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
Kenneth Offit
In the Clinic
Innovative Research Center Will Explore Hereditary Cancer Genes

MSK’s new Robert and Kate Niehaus Center for Inherited Cancer Genomics is using the latest in gene sequencing technologies to discover the inherited causes of cancer.
Hyperpolarized MRI
In the Clinic
Hyperpolarized MRI: A New Tool to Assess Treatment Response within Days

Hyperpolarized MRI could allow doctors to get a read on a tumor’s response to treatment quickly.
Picturing the Body’s Immune Response
Q&A
Understanding the Body’s Immune Response to Inflammation

Cell biologist Philipp Niethammer discusses what the zebrafish can teach us about how the body heals.
Organoid cell structures fluorescing in blue, green, and purple.
In the Lab
Manipulating a Single Gene Turns Colorectal Cancer Cells Back to Normal

For the first time, scientists have shown that the gene APC, which is mutated in the vast majority of colorectal cancers, might be a promising target for future therapies.
Portrait of a live zebrafish with dark patterning around and above the eyes
In the Lab
Uncharted Waters: The Making of a New Cancer Drug

A team of scientists is combining sophisticated chemistry and experiments in zebrafish to develop a new cancer drug that shows early potential against melanoma and metastatic breast cancer.
Proximal tubule of the kidney.
In the Lab
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.
MSK investigators Joan Massagué and Anna Obenauf
In the Lab
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.
CAR T cell therapy
In the Clinic
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.
Pictured: Charles Sawyers
In the Clinic
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.
Fibrous extensions of a nerve cell (red) and an oligodendrocyte (green) growing on top of the nerve cell
In the Lab
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.