Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center tomorrow will celebrate the grand opening of a state-of-the-art HIV vaccine laboratory in Cape Town, South Africa. The lab will be one of Africa’s most advanced scientific facilities.
Frederick R. Appelbaum, M.D., executive vice president and deputy director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine. Election to IOM is considered to be one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to science.
Ten Major League Baseball players have been nominated for the 49th annual Hutch Award®, to be given Jan. 30 at Safeco Field in Seattle. The award, launched a year after Hutchinson’s death by three of his friends, is presented annually at the Hutch Award Luncheon which raises funds for cancer research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
An international consortium co-led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia has identified four genetic variants associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer and its precursor, a condition called Barrett’s esophagus.
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have uncovered a new mechanism by which influenza can infect cells – a finding that ultimately may have implications for immunity against the flu.
Six charities, including five based in Seattle, will receive funds from a new iPad game created by local startup Game It Forward. “Quingo” combines the fun of bingo with the challenge of trivia questions and is now available for free on iTunes. Game It Forward will share a portion of revenue generated by Quingo through advertising and in-app purchases to specific projects managed by each charity.
The National Cancer Institute, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded an $11.3 million, five-year competitive grant renewal to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for its continued leadership of a multi-center prostate cancer research consortium, which was first funded in 2002.
Frederick R. Appelbaum, M.D., a world expert in the research and treatment of blood cancers who for the past two decades has served as senior vice president and director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been named executive vice president and deputy director of Fred Hutch. His appointment is effective immediately.
How and why fish swim in schools has long fascinated biologists looking for clues to understand the complexities of social behavior. A new study by a team of researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center may help provide some insight.
A team of researchers led by Janet Stanford, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has discovered that mutations in the gene BTNL2, which encodes a protein involved in regulating T-cell proliferation and cytokine production – both of which impact immune function – increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Dr. Ruth Etzioni, a biostatistician, is a member of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She focuses on statistical and computer modeling for policy development, with a focus on prostate cancer research. A critical component of this work is the estimation of natural history and progression of disease, which then forms a basis for modeling comparative- and cost-effectiveness of alternative interventions.
Coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence and progression, according to a new study by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists that is online ahead of print in Cancer Causes & Control.
A spirited, red-headed girl named Violet who died at age 11 from an inoperable brainstem tumor is the inspiration behind “Project Violet,” a “citizen science” drug-discovery project being launched by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
An influential group of women U.S. senators are urging the National Institutes of Health to continue current funding levels for the pioneering Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), the largest study of middle-aged and older women in the nation.
Older women who take certain types of medication to combat high blood pressure may be putting themselves at greater risk for developing breast cancer, according to a new study by a team of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists led by Christopher Li, M.D., Ph.D. The study is the first to observe that long-term use of a class of antihypertensive drugs known as calcium-channel blockers in particular are associated with breast cancer risk. The team’s findings will be published online Aug. 5 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have received $4.4 million over four years from the National Cancer Institute to pioneer an ambitious new way to harness the power of the adaptive immune system to control cancer. The team is using high-throughput technology and emerging public data resources to help identify hundreds of proteins as possible immune targets and verify which ones might be immunogenic, i.e., capable of provoking an immune response in the body and therefore potentially useful in immune-based therapies.
A research team headed by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists Christopher Kemp, Ph.D., and Carla Grandori, M.D., Ph.D., has received a $4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop precision therapies that selectively kill cancer cells while sparing normal, healthy tissue.
A second large, prospective study by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has confirmed the link between high blood concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids and an increased risk of prostate cancer.
Blaze Bioscience, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing Tumor PaintTM technology, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the nation’s top cancer research and prevention centers and pioneer of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, announced today a collaboration and option agreement to support the Hutchinson Center’s Optides Discovery Program and advance drug candidates identified using the platform.
Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Research Outcomes (HICOR) and Premera Blue Cross have launched a partnership to improve patient care by deploying innovative strategies that enhance quality in healthcare delivery through consumer and provider engagement.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists have, for the first time, mapped a young gene’s short, dramatic evolutionary journey to becoming essential, or indispensable. In a study published online June 6 in Science, the researchers detail one gene’s rapid switch to a new and essential function in the fruit fly, challenging the long-held belief that only ancient genes are important.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the nation’s top cancer research and prevention centers and pioneer of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, today called on Congress to support restoring full funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which supports pioneering research that saves lives. Funding was recently cut due to sequestration.
People diagnosed with cancer are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without cancer, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Researchers also found that younger cancer patients had two- to five-fold higher bankruptcy rates compared to older patients, and that overall bankruptcy filings increased as time passed following diagnosis.
Harmit Singh Malik, Ph.D., an evolutionary geneticist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who studies genetic conflict – the competition between genes and proteins with opposing functions that drives evolutionary change – has been selected to become a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is among 27 of the nation’s top biomedical scientists to receive the honor this year out of a pool of more than 1,100 applicants.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington scientists have identified a class of immune cells that reside long-term in the genital skin and mucosa and are believed to be responsible for suppressing recurring outbreaks of genital herpes. These immune cells also play a role in suppressing symptoms of genital herpes, which is why most sufferers of the disease are asymptomatic when viral reactivations occur.
The discovery of this subtype of immune cells, called CD8αα+ T cells, opens a new avenue of research to develop a vaccine to prevent and treat herpes simplex virus type 2, or HSV-2. Identifying these T cells’ specific molecular targets, called epitopes, is the next step in developing a vaccine.
Men with prostate cancer who take cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins are significantly less likely to die from their cancer than men who don’t take such medication, according to study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The findings are published online today in The Prostate.
