Thus far the progress in our fight against cancer has come at a heavy price in the form of devastating side effects. While they are meant to kill cancer cells, most cancer drugs also destroy normal tissues. Mucositis (painful sores and ulcers in the lining of the mouth) is a common complication of chemotherapy and/ or radiation, affecting approximately 80% of patients who undergo this intensive treatment prior to bone marrow transplantation.

Cancer is the second largest cause of mortality in the U.S., but researchers have made tremendous progress in developing new and effective treatments to reduce these mortalities. The National Cancer Institute’s 2015 challenge goal is to turn cancer from a killer into a chronic disease in the next ten years. Thus far, progress in the fight against cancer has come at a heavy price in the form of devastating side effects. While meant to kill cancer cells, most cancer drugs also destroy normal tissue. 

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 6.2 million Americans are infected with genital HPV each year and that over half of all sexually active men and women become infected at some time in their lives. While most HPV infections are cleared by the body’s own defense system and do not lead to cancer, virtually all cases of cervical cancer are linked to HPV infection.

Over the last 15 years, the application of computers to microscopes has significantly enhanced the level of automation that is possible once a specimen has been inserted into the microscope. A long-standing bottleneck has been the automated delivery of multiple specimens into an electron microscope, and overcoming this has presented researchers with significant challenges.

As Director of the Technology Transfer Center (TTC) at the NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI), Karen Maurey has provided the leadership and vision that has been instrumental in facilitating the transfer of the innovative research carried out by the NCI scientists to industrial partners and collaborators. Her efforts have enabled unique biological materials to be made available for use as research tools by the private and public sectors as well as new biomedical products to reach the consumer. 

Over the past 29 years, Dr. Wiltrout has contributed as a scientist and leader to the Center for Cancer Research by supporting the infrastructure necessary to ensure continued new and creative collaborations that result in successful technology development and transfer to the Center’s industrial partners. Last year, the CCR had over 275 active clinical trials, more than 126 active Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with industry, and 120 new commercial licenses.

The development of restriction enzyme technology in the 1970s was a breakthrough in molecular biology research. For the first time, scientists were able to cut DNA at specific sites, and insert sequences with matching ends. However, the technology was limited to insertion at particular sites in the host vector, and the size of the inserted DNA quickly became a limiting factor. 

Cell lines are important biomedical tools that have revolutionized the way in which researchers study diseases. Human tumor cell lines can be used as in vitro model systems of cancer that are able to simulate the manner in which the disease behaves in the body. This technology describes approximately 439 human tumor cell lines that have important application as research tools to study a wide variety of cancers. The majority of the cell lines were cultured from lung cancer tissue, but they can be used to study many tumor types.