New on NCI’s Websites, March 2020

March 16, 2020, by NCI Staff

Video: Should You Join a Clinical Trial?

This new video from NCI offers three reasons why a person with cancer might want to consider taking part in a clinical trial.

New Tool Catalogs Thousands of Previously Unknown Viruses

In the quest to study two cancer-causing viruses, a team of researchers from NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) and elsewhere uncovered a wealth of previously unknown viruses, some with very unusual properties. In order to share the large number of new viruses through the GenBank database, the research team created a new tool for cataloging the genomes of newly discovered viruses. The tool, called Cenote-Taker, is available free online.

On His Shoulders: A Profile of Dr. John Carpten

NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities has published a new post in its Dialogue on Disparities blog about John Carpten, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Translational Genomics at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Carpten made history in 2019 as the first African American to serve as program chair of the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.  

New PDQ Summaries for Childhood Cancers

NCI has created individual summaries for the cancers originally covered in the PDQ summary on treatment for unusual cancers of childhood. The 31 new pediatric treatment summaries cover childhood cancers of the head and neck, chest, gastrointestinal tract, and genital and urinary systems. 

Advances in Liver Cancer Research

NCI-funded researchers are working to advance our understanding of how to better prevent, detect, and treat liver cancer in adults and children. This new page highlights some of the latest research on liver cancer.

Physical Activity and Cancer

This updated fact sheet describes research that links reduced cancer risks to exercise and other physical activity, including walking and doing household chores.

Cancer Epidemiology Matters E-News

NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences has published two issues of its monthly newsletter Cancer Epidemiology Matters E-News in 2020. The January issue features the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) Research Highlights, which showcases a selection of research publications supported by grants from EGRP’s grant portfolio. The February issue discusses new funding opportunity announcements from NCI’s Provocative Questions Initiative.

NCI Scientists Develop a Clinical Monitoring Tool for Epithelial–Mesenchymal Phenotype

A biological process in cancer cells known as the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is thought to promote tumor invasiveness, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy. Researchers from NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, along with colleagues in CCR and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, have developed a new protein-based assay that can evaluate the epithelial–mesenchymal phenotype of each cell in a patient’s tumor biopsy—that is, how far along in the EMT process each cell has proceeded.

Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy at CCR

A new section of the CCR website provides an overview of the center’s pioneering role in the clinical development of immunotherapy. The section also features cancer immunotherapy clinical trials conducted at the NIH Clinical Center as well as fellowship and job opportunities in cancer immunology and immunotherapy at NCI.

CCR Revamps Training Websites

CCR has refreshed and added new information to its websites about the NIH Hematology–Oncology Fellowship and Physician-Scientist Early Investigator Program (PEIP). The fellowship program—administered jointly by NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute—enables physicians to gain a strong clinical grounding in hematology and oncology, as well as a comprehensive exposure to clinical, laboratory, and translational research. PEIP is a mentored 3- to 5-year independent research program for physicians dedicated to laboratory bench-to-bedside or clinic-based research.

DCEG Linkage Newsletter

NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) has published a new issue of its Linkage newsletter. Topics include the accomplishments of DCEG’s Informatics Tool Challenge; research using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink; and a profile of Steven C. Moore, Ph.D., M.P.H., a DCEG investigator studying the role of physical activity, obesity, and diet in cancer.

Video Series: Principles of Proteogenomics

NCI’s Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research, part of the Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives, has produced a pair of videos that help explain the principles of proteogenomics. In one video, Pei Wang, Ph.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, explains the concept of proteogenomics; in the other video, Amanda Paulovich, M.D., Ph.D., from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses mass spectrometry’s role in proteogenomics research.

Video Series: Participating in NCI-CONNECT

In this series of videos, staff with the NCI-CONNECT Clinic at NIH discuss how physicians and people with rare brain and spine tumors can be referred to or make an appointment with the clinic, the benefits for adults with rare brain and spine tumors who visit the clinic, the special services patients receive when they visit the NCI-CONNECT Clinic, and what patients with rare brain and spine tumors can expect when they meet with the NCI-CONNECT health care team. NCI-CONNECT is a program within the Rare Tumor Patient Engagement Network, an initiative supported by the Cancer Moonshot℠.

Cancer Survivor Shares Tips to Enhance a Patient Visit to NIH

Sarah was 37 years old when she was diagnosed with an ependymoma in her spine. She was treated with surgery and radiation at NIH and enrolled in an NCI natural history clinical study for central nervous system tumors. She has been coming to NIH for care for 4 years. In a new post on the NCI CONNECTions blog, Sarah shares her tips to help other people with cancer who are considering treatment trials at NIH.