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QUOTESSpeaking of Science
© ISTOCK.COM, WAYRAWith the delay in diagnosis and treatment of
life-threatening illnesses—including cancer—
during the pandemic, this moonshot is a long
shot.... Biden’s efforts to decrease cancer
deaths will need to go hand-in-hand with
better control of future COVID surges and
keeping our healthcare system afloat. Biden’s
cancer moonshoot demands a COVID moon-
shoot as well.
—Susannah Hills, an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck
surgery at Columbia University, writing in The Hill about COVID-19–related
challenges to a reignited effort to conquer cancer (February 22)When researchers are not aware of the Observer
Effect, experimental results may be strongly influ-
enced by unappreciated and undesirable effects on
the underlying biology that are generated by the very
tools used to facilitate the observation, resulting in
published results that are unintentionally distorted.
—Chi-Ping Day et al., National Cancer Institute scientists, writing in a March 14
Cancer Cell commentary about recent findings indicating that the use of
widely employed research tools, such as green fluorescent protein and Cas9,
can interfere with various aspects of tumor biologyMost studies focus on positive correlations
between the microbiome and cancer out-
comes. This work focused on negative cor-
relations of the microbiome with cancer,
and suggests that in some conditions, the
constituency of the microbiome may have
a negative impact.
—Tracy McGaha, a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto and
coauthor of a study recently published in Immunity that suggests Lactobacillus
bacteria, common members of the human gut microbiome, may interact with
macrophages to spur tumor growth (Medical News Today, February 23)I hope that [in] 2022 we see a real uplifting and rise
of more Black professionals in all professions so that
our young children in the high schools and elementary
schools can see that.
—Juliet Daniel, a cancer researcher at McMaster University in Ontario who
studies triple-negative breast cancer and cofounded the Canadian Black
Scientists Network (CBC, February 18)Because of recent progress in cancer
therapeutics, diagnostics, and patient-
driven care, as well as the scientific
advances and public health lessons of
the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s now pos-
sible to set ambitious goals: to reduce
the death rate from cancer by at least
50 percent over the next 25 years, and
improve the experience of people and
their families living with and surviving
cancer—and, by doing this and more,
end cancer as we know it today.
—The Biden-Harris Administration, in a White House statement entitled “Fact
Sheet: President Biden Reignites Cancer Moonshot to End Cancer as We Know It”
(February 2)