25. November 2008 15:56
Many scientists like to discuss how each form of cancer is a distinct disease with its own causes and its own treatments. But researcher Hartmut "Hucky" Land, Ph.D., takes the opposite approach: He is hunting for the most basic rules that all cancers share to make good cells go bad.
His unique, far-reaching effort to understand the disease at its roots poses a huge challenge that is matched only by the potential payoff - findings that could lead to new treatments for not just one but many forms of cancer.
The project has taken a big step forward with a $2.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to unravel the gene networks at the heart of colon cancer. The funding will support work for the next five years in the laboratory of Land, who is scientific director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The grant comes on the heels of one of the most important findings Land has made in his three decades as a scientist. Earlier this year in the journal Nature, Land's team demonstrated a promising way to pinpoint the genes that are essential in turning cells from normal to cancerous.
"No matter what type of cancer a person has, a similar program is happening in every cell that becomes cancerous," said Land, who is professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Genetics. "We're trying to figure out that program and then dismantle or destroy it."
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