International Research Chemistry Awards

  Genetic testing can identify patients with HPV-positive throat cancer who may benefit from lower radiation doses, according to Cleveland Clinic research. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, builds on a growing body of evidence that radiation treatment can be personalized using tumor genomics , potentially shifting treatment approaches from the norm, where radiation is prescribed at a uniform dose, to one called Genomic Adjusted Radiation Dose (GARD), where radiation is prescribed to a desired effect. The current standard radiation dose for HPV-positive throat cancer is 70 Grays (Gy), which offers cure rates between 80% and 95% but can cause long lasting side effects like problems with swallowing and breathing. So far, attempts to lower radiation doses (for example, to 60Gy) have failed in clinical trials. have been no proven strategies for de-escalating the dose, They turned to the genomic-adjusted radiation dose (GARD) model, which Dr. Scott had develo...

  Serine serves as a metabolic nexus in tumors, coordinating one-carbon metabolism, nucleotide synthesis, and redox regulation. In recent years, targeting the serine metabolic pathway, particularly the rate-limiting enzyme PHGDH, has attracted considerable attention as a promising anticancer strategy. Nevertheless, tumor cells preserve serine homeostasis through the coordinated regulation of endogenous synthesis and exogenous uptake, which often limits the efficacy of single-enzyme inhibition approaches. Notably, the function of serine transporters (SerTs) is intimately linked to their nanoscale spatial organization on the plasma membrane. However, owing to the lack of highly specific probes and ultra-resolution imaging techniques, the mechanisms underlying their assembly and functional relevance remain largely unexplored. Researchers from Wuhan University of Science and Technology and the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences have jointly published ...

  Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally, according to the World Health Organization. It accounted for 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths in 2022. Screening, along with early detection and treatment, can greatly improve a patient's chances of survival. But in low- to middle-income countries, many women are not being screened, and they're disproportionately dying from the disease. In new research from Texas McCombs, Anima Nivsarkar, a doctoral student in marketing, uncovers a powerful tool to boost screening: trust. When messages are delivered by trusted and credible sources such as doctors and peers, they increase the likelihood that women will seek potentially life-saving exams. The study began when a primary health care provider in India asked Nivsarkar - with Vedha Ponnappan and Prakash Satyavageeswaran from the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur and Sundar Bharadwaj from the University of Georgia - for help encouraging women to get cervi...

  CAR T cells are patient-derived, genetically engineered immune cells. They are "living drugs" and constitute a milestone in modern medicine. Equipping T cells, a key cell type of the immune system, with a "chimeric antigen receptor" (CAR) enables them to specifically recognize and attack cancer cells. CAR T cell therapy has demonstrated its potential by curing patients with otherwise untreatable blood cancers. But it still fails for most patients, often due to T cell intrinsic dysfunction. To address their current limitations and to make CAR T cells intrinsically stronger, scientists at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Medical University of Vienna have developed a new method for systematic discovery of genetic boosters of CAR T cell function. The new study, published in Nature, introduces CELLFIE, a CAR T cell engineering and high-content CRISPR screening platform, enabling to systematically modify CAR T c...

  A new case report was published in Volume 12 of Oncoscience on September 15, 2025, titled "When strokes reveal a hidden malignancy: An atypical case of metastatic colorectal cancer with extensive thromboembolism." In this case report, Md Tanzim Ahsan from Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) Teaching Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust and Sultana Azreen from Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, describe how a series of unexplained strokes led to the diagnosis of advanced colorectal cancer. The report shows that hidden cancers can sometimes first present through blood clots and strokes, well before any typical cancer symptoms appear. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating cancer as a possible cause of unexplained embolic events, particularly in the absence of traditional stroke risk factors. "Although symptoms raised initial suspicion for vasculitis or autoimmune etiologies due to limb swelling and headache, he did not report associated visual disturbances, nausea, v...

  Gastric cancer often develops through a gradual sequence of changes, beginning with superficial gastritis and advancing through chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and precancerous lesions before culminating in malignancy. Helicobacter pylori infection, responsible for nearly 90% of non-cardia gastric cancers , plays a central role in triggering this cascade. While eradication therapy reduces risk, the molecular events that connect infection to cancer progression remain poorly understood. Previous studies have focused on individual pathways such as inflammation or immune response but lacked an integrated perspective. Due to these challenges, a deeper investigation into the molecular signatures of H. pylori-related carcinogenesis is needed to guide prevention and risk prediction. A research team from Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute and collaborating institutions published (DOI: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2025.0077) their findings on September 2025 i...

