Pediatric Cancer
“The fundamental question of cancer biology has always been the same: ‘What makes a cancer cell a cancer cell?’ And we are closer to answering this than ever before. It’s a historic time. It’s the molecular era. This machine takes cells from tumors and breaks them into individual molecules. Millions of molecules per second pass through this machine, and we analyze all of them. We’re looking for the molecule that does not belong. If we find it, we can target it. And if we can target it, we can eliminate the cancer cells that depend on it. Cancer biologists have already discovered this molecule in certain types of blood cancer. This is not an overstatement. Today, with certain groups of patients, we can achieve cure.”
“In the movies, scientists are portrayed as having a ‘eureka moment’—that singular moment in time when their faces change and they find the answer. In practice, research is a lot of persistence and teamwork. So it’s hard to say what a ‘eureka moment’ would look like in my research. Maybe it’s when I’m finally able to look patients and parents in the eye and say with confidence that we have what’s needed to cure them. All oncologists hunger for that knowledge. We want to take this impenetrable mass of data and finally reach the point where we never have to give another 'percent chance of survival.' Because that chance will always be one hundred percent."
More from this series
