News

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) has established The Society of Huntsman Translational Scholars, an initiative that recognizes excellence in the discipline of translational science. Translational researchers extend basic discoveries made in the laboratory and apply them to solve clinical problems and benefit patients through new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

When construction is complete in 2021, Huntsman Cancer Institute will implement the latest advance in proton therapy, called intensity-modulated proton therapy. Proton therapy is the favored approach for many tumors in and around vital structures such as the spinal cord and brain stem. It is also the preferred treatment for certain childhood cancers. We are committed to bringing cutting-edge care to our patients, and proton therapy will be the next step in that promise.

New research published in Nature Communications from scientists at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, in collaboration with the Stanford University School of Medicine, shows a specific protein regulates both the initiation of cancer spreading and the self-renewal of cancer cells in medulloblastoma, a type of pediatric brain cancer.

Huntsman Cancer Institute began in 1995 with an empty lot and a dream full of promise. Twenty-two years later, HCI opened a major expansion that doubled its research capacity.

SALT LAKE CITY—More than 4,000 children and teens are diagnosed with brain cancer each year and the disease kills more children than any other cancer. Writing this week in the journal Cell Reports, researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah report they have identified an existing group of drugs that appear to reduce or eliminate a certain subgroup of childhood brain cancers while sparing normal brain tissue. The research was conducted using a new zebrafish animal model system developed by the researchers, which closely resembles an aggressive subtype of pediatric brain tumors.

Children with cancer have a good chance of surviving the disease—today more than 80% survive due to advances in treatment and care. However, recent studies have shown that some of these more than 420,000 U.S. childhood cancer survivors face future health related challenges as they become adults such as a second cancer diagnosis, cardiac failure, or other severe medical complications.