Latest News

A researcher from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center will receive a two-year $100,000 grant by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). The junior faculty career research-training award is only given to one junior faculty physician-scientist a year. The funding gives early career physicians and researchers the opportunity to develop careers and focus on research relevant to radiation oncology, biology or physics.

September 25, 2017 8:00 AM

On Sept. 19, 2017, Dr. Sanaz Memarzadeh, director of the UCLA G.O. Discovery Lab: Gynecologic Oncology Cancer Research Lab and UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center member, was honored for her commitment to ovarian cancer research by the City of Los Angeles. Memarzadeh and the Jonsson Cancer Center were both presented with special recognition during the event, held at Los Angeles City Hall, by council member Paul Koretz.

September 19, 2017 12:00 PM

The brain cancer program at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCLA Brain Tumor Center has been designated a Specialized Program of Research Excellence, or SPORE by the National Cancer Institute, making it one of only five brain cancer programs nationwide to receive this national recognition and substantial research funding.

September 19, 2017 10:00 AM

A UCLA study has uncovered the mechanisms by which treatment-resistant melanoma become vulnerable to cessation of a class of drugs called MAP kinase (MAPK)-targeted inhibitors. By identifying these mechanisms, the scientists discovered that therapeutic benefits for patients could derive from a one-two punch of cessation of MAPK inhibitors followed by a class of drugs called DNA repair inhibitors.

September 18, 2017 12:00 PM

Avon Cares for Life, a program of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated to enhancing the quality of care for uninsured and underinsured patients who have been diagnosed with or are at risk for breast cancer, has received a $650,000 donation from Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.

September 12, 2017 10:00 AM

The University of California’s five academic cancer centers, home to some of the world’s leading scientists and physicians, have formed a consortium to better address California’s most pressing cancer-related problems and opportunities, UC President Janet Napolitano and Dr. John Stobo, executive vice president of UC Health, announced today.

September 11, 2017 10:00 AM

UCLA scientists have initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to test a novel cancer treatment for certain kinds of cancers that have a specific tumor marker called NY-ESO-1. Directed by Dr. Antoni Ribas, the trial is the first to genetically engineer blood-forming stem cells to produce cancer-fighting white blood cells called T cells, which constitute part of the immune system.

September 11, 2017 9:00 AM

A UCLA-led study of changes in gene activity in BRAF-mutated melanoma suggests these epigenomic alterations are not random but can explain how tumors are already developing resistance as they shrink in response to treatment with a powerful class of drugs called MAP kinase (MAPK)-targeted inhibitors.

September 08, 2017 9:00 AM

In a two-year UCLA-led study, nearly two-thirds of people with advanced melanoma responded positively to a treatment that combines the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab with a herpes virus called talimogene laherpareovec, or T-VEC.

September 07, 2017 9:00 AM

In two papers published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute researchers from UCLA, UC Davis and other institutions have found that peripheral neuropathy, which causes pain, numbness, and tingling in hands and/or feet, can bother early-stage breast cancer patients years after completing chemotherapy.

August 29, 2017 9:00 AM

A cancer diagnosis can trigger a sudden and intense investigation into how cancer works--how the disease forms, how it spreads, and how it can be stopped. Cancer patients turn to an ecosystem of care-including support groups, online medical information, and the advice of one’s health care team--for answers that may be critical to their survival.

August 28, 2017 9:00 AM

UCLA researchers have discovered that timing is everything when it comes to preventing a specific gene mutation in mice from developing rare and fast-growing cancerous tumors, which also affects young children. This mutation can also cause a benign tumor condition in humans in adulthood.

August 21, 2017 6:00 AM

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in July suggests that as many as 15 percent of patients who undergo treatment for prostate cancer later regret the treatment they choose. Dr. Christopher Saigal, vice chair of urology at UCLA, is trying to fix that.

August 18, 2017 10:00 AM

Some parents remain hesitant to get their children vaccinated for the human papilloma virus, despite assurances by medical experts that the recommended shots are both highly safe and effective.

August 15, 2017 10:00 AM

UCLA researchers have developed a new approach that could eventually help young people respond better to treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The scientists discovered in mice that when the production of nucleotides is stopped, a “DNA replication stress response” is activated. The replication stress response is a cellular monitoring system that usually senses and resolves DNA damage, but instead allows cancer cells to survive.

August 14, 2017 6:00 AM

Dr. Michael Teitell, a renowned molecular immunologist and biochemist, has been named director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and president of the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation.

August 10, 2017 12:00 PM

Sarcoma is a rare and deadly form of cancer occurring in the bones and connective tissue that affects individuals of all ages. Its aggressiveness, rarity and diversity continue to hinder efforts to identify effective therapies for people with this malignancy. Patient-derived orthotopic xenografts (PDOX) are unique models where a patient’s individual tumor is grown in mice. Such xenografts have long shown great promise in modeling how sarcoma and other cancers can respond to and resist therapies, but their feasibility for use in individual patients in clinical settings remains unknown.

August 04, 2017 1:00 PM

In honor of World Lung Cancer Day, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher Dr. Edward Garon provides an update on the current state of lung cancer research and treatments.

August 01, 2017 6:00 AM

Dr. Nicholas G. Nickols, an attending physician at the West LA VA and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the David School of Medicine, has been awarded the prestigious 2017 VALOR Young Investigator Award by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

July 19, 2017 6:00 AM

As of July 1, 2017 Dr. Patricia Ganz will assume editorial leadership of one of the oldest and most internationally respected oncology journals, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

July 05, 2017 9:00 AM