October 25, 2018 10:05 pm

Explore the Bleeding Edge of Cancer Research with 2018 Nobel Laureate Jim Allison

It was merely three weeks ago that the 2018 Nobel Prize winners were announced and Dr. Jim Allison’s research was recognized as a landmark discovery in the fight to cure cancer. Jim, the Chair of Immunology and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, researched ways in which the body harnesses the immune system to attack cancer cells, as did Japan’s Tasuku Honjo, his fellow laureate. And, it just so happens that Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice sat down with Jim just after he had won the Nobel Prize to answer fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about curing cancer.

You’ll hear more about Jim’s research and the development process of harnessing the immune system to attack tumors, including testing done with mice. Investigate the process of getting a treatment approved by the FDA and find out about some of the backlash they received. You’ll also learn if there are processes being developed to try and prevent cancer from happening in the first place alongside research to combat it.

After that, we dive into the Cosmic Queries with a question that might be overlooked by some, but not our curious audience: What is cancer, anyway? As Jim says, we don’t exactly have the full picture, but you’ll learn why he describes it as a “social disease”. Find out if there can ever be a universal cure for all types of cancer, and whether gene-editing and CRISPR can be used to help cure cancer.

Discover more about dealing with genetic predispositions towards the cancer disease and if there is any research on the horizon to try and predict or determine which people are more likely to be exposed. We also look at the applicability of nanotechnology to cancer research and treatment.

You’ll also hear if there are any cancer treatments that derive from cannabis use. We explore cryosurgery and if it’s a plausible option to treat cancer. Then, we ponder if humans could ever evolve, in a Darwinian sense, out of cancer. Jim tells us how we can use cancer cells from patients to study and enhance treatments. All that, plus, Neil shares a cosmic perspective on the interdisciplinary nature of science.

Please join us tomorrow night for Curing Cancer, with 2018 Nobel Laureate Jim Allison at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen