Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center

Gene mutations that are thought to be very early events in the development of leukemias and other blood disorders appear to set the stage for malignancy by increasing the production of certain types of blood cells at the expense of others.

Preclinical work suggests the targeted drug palbociclib may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer if the two treatments are given in the right sequence.

The scope of the DNA changes that drive cancers has been illuminated as never before in a set of studies by a large international scientific team including Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. In six studies published Feb. 5 in Nature, and 18 papers in other Nature-affiliated journals, this scientific consortium reported the results from analyses of DNA from more than 2,600 biopsied tumor samples across 38 different types of cancer. 

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have built the first global database of clinical trials testing a rapidly expanding approach to cancer treatment that involves genetically modifying immune cells to recognize specific targets on a patient’s cancer cells and attack them.

A change in the protein composition of chromatin—the condensed, packaged form of DNA in the nucleus—boosts the expression of metastasis-related genes; blocking this change appears to stop tumor cells from forming new tumors in mice, suggests a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. 

A prestigious Cancer Moonshot grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Immuno-Oncology Translational Network will enable investigators to explore the mechanisms that allow slow-growing lung cancer lesions to progress into aggressive malignancies and identify new therapeutic strategies to intercept the transition. 

A set of powerful laboratory and computational techniques developed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine, the New York Genome Center (NYGC) and the Broad Institute will enable investigators to map the capacity of tumors to develop resistance to drugs and drug combinations. 

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have built the first 3-D-printed automated synthesis units (ASUs) for producing customized radioactive drugs.

Dr. Silvia Formenti, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Sandra and Edward Meyer Professor of Cancer Research at Weill Cornell Medicine and radiation oncologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, has been awarded the 2019 ASTRO Gold Medal by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a system that uses cancer patients’ own cells to evaluate the efficacy of treatments. The scientists used their new testbed to show that a two-drug combination potentially would benefit many patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Dr. Silvia Formenti has been awarded the 2019 Roentgen Prize for Oncology from the Italian scientific society Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

Dr. Lewis Cantley has been awarded a grant from the Gray Foundation to study the genetic mutations that can lead to breast and ovarian cancer, investigating how early-stage precancerous cells can be recognized by the immune system and targeted with preventive or therapeutic cancer vaccines.

A molecular pathway known for responding to cellular stress also produces pain-inducing molecules in immune cells, according to a new study by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School and Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

A new technology devised by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) enables the measurement of gene mutations and their effects on gene activity within individual cancer cells biopsied from patients.

A powerful new set of scientific tools developed by Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Genome Center (NYGC) researchers enables them to track the molecular evolution of cancers. 

The work of global oncologists – whose insights and innovations reduce the burden of cancer around the world – has demonstrated value that academic medical leadership should consider when assessing these physicians for professional advancement, according to a commentary by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Weill Cornell Medicine has experienced dynamic growth in its research enterprise over the past five years, an achievement that underscores the institution’s mission to provide patients with the most advanced treatments and therapies.

Long-term spaceflight causes more changes to gene expression than shorter trips, especially to the immune system and DNA repair systems, according to research by Weill Cornell Medicine and NASA investigators as part of NASA’s Twins Study, which followed the only set of identical twin astronauts for more than two years.  

The deletion of a gene that normally promotes healthy cell division in the prostate encourages the growth of cancer in the gland, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings, published March 28 in Cancer Cell, suggest that the gene, once deleted, helps to promote tumorous growth.

A drug already approved for anemia offers hope for people leukemia.