Share Diseases & Research

The Center's world-renowned faculty are answering fundamental biological questions. Our investigators:

• Make landmark discoveries about key biological processes. For example, Dr. Linda Buck won a 2004 Nobel Prize for her work identifying the neurological mechanisms that govern scent.
• Unravel suspended animation, a process that could help trauma patients survive and keep human organs alive for longer periods before they’re transplanted.
• Discover why some genetic patterns are reversible.
• Win science's most prestigious awards. Our fundamental researchers include a Nobel laureate, a MacArthur Fellow and multiple fellows of the American Academy for Arts and Sciences. Several faculty members have been elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The Center is home to the nation’s first and largest cancer prevention program, as well as researchers who identify ways to reduce a person's likelihood of getting cancer and pursue vaccines that could prevent cancer, HIV and other major diseases. Our achievements include:

• Key contributions to the development of the HPV vaccine, which helps prevent cervical cancer.
• Innovative research on how exercise reduces cancer risk, laying the groundwork for health strategies that could thwart the disease.
  
• The HIV Vaccine Trials Network, a global effort to develop an HIV vaccine.
• Some of the world's most comprehensive studies on how eating certain foods may affect cancer risk.

Center researchers develop new ways to detect cancer at its earliest stages, when a patient's chances of survival are greatest. One of the keys to this effort are biomarkers—proteins and other molecules that indicate the presence of disease. In addition to leading an international project to discover new cancer biomarkers, our investigators:

• Pursue breakthrough blood tests that could improve early detection of breast cancer.
• Discover new proteins that signal lung cancer's emergence and develop tests that can detect lung cancer long before symptoms appear.
• Reveal genetic mutations that illuminate why some prostate cancers are lethal and identify genetic variants associated with aggressive cancer. These discoveries could improve early detection and determine who needs aggressive treatment.
• Pursue breakthrough genetic tests for colon cancer, with hopes of identifying it at the earliest possible moment.

Our researchers pioneered bone marrow transplantation, setting the stage for our pursuit of innovative treatments and cures for cancers, HIV and other diseases. Center investigators:

• Spearhead immunotherapies that use the immune system to wipe out melanoma and other cancers, without chemotherapy, radiation or their debilitating side effects. Our researchers were the first to use immunotherapy to put advanced melanoma into long-term remission.
  
• Investigate whether a person’s stem cells can be engineered to eradicate HIV.
  
• Develop a lifesaving technique that could make stem cell treatments available to thousands of patients who can’t find suitable bone marrow donors.
• Expand bone marrow transplantation's reach by using it to treat autoimmune disorders and other, non-cancerous diseases, and by developing “mini-transplants” that use minimal doses of radiation, reduce side effects and are safer for older patients who were not previously eligible for transplants.

Our research examines the physical, psychological, social, and economic effects of cancer and its treatment, and the Center is a world-leader in the emerging field of survivor care. Our investigators:

• Lead one of the nation's first Survivorship Programs, where researchers learn more about cancer treatment's long-term effects, with the goal of helping survivors flourish.
  
• Provide critical data, through our renowned Long-Term Follow-Up Program, that help prevent and treat transplantation’s long-term effects.
  
• Learn why survivors suffer severe musculoskeletal pain and other ailments, with hopes of developing new treatments.
  
• Conduct advanced research on how to maximize childhood cancer survivors' quality of life.