ISB News

Common Immune Response Protective Across Many Diseases

Combined, infection, autoimmunity and cancer account for 40 percent of deaths worldwide and represent major global health challenges. In a Cell Reports paper, ISB researchers detail how the human immune system works in common ways across diseases. Their findings offer promising avenues for exploring multi-disease therapeutic strategies.

In First-of-Its-Kind Trial, Scientists Use CRISPR to Treat Cancer

Scientists for the first time have used CRISPR to substitute a gene to treat patients with cancer. The remarkable findings were published in the journal Nature and presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2022.

Jim Heath AACR Academy Fellow

Dr. Jim Heath Named Fellow of AACR Academy Class of 2022

Dr. Jim Heath was announced as a newly elected Fellow of the American Academy for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy Class of 2022. “I am honored and humbled to be recognized as part of this renowned group of researchers who have done so much to move our understanding of cancer forward,” Heath said.

Dr. Wei Wei and Dr. Xiaowei Yan

A Better Way to Find Circulating Tumor Cells in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Despite the aggressive nature of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), circulating tumor cells that lead to metastases often go undetected in the blood. ISB researchers in Dr. Wei Wei’s lab and their collaborators have developed a novel method to better detect these circulating cells.

Drs. Naeha Subramanian, Leah Rommereim Gilmore, and Ajay Suresh Akhade

Small, Persistent Increase in the Expression of NOD1 May Promote Cancer Risk

ISB researchers have found that a small, persistent increase in the expression of NOD1 could be responsible for higher cancer risks. The research team found that a slight 1.5-fold uptick in NOD1 expression can activate the protein and downstream signaling pathways in a manner similar to vast (30- to 200-fold) overexpression. 

Dr. Andrew Magis

ISB Researchers Identify Signals of Metastatic Cancer Years Prior to Diagnosis

By analyzing blood plasma samples taken at several time points, ISB researchers have identified specific proteins that persistently presented as outliers and signaled metastatic cancer well before patients were diagnosed. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Corresponding author and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath and lead author Dr. Yapeng Su.

For Cancer Cells, There Is More Than One Path to Drug Resistance

In findings published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers show that cancer cells can take more than one path to reach a drug-resistant cell state. These findings could have promising implications for the future of cancer care.

New Method to Detect, Analyze Rare T Cells Another Step Toward Personalized Cancer Vaccines

Members of ISB’s Heath Lab and their collaborators have developed a way to sensitively detect and analyze neoantigen-specific T-cell populations from tumors and blood. This promising development may have implications for creating targeted, individual-specific cancer vaccines.

The Cancer Paradox

ISB’s Dr. Sui Huang uses the theory of complex systems and applies it to cancer research. In this video Q&A, he discusses the cancer paradox and highlights the importance of understanding the mechanism of what cancer treatments can backfire in order to open a new avenue for therapy and treatments.

Dr. Wei Wei Awarded CARE Grant

The Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment (CARE) is a public-private partnership that supports cancer research in Washington state. CARE announced ISB Assistant Professor Dr. Wei Wei as a CARE Fund Distinguished Researcher and awarded him $500,000.

ISB's Dr. Sui Huang Earns Funding to Tackle Cancer's Biggest Questions

ISB’s Professor Sui Huang, MD, PhD, has been announced by Cancer Research UK as a member of a global research team funded through its Grand Challenge competition — an international funding initiative that aims to answer some of the biggest questions facing cancer research.

ISB President Dr. Jim Heath

ISB President Dr. Jim Heath Awarded $750,000 from Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment

The Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment (CARE) announced $750,000 in grant funding for Dr. Jim Heath’s work on proactive cancer immunotherapies for initial and recurrent disease. This is the first stage of a planned longer program led by Jim and ISB, and involving Swedish Cancer Institute, Earl A. Chiles Research Institute in Portland, and UW Medicine.

Dr. Sui Huang

New Principle for Eradicating Cancer: Leave No Dead Cells Behind

Dead cells, or cell debris, generated by treatments intended to eradicate tumor cells actually act as strong stimulators of tumor progression. The findings of ISB cancer biologist Sui Huang, his former mentee and longtime collaborator Dipak Panigrahy at Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues at Harvard Medical School were published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

New Publication in Cell Systems

April 25, 2017 A Cell-Surface Membrane Protein Signature for Glioblastoma 3 bullets: Using integrated protein and gene expression data, ISB researchers developed a 33-gene signature for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma gene signatures are associated with TGF-b signaling and cancer invasion. Researchers think that some of the glioblastoma gene signatures have the potential to be used as blood biomarkers for this aggressive cancer. Read the full summary…

New Baliga Lab Publication in Cell Systems

The Baliga Lab’s Dr. Christopher Plaisier was the lead author of the study “Causal Mechanistic Regulatory Network for Glioblastoma Deciphered Using Systems Genetics Network Analysis” which published online in Cell Systems on July 14. Dr. Plaisier wrote a summary of the research: 3 Bullets: Using data from TCGA and ENCODE, ISB researchers developed integrative database and analysis platforms that provide insight about the underpinnings of glioblastoma multiforme. Researchers developed a…

A Landscape of Pharmacogenomic Interactions in Cancer

The journal Cell published a study today (July 7) about the integrated analysis of drug response in 1,001 cancer cell lines. This study was undertaken by a large international group of researchers including ISB Senior Research Scientist Theo Knijnenburg. The researchers integrated heterogeneous molecular data of 11,215 tumors and 1,001 cell lines in order to study the drug response of these cell lines to 265 anti-cancer drugs. They uncovered numerous…

New Publication in ‘Cancer Cell’

As part of The Cancer Genome Atlas project, the Shmuelvich Lab and colleagues published a paper in the journal Cancer Cell related to the rare cancer adrenocortical carcinoma. Read the summary: 3 Bullets: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, under-researched endocrine cancer with limited therapeutic options and overall poor outcome. TCGA researchers performed comprehensive analysis of 91 ACC samples to gain better understanding of potential genetic causes of the cancer….

Ilya Shmulevich at GCPNext

Using Google Cloud Platform to Give Researchers Easier Access to Cancer Data

ISB’s Dr. Ilya Shmulevich attended Google Cloud Platform’s GCPNext conference in San Francisco and presented on ISB’s Cancer Genomics Cloud project. He explains how his team used GCP to create better access for a broad range of researchers to cancer genomics data (from The Cancer Genomics Atlas) and the tools with which to explore that data. Watch Dr. Shmulevich’s talk below.