Breast Cancer

A recent study by a team of researchers at Vanderbilt University found that response to radiation therapy for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)—one of the most aggressive forms of the disease—may contribute to tumor recurrence. Marjan Rafat Marjan Rafat, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, explained that radiation… Read More

Recent research links post-radiation inflammation to TNBC patient outcomes Marjan Rafat, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been awarded a Young Investigator Grant by the Breast Cancer Alliance. The two-year, $125,000 award will allow Rafat and her research group to investigate how radiation influences tumor and immune cell… Read More

Immunotherapies that take off the “brakes” on the adaptive anti-tumor response have worked well in melanoma and lung cancer but less so in breast cancers. That could change. A Vanderbilt team led by John Wilson, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Rebecca Cook, associate professor of cell and… Read More

A Vanderbilt engineering researcher has shown that combining an enhanced vibrational spectroscopy technique with tagged gold nanostructures can detect important tumor immunomarkers – a significant step toward predicting which patients would benefit from immunotherapy. The study by Rizia Bardhan, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, involved breast tumors… Read More

The regimen is all too familiar for those battling breast cancer and for their loved ones: tough rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. The patient goes on to live a long, cancer-free life when that regimen works. Marjan Rafat… Read More

Sema Sevimli A postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was recently awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant from the Susan G. Komen organization to develop new approaches to combat breast cancer recurrence Sema Sevimli, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia,… Read More

One of the tragic realities of cancer is that the drugs used to treat it are highly toxic and their effectiveness varies unpredictably from patient to patient. However, a new “tumor-in-a-dish” technology is poised to change this reality by rapidly assessing how effective specific anti-cancer cocktails will be on an… Read More

Ph.D. biomedical engineering candidate Alex Walsh and colleagues are studying new imaging techniques to distinguish breast cancer subtypes and determine if specific therapies are working against cancer cells. (photo by John Russell) A group of Vanderbilt researchers has used laser technology and a custom-built multiphoton… Read More