JCCC Researchers 1st to Identify Protein That Makes Cancer Cells Multiply 

Dr. Jorge Torres discovered that suppressing a newly identified protein vital to cell division stops certain cancer cells from proliferating and kills them quickly. In seeking new targets for anti-cancer therapies, Torres and his team found that depleting the protein, called STARD9, also helped the commonly used chemotherapy drug Taxol work more effectively against certain cancers. Read more. 

Golf Tourney in China Funds Lung Cancer Research

Friends and colleagues of Matt Christiansen, a former Callaway Golf employee who lost his battle with lung cancer in 2009, have raised more than $150,000 in two years through the annual One Ball Matt Memorial Golf Tournament in China. This year's October 31 event raised more than $100,000. In the photo: One Ball Matt representatives with JCCC lung cancer researcher Edward Garon, M.D. (3rd from left). 

Scientists Genetically Engineer Blood Stem Cells to Fight Melanoma

Dr. Jerome Zack and his colleagues have demonstrated for the first time that blood stem cells can be engineered to create cancer-killing T-cells that seek out and attack a human melanoma. The researchers believe this approach could be useful in 40 percent of Caucasians with this malignancy. This study serves as first proof-of-principle that blood stem cells, which make every cell type found in blood, can be genetically altered in a living organism to create an army of melanoma-fighting T-cells.