Research News

Center News, May 2008 - Sloan-Kettering Institute Director Thomas J. Kelly has been named a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) at the National Institutes of Health.

Center News, May 2008 - Using mice that are genetically engineered to develop prostate cancer in a manner that mimics the formation of human prostate cancers, investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have found a previously unknown immune response to tumor cells.

Center News, May 2008 - Cell biologist Xuejun Jiang's study of the fundamental processes of biology began in China when he was a college student and continued with graduate and postgraduate work in Texas.

NEW YORK, April 3, 2008 - A study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has uncovered how breast tumors use a particular type of molecule to promote metastasis - the spread of cancer cells.

NEW YORK, March 23, 2008 - Research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has shown that therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), can be used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice.

Center News, March 2008 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering is leading efforts to understand the key genetic changes in many types of cancer.

Center News, March 2008 - In 2005, 15 years after the start of the Human Genome Project and two years after the full human genome sequence was completed, the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute announced the launch of the pilot phase of The Cancer Genome Atlas. The project seeks to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of a variety of genome analysis technologies.

Center News, March 2008 - Lorenz Studer's professional journey has taken him from humble beginnings in a storage-room-turned-laboratory in his native Switzerland to a state-of-the-art research facility at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, where he studies the use of embryonic stem cells to repair or replace cells that have been lost or damaged through disease.

NEW YORK, March 3, 2008 - An international group of investigators led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute has identified a new genetic marker of risk for breast cancer.

NEW YORK, February 29, 2008 - A new study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Reports on a novel mechanism that can enhance the function of a protein that is frequently impaired in patients with acute forms of leukemia.

NEW YORK, January 9, 2008 - Researchers have identified a specific group of microRNA molecules that are responsible for controlling genes that cause breast cancer metastasis.

Center News, January 2008 - More than 100 postdoctoral research fellows showcased their accomplishments at the inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow Research Symposium.

Center News, January 2008 - High school students and teachers flocked to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for second annual research symposium.

Center News, January 2008 - James P. Allison, Chair of the Immunology Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Center News, January 2008 - Charles L. Sawyers, Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, is one of 15 patient-oriented researchers to be appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Center News, January 2008 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering has established a Brain Tumor Center (BTC) to address the challenges of managing primary brain tumors and brain metastases.

Center News, November 2007 - A week of orientation activities for the second incoming class of students of the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences included a personal welcome from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center President Harold Varmus.

Center News, November 2007 - As the head of a laboratory in the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, Derek Tan is a young leader in the field of chemical biology.

Center News, November 2007 - A collaboration among Memorial Sloan-Kettering molecular biologist Scott Keeney, developmental biologist Maria Jasin, and research fellow Liisa Kauppi has pinpointed sites on chromosomes where genetic material is exchanged between pairs of chromosomes occur before they separate.

Center News, November 2007 - In June, the High-Throughput Screening Facility and its head, biochemist and pharmacologist Hakim Djaballah, won the 2007 Robots and Vision User Recognition Award.

Center News, September 2007 - A team of scientists led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering investigator Gabriela Chiosis has found that Hsp90 enables the disease process in a group of neurodegenerative disorders marked by the accumulation of the protein Tau.

Center News, September 2007 - New research carried out in the laboratory of Memorial Sloan-Kettering molecular biologist John H.J. Petrini has shed light on one mechanism that helps the cell respond to DNA damage and prevent it from being passed on when the cell divides to create new cells.

Center News, September 2007 - The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center for Cell Engineering was established to take advantage of the important strides made in the genetic engineering of human cells over the past several years.

Center News, September 2007 - Alexandra Joyner recently joined the Sloan-Kettering Institute as a Member of the Developmental Biology Program. She is also the incumbent of the Courtney Steel Chair in Pediatric Cancer Research.

Center News, July 2007 - In 2006, James A. Fagin was appointed Chief of M Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Endocrinology Service and a member of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program. His research has been instrumental in characterizing many of the genetic changes associated with the development and progression of thyroid cancer.

Center News, July 2007 - A team of Memorial Sloan-Kettering investigators has reported for the first time a novel strategy to coax human embryonic stem cells (HESCs) to develop into cells that could potentially be used to repair the musculoskeletal system, including bone, cartilage, and muscle.

Center News, April 2007 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center clinicians and researchers have been at the forefront of developing new ways to guide the body's immune system toward producing a response that targets and destroys cancer cells.

Center News, April 2007 - To facilitate and enhance the work of Center researchers, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center maintains a system of core facilities -- specialized laboratories and data centers that offer shared services to multiple users.

Center News, April 2007 - Joan Massagué is the recipient of the 2007 Passano Award for the originality and importance of his work elucidating the mechanism of action for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b) signaling.

Center News, April 2007 - Johanna Joyce, of the Sloan-Kettering Institute's Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, has been named the first incumbent of a Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair.

