Notes from 11/11

Happy Veterans' Day Everyone!
Well today I looked at a presentation that Doctor Willey sent to me; here are my notes about it:

So back in the early 20th century, a biologist by the name of Theodor Boveri hypothesized (and later proved) that all cancers started as one cell. A single cell that accumulates mutations in specific pathways will grow rampantly since it genes are "telling" it to keep dividing and to make more of the cell. The proliferation of cells then causes the classic, wretched symptoms of cancer. The pathways that are affected differ from cancer to cancer and from person to person. A doctor may find the chemotherapeutic drug that's being used might be completely ineffective against a certain type of cancer only after the patient has been on it for a time period. Thus, individualized medicine needs to be developed. Researchers need to develop more accurate biomarkers which can tell which treatment is optimal for each patient so that lives and dollars can be saved.

Some interesting tidbits:

• Lung Cancer remains the top killer among cancers according to the 2013 American Cancer Society Statistics.
• Lung Cancer kills more than Breast, Prostate, and Colon Cancer combined
• Ohio has one of the highest Lung Cancer death rates in the USA, and Northwestern Ohio has the highest death rates in Ohio.

Problems with developing new diagnostic methods:

• Current testing needs to be made less invasive.
• Small needles used for collected samples yield small amounts of samples
• Methods are not sensitive enough

Doctor Willey's lab has developed a 14 gene biomarker test, but it still needs refinement and approval before it becomes operational. This is just a bit of information for those who don't know exactly what I'm working on. Hopefully, more info is coming, so stay tuned!