An increased understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cancer, cutting-edge technologies, and a seismic cultural shift toward a collaborative team science approach are helping researchers develop novel cancer drugs. Such advancements highlight how innovation and collaboration are inching us toward a cancer-free world.
Advancements in proteomics
Progress in science often occurs due to technological innovations that enable scientists to tackle the same questions more effectively. For example, DNA sequencing used to be a slow and cumbersome process. However, thanks to technological advancements, entire genomes can be sequenced quickly and cheaply.
Just as innovations in DNA sequencing transformed genetics, mass spectrometry has revolutionized the field of proteomics. Proteomics studies the full set of proteins a cell, tissue, or organism expresses allowing scientists to uncover how protein changes are linked to diseases like cancer. Mass spectrometry allows researchers to identify and quantify protein molecules by their unique masses, specifically their ionized mass-to-charge ratio (m/z), which is crucial for understanding drug interactions and improving their therapeutic effectiveness.
Stanford Cancer Institute associate director of Cancer Drug Discovery Nathanael Gray, PhD, states, “Fundamentally, mass spectrometry identifies molecules based on their weight. It achieves extraordinary accuracy, down to many decimal points. Imagine sorting through a piggy bank filled with the coin currency of every nation on earth—mass spectrometry can similarly distinguish between different molecules in complex mixtures. In a cellular context, mass spectrometry can quantify all the proteins within a cell, revealing changes in their abundance and shedding light on cellular processes.”
Gray is organizing the Stanford Cancer Institute’s Advances in Mass Spectrometry Enabled Drug Discovery Symposium on October 29, 2024. This collaborative event will bring together experts in academia and industry to explore current challenges, opportunities, and recent achievements across diverse applications in drug development.
“The symposium will feature major players in the field. The event is for anyone wondering how mass spectrometry can be better implemented in their research,” Gray affirms.
Reaching across the research spectrum
Driven by curiosity, basic scientists search for insights into underlying cancer biological processes and mechanisms. Their discoveries have informed new generations of cancer therapeutics, but decades can pass before this happens.
“Basic researchers often underestimate how complicated things get when you try to translate discoveries into the clinic. How seemingly simple things that you can control well in the laboratory become much more difficult to do in patient care or even a clinical trial setting,” explains Gray.
Translational researchers transform basic scientists' discoveries into tangible health benefits by conducting preclinical studies, and clinical researchers evaluate the safety and efficacy of new drugs by directly testing them on human participants.
Traditionally, these three types of researchers have operated in silos, often speaking entirely different scientific languages. The Stanford Cancer Institute is working toward changing this narrative by fostering a culture of collaboration across the research spectrum to improve patient outcomes through drug discovery.
Team sport
Stanford has a rich history of excellence in basic research and has historically been structured on the principal investigator model, where leading researchers and their teams push the boundaries of knowledge.
“In biomedical research, the focus is often very much on individual achievement. However, to realize progress in translational research, it's really a team sport. We have a lot of cultural changes that need to happen to go all the way back to undergraduate training. We need to help people feel pride in mutual outcomes,” says Gray.
The Stanford Cancer Institute understands an interdisciplinary approach to addressing complex scientific problems is the most effective approach. Stanford is working to facilitate novel drug discoveries by leveraging the strengths and expertise of individuals from different fields and fostering a culture of shared goals.
Two major Stanford initiatives, the Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA) and the SPARK program in translational research, are driving the advancement of new medicines across the academia, pharmaceutical, and biotech sectors. With access to the world’s biomedical science community, the IMA helps fast-track the prototyping of new medicines and supports patient-facing studies that inform the development of these medicines. SPARK bridges the gap between discovery and drug treatment through a unique partnership between university and industry experts. Both programs provide Stanford researchers with indispensable advice, expertise, and financial resources to move their projects forward.
Steven Artandi, MD, PhD, director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, affirms, “Together, these efforts will enable us to begin to discover the newest medicines that we can bring to patients to cure patients with cancer.”