NEW YORK, April 11, 2007 - Biologists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have identified a set of genes expressed in human breast cancer cells that work together to remodel the network of blood vessels at the site of the primary tumor.

Center News, February 2007 - Many of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's advances in patient care, research, and education are made by young staff members who are just beginning their careers.

Center News, February 2007 - A team of scientists led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center cancer biologist Robert Benezra has revealed new insights into the mechanism of tumor formation by boosting levels of the Mad2 gene in mice.

Center News, February 2007 - Alexandra Leigh Joyner has been appointed a Member in the Developmental Biology Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute. She has also been named the incumbent of the Courtney Steel Chair in Pediatric Cancer Research.

NEW YORK, January 12, 2007 -Researchers led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have now identified fundamentally novel regulatory mechanisms of PTEN function. The findings from two related studies are published in the January 12 issue of Cell.

NEW YORK, December 7, 2006 - Computational biology researchers today announced a new Internet tool for the exploration of the scientific literature in medicine and biology. The freely accessible iHOP service provides fast, accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date summary information on more than 80,000 biological molecules by automatically extracting key sentences from millions of PubMed documents when a search is requested.

Center News, December 2006 -Alan Hall, Chair of the Sloan-Kettering Institute's Cell Biology Program, discusses his far-ranging professional journey and explains his research objectives and program goals at Sloan-Kettering Institute.

Center News, December 2006 - A study led by immunologist and Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service Chief Marcel R. van den Brink has demonstrated a novel strategy for boosting numbers of infection-fighting T cells in mice after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Center News, December 2006 - A collaboration driven by Jayakrishnan Nandakumar, a fifth-year graduate student in the Tri-Institutional Training Program in Chemical Biology, and guided by Sloan-Kettering Institute researchers Christopher Lima and Stewart Shuman, has led to the exquisite visualization of RNA ligase 2 (Rnl2).

Center News, December 2006 - Joan Massagué, Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Center News, November 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center takes a major step into the future, dedicated to answering the critical 21st-century questions about cancer biology and to speeding the translation of basic discoveries into effective therapies for patients.

Center News, November 2006 - Nearly 500 students and teachers from more than 40 New York-area high schools filled the Rockefeller Research Laboratories Auditorium for Major Trends in Modern Cancer Research.

Center News, November 2006 - An overflow crowd of Center staff and the public gathered in the Rockefeller Research Laboratories Auditorium to hear an afternoon of talks, by distinguished guest speakers, entitled Science and Society in the 21st Century.

Center News, November 2006 - A shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center staff, Board members, and friends of the institution thronged the Cyber Lounge and 69th Street lobby of The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center on September 21 for a program marking its official opening.

Center News, November 2006 - Charles L. Sawyers recently came to Memorial Sloan-Kettering from the University of California, Los Angeles, to lead the new Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP).

Center News, November 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering researchers have demonstrated in mice that red blood cell precursors derived from bone marrow stem cells could be engineered to produce a secreted protein at therapeutic levels over a prolonged period.

Center News, November 2006 - Center researchers report that flavopiridol represents a possible new treatment for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract.

NEW YORK, November 14, 2006 — Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is one of six leading institutions that will share in a $120 million gift from a foundation created by American billionaire Daniel K. Ludwig.

October 3, 2006 - Graduate School receives NIH Training for an Interdisciplinary Workforce grant.

NEW YORK, September 27, 2006 - A gift from the estate of renowned fashion designer Geoffrey Beene will enable Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to launch an ambitious research initiative to be known as the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center.

NEW YORK, September 21, 2006 - The Starr Foundation today announced that it has made a $100 million grant to create a wide-ranging cancer consortium to coordinate the efforts of five internationally renowned research institutions in the fight against cancer. Joining this ambitious undertaking are The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medical College.

NEW YORK, September 18, 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) is now poised to take greater advantage of a new era in cancer research and education with the opening of a state-of-the-art research center, the establishment of a new graduate school, and the founding of a novel research program in human oncology.

Center News, September 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center scientists led by cancer biologist Joan Massagué have discovered a new branch in the signaling network of a protein called transforming growth factor-beta (TGF- ).

Center News, September 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators have created two new mouse models of lung adenocarcinoma.

Center News, September 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering has announced the creation of the Molecular Diagnostics Service in the Department of Pathology and named Marc Ladanyi the service's first Chief.

Center News, July 2006 - Physician-scientist Charles L. Sawyers has been appointed Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's new Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) and the first incumbent of the Marie Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair.

NEW YORK, July 31, 2006 - The Tri-Institutional Stem Cell Initiative, comprised of three leading New York City biomedical research institutions has announced the first wave of stem cell research projects to be funded through a $50 million gift from The Starr Foundation. The gift was announced on May 23, 2005.

Center News, July 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators have uncovered new clues about what controls the number of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells (HSCs) and how these cells form the various types of mature circulating blood cells.

Center News, July 2006 - Alan Hall, Chairman of the Cell Biology Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has been honored with a 2006 Gairdner International Award.

