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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385 News Items found
A doctor examines a mole.
Finding
It's not only what's inside your cells that determines your cancer risk. It's what surrounds them too.
Omar Abdel-Wahab
Feature
The word “epigenetic” literally means “above the genes.” Calico cats demonstrate a type of epigenetic inheritance called X-inactivation.
Large cells filled with yellow-colored fat
Finding
Cancer Cells Eat Fat to Grow and Spread
Research conducted in zebrafish shows that melanoma cells have an affinity for fat, and that eating it makes them more aggressive.
Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of T lymphocyte cells (blue) attached to a red cancer cell.
Finding
A newly identified group of immunosuppressive cells could provide insight into the effects of immunotherapy drugs.
Young girl wearing pink sits with her mother
Feature
Meet the four young ambassadors featured in the annual Stop & Shop campaign to fundraise for the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Blue cells containing small red and green dots on a black background
In the Lab
Multiple copies of a gene called <em>YES1</em> appear to be responsible for certain precision drugs losing their effectiveness.
Bioinformatician Ahmet Zehir stands at a whiteboard
Finding
A blood condition related to aging can lead to misinterpreting tumor data.
Crowded hall with ASCO signage
Roundup
Couldn't make it to the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting this year? Read this summary of some main takeaways.
medical oncologist Larry Norton
Q&A
The findings will change how women with intermediate-risk breast cancer are treated.
Zsofia Stadler presents at the ASCO meeting
Finding
Tumors with a biomarker called high microsatellite instability have been linked to inherited cancer mutations.