Recent MSK Discoveries & Advances

Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers are relentlessly exploring every aspect of cancer — from basic investigations of cells and molecules to clinical trials of new treatments and population-wide studies of the disease. While our core mission is to translate this knowledge into new strategies to control cancer, many of our investigators are also making scientific progress against other diseases and conditions.

Below are some examples of discoveries and advances that recently were made in our laboratories and clinics, and featured in our news stories.

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375 News Items found
fluorescent cells
Small Number of ‘Highly Plastic’ Cancer Cells Drive Disease Progression and Treatment Resistance

A small number of cancer cells with the ability to change their identities and behaviors appear to be a key driver of cancer progression and its ability to evolve resistance to treatment, MSK researchers have found in a laboratory study of lung cancer.
Scientific image showing spindle-shaped and round dormant metastatic cancer cells
Dormant Cancer Cells Change Shape To Survive Immune System Attack

New MSK research reveals how dormant metastatic cancer cells protect themselves from the immune system by changing their shape.
microscope image of regulatory T cells
MSK Researchers Solve a Key Colorectal Cancer Mystery

A new MSK study finds that in colorectal cancer, not all regulatory T cells are created equal. One subtype suppresses cancer growth while another aids it. The findings could help improve immunotherapy treatment for the majority of patients with colorectal cancer, and potentially for other cancers.
A researcher points to cells on a screen
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Applauds Highly Cited Researchers 2025

In 2025, MSK was again ranked among the top organizations with the greatest number of highly cited scientific researchers worldwide, according to the annual list of Highly Cited Researchers, published by the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.
Lab member using a next-generation sequencing machine
To Study Treatment Resistance in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, MSK Researchers Develop New Approach

An MSK research team aims to find new ways to stop the most common and deadly form of ovarian cancer — high-grade serous ovarian cancer — from recurring with the help of a method they developed for tracking the evolution of treatment resistant cells in ovarian cancer using blood tests.
Harini Veeraraghavan stands in front of a radiology display
How MSK Doctors Are Using AI To Improve Radiation Treatment

MSK researchers are leading the development of new artificial intelligence (AI) models to improve the targeting of radiation therapy — teaching computers to better isolate tumors and spare more of the surrounding healthy tissue.
A researcher working in an MSK lab
MSK Research Highlights, September 25, 2025

New MSK research highlights the importance of tumor location in metastasis; shows how regulatory T cells work with sensory nerves in the skin to restrain pain and inflammation; explores whether a large language model can adequately summarize cancer patients’ experiences with pain; and finds proton therapy is effective at treating leptomeningeal metastasis.
An MSK researcher points to a scientific image on a screen
MSK Research Highlights, August 8, 2025

New MSK research develops a powerful new resource for studying gene regulation across eukaryotes; uncovers how “jumping genes” can drive cancer growth; describes how an unexpected oxygen sensor regulates ferroptosis; establishes a technique to map chromatin architecture in 3D; creates new models for studying schizophrenia-associated defects; and finds transcription factor 19 is critical for the responses of natural killer cells to viral infection.
In the Clinic
Illustration of brain in green with pons area highlighted in orange.
Latest Research Into DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Treatment Using Novel Drug Delivery Technique

A new drug delivery method could improve treatment of a lethal pediatric brain tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
MSK physician-scientist Vinod Balachandran.
In Early-Phase Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trial, Investigational mRNA Vaccine Induces Sustained Immune Activity in Small Patient Group

Learn how MSK researchers are deploying mRNA vaccines against pancreatic cancer.