October 18, 2007--An RPB-supported researcher and a team of investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have identified the cell that gives rise to the eye cancer retinoblastoma, disproving a long-standing principle of nerve growth and development. The finding suggests for the first time that it may one day be possible for scientists to induce fully developed neurons to multiply and coax the injured brain to repair itself.
In 2006, the same researcher, Michael A. Dyer, Ph.D., an RPB Career Development Award recipient, reported a breakthrough in the treatment of retinoblastoma. The new chemotherapeutic approach greatly reduces the size of tumors, allowing patients to save the affected eye, without causing side effects associated with standard chemotherapy.