Center News, July 2006 - A multi-institutional study led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center suggests a link between childhood chemotherapy and development of a type of kidney cancer.

NEW YORK, May 10, 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center today announced a major commitment from publisher, real estate developer, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Board member Mortimer B. Zuckerman of $100 million from his charitable trust toward Memorial Sloan-Kettering's new cancer research facility, including a 23-story laboratory structure that opens this month.

Center News, April 2006 - A multidisciplinary team of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators has taken a step toward determining which proteins in the blood may indicate the presence of several common types of cancer.

Center News, April 2006 - Center researchers have learned how a particular type of enzyme in cells can be manipulated to combat pancreatic cancer in mice, providing new information that may be used to design better therapies for people.

Center News, April 2006 - The inaugural Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Research has been awarded by The Vilcek Foundation to Joan Massagué, Chairman of the Sloan-Kettering Institute's Cancer Biology and Genetics Program.

Center News, April 2006 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center chemist Samuel J. Danishefsky will be honored with three major awards this spring. Dr. Danishefsky is the incumbent of a Eugene W. Kettering Chair and a member of the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute.

Center News, March 2006 - Gerstner Sloan-Kettering faculty member Joan Massagué and Memorial Sloan-Kettering investigator Dori A. Thomas have published a paper showing how the protein called transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß) allows tumor cells to escape killing by the immune system.

Center News, March 2006 - The World Technology Network awarded the 2005 WTN Award in Media and Journalism to Gertsner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School President Harold Varmus and his colleagues at the Public Library of Science; Joan Massagué, Chairman of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, is among the recipients of the 2005 New York City Mayor's Awards for Excellence in Science and Technology; Faculty Member Steven Larson has been elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Center News, December 2005 - The story of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's transplantation program demonstrates the importance of collaboration among clinicians and basic research scientists.

Center News, December 2005 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering has announced that English biologist Alan Hall will become the new Chairman of the Cell Biology Program within the Sloan-Kettering Institute.

NEW YORK, December 25, 2005 - Researchers led by a team of scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have devised a novel strategy that uses stem cell-based gene therapy and RNA interference to genetically reverse sickle cell disease (SCD) in human cells. This research is the first to demonstrate a way to genetically correct this debilitating blood disease using RNA interference technology.

Center News, December 2005 - Research by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators has revealed the first step of how cells repair a certain type of DNA damage. If not properly repaired, DNA damage can lead to cancer or cell death.

Center News, December 2005 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center scientists have demonstrated the efficacy in mice of a novel therapeutic strategy that uses genetically modified human T cells to target prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) -- a protein found in prostate cancer cells -- and eliminate cancerous cells.

NEW YORK, November 6, 2005 - A team of researchers led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have discovered that a new class of drugs -- now in early stage clinical trials -- work best in patients with mutations in the BRAF gene.

Center News, October 2005 - On August 11, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center played host to a press conference called by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to announce that Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a California real estate investment trust specializing in the development and management of laboratory space, has been selected to build the East River Science Park -- a privately financed, 870,000 square foot, $700 million complex of healthcare laboratories on the campus of Bellevue Hospital Center.

Center News, October 2005 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center biologists have taken a step forward in the field of stem cell research. For the first time, they employed new laboratory techniques to generate purified mesenchymal precursor cells -- which may give rise to fat, cartilage, bone, and skeletal muscle cells -- from human embryonic stem cells (HESCs).

Center News, September 2005 - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center researchers have uncovered the structure of a network of proteins that help regulate the life cycle of cells. Structural biologist Christopher D. Lima led the study, which used x-ray crystallography to identify how one protein, called small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO-1), joins with three other molecules. Understanding the network's layout is an important step toward learning how SUMO regulates its assembly and function.

Center News, September 2005 - The ability of cells to repair DNA damage is a critical function that, when disrupted, can lead to the development of cancer. A new study by Memorial Sloan-Kettering investigators provides evidence that a form of molecular "velcro" -- known as the Rad50 hook -- holds broken strands of DNA together and stabilizes them during repair. The findings were published in the May issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

NEW YORK, August 4, 2005 - Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering have found that prostate tumor growth is arrested through a biological process called cellular senescence, in which cells stop proliferating and remain alive but fail to respond to normal growth signals.

NEW YORK, July 28, 2005 - Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering have identified a set of genes in breast tumors that appear to predict if breact cancer will spread to the lungs and, once there, how virulent it will become.

NEW YORK, June 27, 2005 - According to research published today, investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have used new techniques in the laboratory that allowed them for the first time to derive unlimited numbers of purified mesenchymal precursor cells from human embryonic stem cells (HESCs).

NEW YORK, June 1, 2005 - Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have uncovered the structure of a network of proteins that help regulate the life cycle of cells.

NEW YORK, May 23, 2005 - Three New York City biomedical research institutions -- The Rockefeller University, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) -- will receive $50 million over three years from The Starr Foundation to develop new resources and expertise in stem cell research.