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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378 News Items found
Jonathan Peled speaks during a press conference
Finding
Gut Microbes May Protect People Having Bone Marrow Transplants

For the first time, researchers have found an association between the makeup of the microorganisms in the body before a bone marrow transplant and a patient’s survival afterward.
scientific image
In the Clinic
Personalized Medicine 2.0: MSK Leads the Way in the Study of Drug Resistance in Lung Cancer

Overcoming resistance to drug treatment for lung cancer is a critical challenge.
A tube of blood superimposed on a lung and a DNA helix
In the Clinic
Liquid Biopsy Is Effective at Guiding Treatment of Lung Cancer, Study Finds

The initial results of an ongoing study show that a liquid biopsy has advantages over a tissue biopsy for people with lung cancer.
An illustration shows Helios, the ancient Greek sun god, unwinding DNA
In the Lab
Something New Under the Sun: Study in Leukemia Finds Role for Helios Protein

MSK researchers have found that a protein that contributes to one type of leukemia when it’s missing can lead to the formation of a different leukemia type when it’s present.
Microscopic image of lymphoma cells stained purple.
In the Lab
Researchers Discover New Strategy for Foiling Drug Resistance in Aggressive Lymphoma

A two-drug combination may hold the key to overcoming resistance in an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
3D organelle
In the Lab
This Newly Discovered Organelle Is Fierce

It’s not every day that scientists discover a new part of the cell. Two biologists from the Sloan Kettering Institute just did.
Confocal microscopic image of mouse lymphedema tissue with staining for immune cells and lymphatic vessels.
In the Lab
Researchers Zero In on the Cause of Lymphedema, a Debilitating Cancer Complication

Learn how an MSK laboratory is bringing much-needed focus to cancer-related lymphedema and investigating new ways to prevent the complication.
Medical oncologist Nai-Kong Cheung
In the Clinic
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Naxitamab for Neuroblastoma

Naxitamab was created at MSK and has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA.
Colored dots (cells) separating through a funnel-like structure.
Finding
Large Study Pinpoints Genetic Changes Underlying Drug Resistance in the Most Common Type of Breast Cancer

Scientists are learning how estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer evolves to thwart hormonal therapies and are developing ways to stop it.
Pancreatic tumor cells
In the Lab
Studying a Forerunner of Pancreatic Cancer Reveals New Clues about How the Disease Develops

This research is important for developing better drugs and screening methods for pancreatic tumors.