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NEWS:
The Future of Colorectal Cancer Care is Precision Medicine
Doctors and researchers are abuzz about the field of precision medicine as it alters the landscape of cancer care. Precision medicine—and knowledge about tumor changes known as biomarkers—is already having life-saving impacts. In response, the Colorectal Cancer Alliance (Alliance) launched its Personalized Biomarker Patient Education Campaign to empower patients and caregivers with information about how precision treatment planning in colorectal cancer through biomarker testing can help improve survival.
Biomarker testing analyzes the genetic makeup of a patient’s tumor. Test results provide patients and their medical teams with important information about what kind of treatment could work best for the patient—hence the term “precision medicine.”
“Until recently, the standard of care for colorectal cancer was essentially a one-size-fits-all approach, with surgery followed by chemothera
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Ohio State Conducts First Gene Therapy Clinical Trial For Huntington’s Disease
In a worldwide first, surgeons at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center have treated two patients with Huntington’s disease using a novel gene therapy treatment as part of a multi-center, double-blind randomized clinical trial.
Huntington’s disease is an inherited genetic disorder that results in progressive physical and cognitive deterioration, ultimately leading to death. The cause is a mutant protein which damages brain cells, said Ohio State Wexner Medical Center neurosurgeon Dr. James “Brad” Elder who performed the surgeries.
“The overall goal of this gene therapy treatment strategy is to stop the neurologic deterioration associated with Huntington’s disease by blocking production of the mutant protein. Targeting specific areas of the brain with gene therapy will hopefully help patients maintain their existing level of function, and be reflected in a halting of deteriora
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Chemistry Innovator Widening, Quickening Uses Of Spectrometry
The clock is ticking when a neurosurgeon is trying to remove a brain tumor but also determining its malignancy and type. Instead of sending samples to a lab where the necessary testing equipment resides to answer those questions, a Purdue scientist is working on shrinking that equipment for use in the surgical room.
Compressing a mass spectrometer into a smaller, more portable system allows researchers to take the instrument into the field, running analyses on samples on the spot. Airports screening for explosives, grocery stores testing for bacteria on fruits and vegetables, and investigators collecting evidence at crime scenes are just a few possible uses.
“We live in a chemical world, and we need to analyze it,” R. Graham Cooks said. “It’s taking the instrument to the problem rather than taking a sample from wherever to the instrument. This is all about chemistry and chemical analys
