.org/termsofuse_privacypolicy.html ISSN 1541-7433 Copyright 2005 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center P.O. Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109-1024 http://www.fhcrc.org