  An enhanced computer model is now helping to provide fresh insights into cancer-cell growth and how it can be stopped. The digital cell model represents another step towards individualized cancer treatment. A team led by Christian Baumgartner of the Institute of Health Care Engineering at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) has developed a highly detailed digital twin of the A549 lung cancer cell line. The twin builds on bioelectric processes and calcium dynamics in the cell interior in innovative new ways. Calcium is a vital component in the survival of biological cells. However, if the concentration of calcium within a cell is too high, this can cause cell death - which is what makes the element such an interesting factor in cancer treatment. Created under the DigLungCancer project, the cell model builds on an earlier model from 2021 - regarded as the world's first digital ion current model of a human A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line. The improved model will pave the way ...

  A newly developed molecule brings together two powerful immunotherapy strategies in one treatment. Researchers at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, have demonstrated that this fusion protein can both block the "do not attack" signal used by cancer cells and selectively activate tumor-fighting immune cells. This dual action could pave the way for more effective cancer therapies with fewer side effects. Back in the early 1980s, Linda Taylor, just 33 years old, was diagnosed with advanced skin cancer and faced a grim prognosis. Luckily, she met Dr. Stephen Rosenberg from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who treated her with an experimental approach harnessing the body's own immune system to fight the disease. In 1984, Taylor became the first patient ever to be cured through immunotherapy – a groundbreaking case that forever changed the landscape of cancer treatment. That pioneering therapy relied on interleukin-2 (IL-2)...

  A new study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center shows that the glucose-fructose mix found in sugary drinks directly fuels metastasis in preclinical models of advanced colorectal cancer. The study was published today in Nature Metabolism . What are the key findings of this study? A research team led by Jihye Yun, Ph.D., assistant professor of Genetics, studied how sugary drinks may affect late-stage colorectal cancer. Using laboratory cancer models, they compared the effects of the glucose-fructose mix found in most sugary drinks with those of glucose or fructose alone. Only the sugar mix made cancer cells more mobile, leading to faster spread to the liver - the most common site of colorectal cancer metastasis. The sugar mix activated an enzyme called sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD), which boosts glucose metabolism and triggers the cholesterol pathway, ultimately driving metastasis. This is the same pathway targeted by statins, common heart drugs t...

  As the second leading cause of death globally, cancer is a worldwide health crisis, particularly as life expectancies continue to increase. In its final stages, cancer spreads throughout the body in a process known as metastasis. Here, the cancer cells enter the circulatory system, moving to various distal sites where they cause the formation of new tumors. Metastasis accounts for a vast majority of cancer-related deaths, but the molecular machinery driving this behavior is still poorly understood. The cytoskeleton is a critical component of cancer cell migration and is broadly involved in cell structure and motility. The formation of actin filaments (F-actin), in particular, is a notable driver of cell motility, and the presence of F-actin structures can serve as a biomarker of cell migration. Actin filaments can also be used as an indicator of cell necrosis, as the loss of membrane integrity causes F-actin to become exposed. 3D insights into the behavior of cytoskeletal F-actin...

  A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in the tumor. Every year, nearly two million people worldwide are diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Between 20 and 40 percent develop metastases, which makes the disease both more difficult to treat and more deadly. Previous observational studies have suggested that aspirin may reduce the risk of certain cancers and possibly also the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colorectal cancer harboring mutations in genes within the PIK3 signaling pathway. These genes regulate key cellular processes such as growth and division. When mutated, these processes can become dysregulated, leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation and cancer development. However, prior find...

  A new study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics demonstrates that machine learning models incorporating patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensor data can predict which patients with non–small cell lung cancer are most at risk of needing urgent care during treatment. The study was led by researchers and clinicians at Moffitt Cancer Center. Patients undergoing systemic therapy for non-small cell lung cancer often experience treatment-related toxicities that can result in unplanned urgent care visits. In this study, Moffitt researchers tested whether integrating multiple sources of patient-generated health data including self-reported quality-of-life surveys and wearable device metrics such as sleep and heart rate could improve predictions beyond standard clinical and demographic information. The team used explainable machine learning approaches called Bayesian Networks to build predictive models among 58 patients monitored with Fitbit devices and surveyed through a q...