Breast cancer survivors are among the women who could most benefit from regular physical activity, yet few meet national exercise recommendations during the 10 years after being diagnosed, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Prior studies and available evidence show a strong association between physical activity and reduced mortality, extended survival and higher quality of life among breast cancer survivors. With 2.9 million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S. and another 80,000 added annually, there is considerable interest in the factors that promote health and well-being among these women.
Although previous research has linked alcohol consumption to an increased risk of developing breast cancer, a new study has found that drinking before and after diagnosis does not impact survival from the disease. In fact, a modest survival benefit was found in women who were moderate drinkers before and after diagnosis due to a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a major cause of mortality among breast cancer survivors.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is home to the Seattle Barrett’s Esophagus Program, a multidisciplinary effort conducted in collaboration with researchers at Brigham & Women’s College and the University of California at San Francisco. This research team has shown that a systematic approach to early cancer detection can boost five-year survival rates from about 15 percent to more than 80 percent. Below are highlights of research findings that suggest ways to prevent the condition from progressing to esophageal cancer.
Eric Holland, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and brain cancer researcher, has been recruited from Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington to establish world-class research programs on brain and other solid-tumor cancers in Seattle. He will arrive this summer.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Survivorship Program and its directors, K. Scott Baker, M.D. and Karen Syrjala, Ph.D., have been selected to lead a nationwide study that aims to improve long-term health outcomes for cancer survivors between the ages of 18 and 39.
Under way this spring, the study will involve the Livestrong Survivorship Center of Excellence Network, a collaborative research group of seven National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers, including the Fred Hutchinson/University of Washington Cancer Consortium.
The Livestrong Foundation awarded the group $1.2 million for the initial study start-up to learn more about its young-adult cancer survivors.
Adults who’ve smoked daily for at least the past year who want to quit within the next 30 days are needed for a study of a quit-smoking iPhone app being conducted by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in collaboration with the University of Washington and 2Morrow Mobile.
A study of older patients with advanced head and neck cancers has found that where they were treated significantly influenced their survival. The study, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and published in the March 1 online edition of Cancer, found that patients who were treated at hospitals that saw a high number of head and neck cancers were 15 percent less likely to die of their disease as compared to patients who were treated at hospitals that saw a relatively low number of such cancers. The study also found that such patients were 12 percent less likely to die of their disease when treated at a National Cancer Institute -designated cancer center.
A group of Seattle’s leading health research institutions have sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to take action to prevent sequestration funding cuts from taking effect on Friday, March 1.
In a significant advance for harnessing the immune system to treat leukemias, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for the first time have successfully infused large numbers of donor T-cells specific for a key anti-leukemic antigen to prolong survival in high-risk and relapsed leukemia patients after stem cell transplantation. Both the stem cells for transplant and the T-cells came from the same matched donors.
An international research team co-led by cancer prevention researcher Ulrike “Riki” Peters, Ph.D., M.P.H., and biostatistician Li Hsu, Ph.D., at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has identified variations in four genes that are linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Peters and colleagues from 40 institutes throughout the world published their findings online ahead of the April print issue of Gastroenterology.
Patients whose aggressive lymphomas have relapsed or failed to respond to the current front-line chemotherapy regimen now have an effective second line of attack against their disease. Reporting the results of a first-of-its-kind phase 1 clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a new class of drugs to augment standard chemotherapy, a team led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists found that giving patients high doses of Vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid) in combination with another round of commonly used second-line drugs resulted in a 70 percent response rate, including several patients whose lymphoma cells disappeared entirely.
Regular consumption of deep-fried foods such as French fries, fried chicken and doughnuts is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease, according to a study by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Michael Emerman, Ph.D., a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center virologist who studies the replication of HIV, has been named editor-in-chief of Virology, one of the oldest journals that specialize in viruses, published by Elsevier. Emerman is the fourth editor-in-chief in the history of the publication, which was founded in 1954. He has long served on the journal’s editorial board.
Sue Biggins, Ph.D., a geneticist and biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. Sponsored by Pfizer Inc., the award consists of a $25,000 prize in recognition of a recent notable discovery by a young scientist.
Younger women who wait at least 15 years after their first menstrual period to give birth to their first child may reduce their risk of an aggressive form of breast cancer by up to 60 percent, according to a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) today announced a partnership to develop therapeutics to treat an inherited form of muscular dystrophy.
The goal of the new agreement is to develop a small-molecule-based medicine to potentially reverse facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD, by inhibiting the activity of a protein that is incorrectly expressed by the DUX4 gene in people with the disease. The protein activity is what damages muscle cells and leads to progressive muscle weakness and atrophy in FSHD patients.
After a national search, Garnet Anderson, Ph.D., a biostatistician and lead researcher in the Women’s Health Initiative, has been selected to become the new senior vice president and director of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She will assume the role Jan. 1, 2013 when Ross Prentice, Ph.D., the current division director, steps down after 25 years.
Steven Henikoff, Ph.D., a geneticist, biologist and inventor at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been named a 2012 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS.
A three-minute film about a tiny molecule that lights up brain tumors so neurosurgeons can better distinguish cancer from normal tissue has a chance to get its own moment in the spotlight as a semifinalist in the Sundance Film Festival in January.
For the first time, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have defined key events that take place early in the process of cellular aging.
Together the discoveries, made through a series of experiments in yeast, bring unprecedented clarity to the complex cascade of events that comprise the aging process and pave the way to understanding how genetics and environmental factors like diet interact to influence lifespan, aging and age-related diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
An international research team co-led by a scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has identified two genetic factors behind the third most common form of muscular dystrophy. The findings, published online in Nature Genetics, represent the latest in the team’s series of groundbreaking discoveries begun in 2010 regarding the genetic causes of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD.