The Cancer Center at Illinois brings together cancer biologists, clinicians, engineers, and other specialists to accelerate advances in disease detection, prevention, therapy, and improve quality of life for patients.

 

New approach eradicates breast cancer in mice

Researchers discovered a small molecule, ErSO, that eradicates breast cancers in mice by targeting a pathway that protects cancer cells. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer
A new approach to treating breast cancer kills 95-100% of cancer cells in mouse models of human estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers and their metastases in bone, brain, liver and lungs. The newly developed drug, called ErSO, quickly shrinks even large tumors to undetectable levels.

Cholesterol metabolite induces production of cancer-promoting vesicles

Headshot of Erik Nelson
Scientists working to understand the cellular processes linking high cholesterol to breast cancer recurrence and metastasis report that a byproduct of cholesterol metabolism causes some cells to send out cancer-promoting signals to other cells. These signals are packaged in membrane-bound...

Welcome to Professor Nicholas Wu

Headshot of Nicholas Wu.
Professor Wu was one of ten new faculty hires made in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the last three years. Wu is an assistant professor of and is an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.

Meet MCB: Professor Erik Nelson

Headshot of Erik Nelson
Dr. Nelson’s lab focuses on determining how different hormones and metabolite factors impact breast and ovarian cancer progression.

Following Drg: Curiosity Drives Scientist’s Protein Synthesis Research

Hong Jin
Current cancer treatments include drugs that target standard protein synthesis in cells, which can kill cancer cells, but also targets healthy cells. To address this issue, associate professor of biochemistry and Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) member, Hong Jin, is focusing on a non-canonical...