Molecular Testing in Breast Cancer: Will it Become Standard Practice?

How has gene expression profiling impacted the way we diagnose and treat breast cancers? Kimberly Allison, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology at the University of Washington discusses how research using gene expression signatures have been used to identify specific subtypes of breast cancer and how these are integrated into traditional classification schemes. In addition, we will explore the development of clinically available gene expression array-based tests that are designed to give prognostic and predictive information tailored to individual breast cancer patients and discuss current limitations of these tests

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is the most common form of leukemia found in adults in the Western world. Leading CLL researcher Dr. Thomas Kipps discusses the latest in the course of the disease including: symptoms, causes, and risk factors. Dr. Kipps also highlights discoveries made in his lab that may lead to developing new therapies to treat this disease.

Global Inequalities implications for research, practice and policy

Michael Marmot was born in London, England. He moved to Australia as a young child and graduated in Medicine from the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1968. He earned a MPH in 1972 and PhD in 1975 from the University of California, Berkeley. He became Fellow of the (English) Faculty of Public Health Medicine in 1989 and was appointed Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL in 1985. This became a joint Chair, held at UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in 1990. He became Director of the International Centre for Health and Society (now the International Institute for Society and Health) that he established at UCL in 1994. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and awarded an MRC Professorship in 1995. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1996. In 2004 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Epidemiology. He was Chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health from 2005 to 2008.

Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection

Skin cancers -- including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma -- are on the rise, but using sunscreen liberally and limiting exposure to the sun can help prevent them, says Isaac Brownell of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Regular self-examination of your skin, including a yearly dermatology checkup, is the best way to identify skin lesions that may be cancerous. Diagnostic tools such as dermoscopy and confocal microscopy provide detailed images of skin lesions, which may help detect skin cancers and avoid unnecessary biopsies of non-cancerous lesions.

Molecular Assays for Colorectal Cancer Care

Molecular assays for risk stratification for cancer and for the early detection of cancer are currently being developed and are beginning to be used in clinical care. Likewise, molecular assays are being developed as predictive and prognostic markers for cancer. The state-of-the art of currently available risk stratification assays and molecular screening assays for colorectal cancer will be discussed. Current developments in the generation of predictive and prognostic markers for colorectal cancer will also be discussed. Finally, future directions for molecular assays for colorectal cancer will be reviewed.

Functionalizing the Cancer Genome

Using Dendritic Cells to Create Cancer Vaccines

Edgar Engleman, MD, medical director of the Stanford Blood Center, discusses his research involving the use of a special type of white blood cell as a treatment for cancer. Engleman, who is also a professor of pathology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and his team of researchers have been interested in dendritic cells, or DCs, which can provoke an immune response in the body

Cell Biology: How Do Cells Make Decisions?

The moderator is Marc Kirschner, PhD, John Franklin Enders University Professor of Systems Biology, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard University; the speaker is Richard Losick, PhD, Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University; and panelists are Hana El Samad, assistant professor, Biochemistry & Biophysics, UC Berkeley/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering; and Jonathan Weissman, PhD, professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF.

Research Mechanics: Putting the Brakes on Cancer

In this Howard Hughes Medical Institute program, Bert Vogelstein, professor of oncology and pathology at Johns Hopkins University, explains that although there are numerous kinds of cancer, all stem from alterations that allow cell division to outstrip cell demise. Cancers are caused by an accumulation of mutations that alter the activity of genes involved in controlling cell birth, growth, and death. Some of these errors are inherited, but most occur after birth, triggered by environmental carcinogens or by mistakes during cell division. If cancer is likened to a car speeding out of control, cancer-causing mutations are like broken brakes, a stuck accelerator, or an inept mechanic.

Cancer: How Do We Prevent Metastasis?

In this lecture, titled "Cancer: How Do We Prevent Metastasis?," the moderator is Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, MD, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the speaker is Joan Massagué, PhD, chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute; and panelists are Zena Werb, PhD, professor and vice chair, Department of Anatomy at UCSF, and Marc Shuman, MD, professor of medicine and of urology, and Cancer Research Institute at UCSF.