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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374 News Items found
In the Lab
Bees in a hive
Communal Behavior within Cells Makes Cancers Easier to Target

Findings about proteins called molecular chaperones are shedding new light on possible approaches to cancer treatment.
Q&A
Chau Dang
What You Should Know about Metastatic Breast Cancer

Medical oncologist Chau Dang explains that patients living with metastatic breast cancer have more treatment options than ever before.
Snapshot
Cell Therapy and Cell Engineering Facility
T Cell Attack: Taking Down Cancer with Immunotherapy

MSK physician-scientist Prasad Adusumilli is focused on developing more-effective immunotherapy approaches for treating tumors in the chest.
In the Lab
Illustration of CAR T cells with conveyor belts leading out of them carrying HVEM protein in tablet form.
New Immunotherapy Approach Turns Cells into “Micro-Pharmacies”

A new immunotherapy approach involves engineering CAR T cells to produce proteins that treat lymphoma.
Finding
Nadeem Riaz and Timothy Chan
Gene Discovery Could Lead to More-Personalized Treatment with Immunotherapy

Researchers have found two gene mutations that many exceptional responders to ipilimumab have in common.
In the Lab
Scott Lowe and Neal Rosen
Knocking Out KRAS-Mutant Cancers with a One-Two Punch

A new approach aims to combine two existing targeted therapy drugs to attack lung cancer and pancreatic cancer with mutations in the hard-to-target gene KRAS.
Q&A
MSK Surgeon John Healey
What’s New in Osteosarcoma and Other Bone Cancers

Learn more about how MSK is developing new treatments for osteosarcoma and other bone cancers.
In the Lab
Electronic microscope enlargement of macrophage cell (tinted green)
Origin Story: Finding on Macrophage Development Challenges Long-Held View

A surprising finding challenges long-held dogma about how certain immune cells develop into specialized types in diverse tissues.
Snapshot
Seven-day old mouse embryo
Picturing How Cells Communicate

Developmental biologists are studying mouse embryos under the microscope to understand how embryonic cells communicate with one another.
Feature
rod-shaped bacteria
Microorganisms in the Gut Can Affect Cancer Outcomes

Discover how microbiome research is revealing the role that bacteria play in cancer treatment.