The Hutchinson Center's Fundamental Research Initiative lays the foundation for innovations in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment
BY BARBARA BERG
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Dr. Mark Roth's basic studies led to a method for hibernation on demand that could help critically injured people and cancer patients.
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Visitors to Dr. Mark Roth's lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are often surprised to find scientists peering at dishes full of microscopic worms or zebrafish embryos — organisms that don't even develop cancer.
Yet basic biological research on these simple creatures, seemingly unrelated to human beings, enabled Roth to make a major breakthrough that is likely to revolutionize medical care for patients suffering from cancer, heart attacks and wounds on the battlefield.
His discovery of a method to induce "hibernation on demand" by reducing an organism's need for oxygen opens the possibility of buying time for critically injured trauma patients and for improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer.
Roth is one of more than 50 scientists in our Fundamental Research Initiative who are studying the properties of cells and simple organisms — work that plays a crucial role in our mission to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Although it's often puzzling to understand how research on organisms such as yeast, fruit flies and worms yields breakthroughs that will conquer disease in humans, our experience has shown that highly innovative advances in biomedical research often emerge from areas that, to the casual observer, may appear to have few direct connections to cancer or other illnesses.
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Dr. Lee Hartwell's Nobel Prize-winning research on yeast cells revealed the universal machinery for cell growth. His landmark studies have had a profound impact on our understanding of cancer.
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We believe so strongly in the potential of basic research that we have built an unparalleled research environment that has attracted the world's best and brightest fundamental-research scientists. In fact, two of our three Nobel laureates received the prize for their accomplishments in basic research. The rich diversity of our fundamental research is among the Hutchinson Center's most exciting and unique attributes and a key reason for our success in the fight against cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Fueling research advances in cancer and other diseases
By studying the basic properties of healthy cells and comparing them to abnormal cells, Hutchinson Center scientists identify the genes and proteins that contribute to disease, and they use this knowledge to benefit human health. Numerous Hutchinson Center discoveries made through fundamental research have led to important medical breakthroughs or hold the potential to impact the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer and other diseases:
- By studying the genes that control how yeast and human cells divide, Hutchinson Center researchers have developed a diagnostic test to show whether a woman with breast cancer would benefit from aggressive chemotherapy.
- Through the study of how frog embryos produce proteins, our scientists developed a new diagnostic test for lupus, a screening breakthrough that will improve the ability of doctors to detect the disease.
- Center research on the human papillomavirus revealed why infection with certain strains of the virus is a major risk factor for cervical cancer and contributed to the development of a vaccine to prevent infection.
- Our investigators developed a technique to insert changes into genes, leading to the first successful applications of gene therapy in humans.
- By studying the life span of yeast, Center scientists have found striking genetic similarities between old yeast cells and cancer cells, which may reveal why cancer incidence increases with age — and how to prevent it.
- Center researchers discovered proteins that single-handedly instruct stem cells to become muscle or nerve cells, which may lead to development of new therapies to treat conditions such as muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.
- Hutchinson Center scientists are world-renowned for their leadership in epigenetics — the study of inheritance of information that is not part of the DNA sequence — a field that is now recognized as central to understanding and preventing the onset of cancer.
The Hutchinson Center is committed to providing the best possible resources for scientists to explore the most basic problems in biology — because we never know when and how the next important breakthrough will arise.
- The Hutchinson Center is home to the world's leading experts in all aspects of cancer biology, including two Nobel laureates — one of whom received the prize for fundamental studies on yeast that have led to key breakthroughs in cancer.
- The Center's fundamental scientists, clinicians and public-health experts collaborate in a unique inter-disciplinary environment in which basic discoveries are translated into lifesaving applications.
- Comprehensive administrative support enables our researchers to devote more time to laboratory investigations than their counterparts at peer institutions.
- The Hutchinson Center houses more than 25 shared research facilities that provide scientists access to cutting-edge equipment and expertise for molecular studies and data analysis.
- The Center provides an outstanding environment for the training of future world leaders in fundamental research.
Creative work of this kind depends heavily on private gifts, which provide the flexibility to attract the best and brightest new faculty, acquire cutting-edge technology and launch promising research projects with potentially lifesaving applications. To learn more about how you can support Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Fundamental Research Initiative, visit our Web site at www.fhcrc.org/donating/support/ or call (206) 667-4399 or (800) 279-1618.
Award-winning fundamental research
- Dr. Lee Hartwell, the Hutchinson Center's president and director, was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his fundamental research on yeast-cell division, which has provided key insights into how cancer develops and how it can be treated and prevented.
- The Hutchinson Center's Dr. Linda Buck received the 2004 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for her groundbreaking basic research on how the brain perceives smell, which opens new doors to studying the brain and central nervous system.
- Five of the six Hutchinson Center researchers elected to the National Academy of Sciences are fundamental-science researchers. Election to membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist.
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