Cancer

Leora Horn, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of Medicine and clinical director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has received a 2015 Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award (CCITLA) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Beginning this week, Vanderbilt men will have a good excuse to ignore their razors and let their facial hair grow. November has been dubbed “Movember,” a time when men are encouraged to grow a moustache to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

Nearly half of all patients with malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, have a mutation in the BRAF gene found in their tumors. Mutations in the BRAF gene turn on a cancer growth switch known as the MAP kinase pathway.

Bethany Rhoten’s research focuses on issues that few people openly discuss—those surrounding body image and sexuality among cancer survivors.

The second annual Courage Unmasked event to raise awareness about head and neck cancer will be held Friday, Oct. 16, 6 – 9 p.m., at the Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt.

For more than twenty years, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s (VICC) primary source of outside funding has been provided by the National Institutes of Health. But in breast cancer, Susan G. Komen, a nonprofit dedicated to breast cancer research and community services, has been a significant sponsor of research and patient care support.

The glutamine transporter protein appears to contribute to the survival of lung cancer cells, suggesting it may be a useful diagnostic biomarker and target for therapies.