Welcome to the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center

Duke cancer biologists are turning their attention to the normal cells that give rise to cancers, to learn more about how tumor growth might be stopped at the earliest opportunity. "Identifying the specific, normal cells that cancers come from can provide critical insight into how cancers develop," says Duke Cancer Center member Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD. "This may help us develop more rational and effective approaches to treatment." Every cancer comes from a normal cell. The hard part is finding the cell at the root of each particular subtype of cancer. For the first time, the Duke team has identified two types of cells in the brain that can give rise to the malignant brain tumor medulloblastoma. The study was published in Cancer Cell.

Pictured: Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD