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.
Dr. Robert Wiltrout is Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Research (CCR), which is home to more than 250 scientists and clinicians conducting intramural research at NCI. The Center is organized into over 50 branches and laboratories, each grouping scientists with complementary interests. CCR’s investigators are basic, clinical, and translational scientists who work together to advance our knowledge of cancer and AIDS, and to develop new therapies against these diseases.
Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer of males in the U.S., and is responsible for more deaths than any other cancer, except lung cancer. Cancer vaccines, which harness the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells, have emerged as a promising new approach to fighting prostate cancer. One approach to cancer vaccination involves identifying antigens from cancer cells and immunizing cancer patients against those antigens to stimulate the body’s immune cells to attack and kill the cancer cells.
The development of restriction enzyme technology in the 1970s was a breakthrough in genetic engineering. 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. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) solution is a technology that consists of three specialized bacterial strains and seven plasmids, developed around a genetic system in E.
Cell lines are important biomedical tools that have revolutionized the way researchers study diseases. Human tumor cell lines can be used as in vitro model systems of cancer that are able to simulate how the disease behaves in the body. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has approximately 439 human tumor cell lines that have an important application as research tools to study a 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.
The term “cancer” is used to describe a collection of several diseases that are caused by the aberrant growth of cells and the invasion of these cells into other tissues, where they disrupt normal organ function. Cancers are commonly treated by surgical removal of the cancerous tissue, followed by a regimen of conventional chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Unfortunately, these conventional therapies lack specificity for cancer cells, leading to undesirable side effects that result from the non-specific killing of essential normal cells.