Cancer Community - Stephen Ornes

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Lung Cancer Biology Differs by Race, Study Shows

Cancer Community, cancer research, clinical trials, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

Research findings could help improve personalized treatments for lung cancer patients. ALL CANCEROUS TUMORS contain cells that divide rapidly. There are many genetic mutations and proteins that can cause tumor cells to grow uncontrollably. A recent study suggests there are racial differences in tumor biology—a finding that might help scientists develop better personalized cancer treatments. The […]

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Recognizing AI’s potential

biology, Cancer Community, computer science, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

FOR MORE THAN a century, pathologists have identified cancer by looking at slides containing tissue stained with dyes to make the malignant cells more visible. Spotting aberrant cells among healthy ones is similar in spirit to recognizing familiar faces or objects in pictures. “Our brains are very good at recognizing patterns in images,” says physician and

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Searching Blood for Cancer Clues

biology, Cancer Community, Recent Work, Tech / Stephen Ornes

ONCE A MONTH, 40-year-old Kristen Kilmer drives nearly 400 miles from her home in Spearfish, South Dakota, to the Avera Cancer Institute in Sioux Falls. On some mornings, she leaves as early as 1:30 a.m. after kissing her sleeping 11-year-old daughter goodbye. Without traffic or inclement weather, it’s a six-hour haul from one side of the

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Targeting brain cancer

biology, Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

Seven years after her brain cancer diagnosis, Liz Salmi decided she wanted to know more about the makeup of the tumor that changed her life. Salmi had already undergone two surgeries to remove the grade II astrocytoma, an invasive but usually slow-growing brain tumor. After her second surgery, she was treated with Temodar (temozolomide), a chemotherapy drug, for two

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Vaccines: Looking Within for Cancer Treament

Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

It’s been 10 years since Tom Liebert received an experimental cancer vaccine to treat his multiple myeloma, and he still wonders: Did it work? The question nags at him, but not always. After all, he’s still alive and singing with a barbershop quartet in Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. And while he knows multiple myeloma is currently

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Seeking a Second Opinion

Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

In November 2012, when she was 52 years old, Shannon Semple was diagnosed with a disease she didn’t have. She credits getting a second opinion with saving her life. Semple, a physician assistant at a regional hospital in New Bern, North Carolina, had developed a persistent fever and high blood pressure. She spent a few

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Making a match

Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

In the summer of 2012, Carole Baker’s oncologist told her she was eligible to join a clinical trial just getting underway after earlier treatments for her stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had failed to stem the disease. Baker, 55, a learning specialist and mother of three school-age children, was being treated at Memorial

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The Riddle of Bacteria and Cancer

Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

The human body teems with bacteria. These micro-organisms live on the skin, in mucus membranes, on the eyes and in the gut, among other places. The large intestine alone hosts up to 1,000 different species. According to a study published in the January 28, 2016, Cell, an average human hosts about as many bacterial cells

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The Power of 1

biology, Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

Kent Haffer remembers when his oncologist approached him with an unusual idea. It was 2013, and Haffer, a 55-year-old computer programmer living in St. Peters, Missouri, had been receiving treatment for advanced melanoma for eight years. His oncologist proposed that Haffer be part of a clinical trial, but not one involving hundreds of people. Instead,

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A Desire to Help

Cancer Community, Recent Work / Stephen Ornes

Children can be many things. Joyful, energetic and exasperating. Curious, playful and sad. For P.J. Lukac, who is finishing his pediatrics residency at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, children are also a source of inspiration and hope. “They’re a joy to work with, and theymake me laugh,” says the 30-year-oldpediatrician of the children under his care. “Even

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