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
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.
Epigenetics
Q&A
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.
New treatments developed at MSK focus on both common and rare cancers.
In the Clinic
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.
Neurons created from embryonic stem cells
In the Lab
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.