The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center will launch a new research institute, jump-started with a $10 million gift from West Tennessee businessman Jim Ayers, to develop techniques to detect cancers at their earliest, most curable stages, Vanderbilt officials announced today.

A team of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center physician-scientists gathered with their colleagues here earlier this week to hear, discuss and present some of the latest advances in care for patients with cancer.

Current and former smokers are needed for a new study to determine if screening people with either spiral computerized tomography (CT) or chest X-ray before they have symptoms can reduce deaths from lung cancer.