New on NCI’s Websites for September 2023

September 29, 2023, by Daryl McGrath

NCI Professional Judgement Budget

NCI has released its Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Professional Judgment Budget Proposal: Leading Progress against Cancer. This document presents NCI’s assessment of the funding needed in FY25 to support readily obtainable research opportunities and accelerate progress to benefit all people with cancer and those at risk.

In a related post in the NCI Bottom Line blog, Diane Palmieri, Ph.D., director of NCI’s Center for Research Strategy, discusses how NCI’s proposal to increase funding would allow the institute to support more meritorious cancer research.  Dr. Palmieri also spotlights one of the five scientific opportunities.

NCI Budget Fact Book

NCI has also published its Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Fact Book, which summarizes the distribution of the year’s budget among the institute’s various research programs and funding mechanisms. It also presents recent funding trends and explains how funding policies influence grant awards. The FY22 Budget Fact Book features interactive graphics that allow visitors to explore funding in greater detail.

NCI Budget and Appropriations

NCI’s Budget and Appropriations page has been updated with new information explaining how NCI is funded, how the budget is allocated, and how NCI makes spending decisions.   

Annual Report to the Nation Part 2: New Cancer Diagnoses during the COVID-19 Pandemic

New diagnoses of six major cancer types fell in the early part of the pandemic, according to findings from part 2 of the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. As this NCI news release explains, the findings suggest that many cancers were not being diagnosed in a timely manner during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, likely due to interruptions in medical care.

Cancer Trends Progress Report

The Cancer Trends Progress Report outlines the nation's advances against cancer, covers key measures of progress along the cancer control continuum, and uses national trend data to illustrate where improvements have been made and where attention is needed. New measures added this year include Cancer Survivors and UV Exposure, Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), Healthy Eating Index, Tobacco Company Marketing Expenditures for E-Cigarettes, and systemic therapy for bladder and kidney cancers.

Resources from the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

In an NCI Bottom Line blog post, NCI Director Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., highlights research resources available from the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR). From cryo-electron microscopy to the RAS Initiative, FNLCR offers a variety of tools for the scientific community to propel research progress and enable breakthroughs.

Updates from the President’s Cancer Panel 

The President’s Cancer Panel is charged with monitoring the development and execution of the activities of the National Cancer Program and reporting to the President on progress, efficacy, and opportunities for improvement. The President's Cancer Panel website includes information about the panel’s current members, the panel’s role in monitoring progress of the National Cancer Plan, and upcoming virtual meetings. 

NCI-60 Cell Line Modernization

The NCI-60 Human Tumor Cell Lines Screen has been an essential research resource for cancer drug discovery and development for more than 30 years, with more than 110,000 total compounds screened in 260,000 assays. NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis has developed a new NCI-60 platform that includes an automated high-throughput assay system conducted in 384-well plates, compared with the previous, mainly manual processing of 96-well plates.

Cancer, Aging, and Comorbidities Webinar Series

This webinar series, a collaboration between NCI and the National Institute on Aging, explored the roles of aging and comorbidities in cancer treatment and survivorship. The webinar series ran from January through July 2023. Recordings of the webinars are available on the series website.

New Technology Transfer Center Website

NCI’s Technology Transfer Center has a new website with improved navigation that features events and opportunities and links to technologies available for licensing, including inventions from both NCI and other institutes.

Repurposing Common Medications to Prevent Cancer

Researchers are studying treatments widely used for other diseases for possible roles in cancer prevention. A post in the Division of Cancer Prevention’s Cancer Prevention Science blog highlights two recent studies exploring the use of statins, which are typically used to lower cholesterol, to prevent ovarian cancer and the use of the diabetes drug metformin to prevent breast cancer.

New Findings Highlight Shared Features of Human and Canine Osteosarcoma

Whereas osteosarcoma is diagnosed in fewer than 1,000 people a year in the United States, more than 10,000 cases of osteosarcoma are diagnosed in dogs. A research team led by scientists in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research has discovered new molecular signatures that can predict clinical outcomes of osteosarcoma in both dogs and humans.  

New Gastric Cancer Genetics Summaries

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Although the disease is caused primarily by infection with H. pylori, approximately 15% to 20% of gastric cancers are caused by pathogenic variants in hereditary gastric cancer genes. Two new pages written for health professionals summarize the Genetics of Gastric Cancer and Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer.

Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer

Artificial sweeteners are chemically synthesized substances that are used instead of table sugar to sweeten foods and beverages. This page summarizes research studies that have tried to determine if there is a link between artificial sweeteners and cancer. 

Metadata Services for Cancer Research

Metadata standards promote data sharing and aggregation across research data repositories, which ensures that data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). The Metadata Services for Cancer Research web page, managed by NCI's Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology, explains the elements that make up cancer metadata, the value of the new cancer Data Standards Registry and Repository (caDSR II) infrastructure, and resources for supporting researchers who use the caDSR II infrastructure.

MyPART Network en Español

The My Pediatric and Adult Rare Tumor (MyPART) network is a group of scientists, patients, family members, advocates, and health care providers who work to help find treatments for rare cancers. The group recently launched a Spanish-language version of the MyPART website.