Tagged: roswell park

Can a vaccine treat cancer?

That’s the question behind new clinical tests, soon to begin at Buffalo’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

The medicine in question is not your average vaccine: Each dose is customized for each cancer patient.

Researchers will draw healthy cells from each study participant, attach a specialized protein in a sterile lab environment and then inject the mixture, now known as a dendritic cell vaccine, back into the body.

“You can see that these cells now come back. They have memory. They’re able to remember that cancer cells are bad. They need to be destroyed. They need to be killed,” says Kunle Odunsi, chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology.

Beyond the words of Governor’s Andrew Cuomo’s blustering budget speech is the fine print of the actual spending proposal.

Hospital and research hub Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) is set to receive $100 million in 2012 if Cuomo’s budget is enacted as is. But this year, the funds come with a catch.

According to Cuomo’s budget, RPCI should “expand its collaboration in the Buffalo region … to allow for a transition from state support” by the end of March 2014.  

In other words, RPCI will have to wean itself off state funding in just a few years.

Today in your Trail Mix:

Fighting the state deficit.

Medical research in Rochester - and medical research drama in Buffalo.

Plus: A beer boom in Binghamton.

It looks like an arcade game, with a 3-D, high definition screen and two arms to manipulate the action.  It's a visceral, bloody environment - where newbies can make their mistakes without killing anyone.

Meet RoSS, the Robotic Surgical Simulator.

About a year ago, cigarette packs changed again. Terms like “light,” “low” and “mild” were banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

Now, studies at Roswell Park Cancer Institute are showing tobacco companies are finding ways around the new restrictions.