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
Proximal tubule of the kidney.
Miniature Device Could Unlock the Promise of Some Kidney Cancer Drugs

Memorial Sloan Kettering scientists have engineered a tiny particle that could ferry drugs directly to the kidneys and prevent their uptake in other organs.
In the Lab
MSK investigators Joan Massagué and Anna Obenauf
Outsmarting Cancer’s Survival Skills

A new study led by MSK investigators reveals how some cancer cells become resistant to targeted treatment and suggests what might be done to stop that from happening.
In the Clinic
CAR T cell therapy
CAR T Cell Therapies Are a Growing Area of Research

Cell therapies that use patients’ own immune cells to attack cancer — including CAR T cell therapy, an approach developed at MSK — are a promising and rapidly growing area of research.
In the Clinic
Pictured: Charles Sawyers
The Evolution of a Lifesaving Drug: A Scientist Reflects

Physician-scientist Charles Sawyers played a pivotal role in the development of Gleevec, one of the first successful targeted drugs for cancer.
In the Lab
Fibrous extensions of a nerve cell (red) and an oligodendrocyte (green) growing on top of the nerve cell
Can Stem Cells Be Taught to Repair a Radiation-Damaged Brain?

In a recent study, Memorial Sloan Kettering scientists used stem-cell engineering to repair brain injuries in rats. The results raise hope for future therapies that could prevent or fix nerve damage in cancer patients who need brain radiation.
Q&A
Epigenetics
Setting Cancer Cells on the Right Path: A New Leukemia Drug Shows Growing Promise

An experimental drug for acute myelogenous leukemia might potentially help many more patients than previously thought by controlling epigenetic processes, according to a recent MSK study.
In the Clinic
New treatments developed at MSK focus on both common and rare cancers.
Report Highlights Advances Made at MSK That Are Changing Patients’ Lives

An annual report from an influential cancer group highlights three MSK studies that have advanced cancer research.
In the Lab
Neurons created from embryonic stem cells
Seeing the Light: How Engineered Nerve Cells Might Curb Parkinson’s Disease

A new tool called optogenetics is revealing clues about the function of a promising experimental therapy derived from stem cells.
In the Lab
Pictured: Viviane Tabar
Investigators Use Stem Cells to Study Rare Pediatric Brain Tumors

Investigators have created the first-ever genetically engineered model of cancer made from human embryonic stem cells in culture.
Finding
MSK investigators Michael Berger and David Solit.
Study Reveals How Some Breast Cancers Become Resistant to Targeted Drugs

A study of one patient’s disease has clarified why tumors stop responding to a class of experimental drugs called PI3K inhibitors.