Cancer biologists focus on mechanisms that affect the development of cancers (carcinogenesis) and on mechanisms that cause cancer cells to proliferate and spread throughout the organism (cancer biology). Scientists who study carcinogenesis are interested in the cellular mechanisms that lead to mutations or gene rearrangements and how these changes affect the expression of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Cancer biologists are interested in the signal transduction pathways that result in abnormal growth or metastasis.




These pathways include the regulation of genes that control the cell cycle of normal and cancer cells. Dr. Brian Druker has been responsible for the recently developed anti-cancer drug, Gleevec, which has been shown to be an effective therapy for chronic myelogenous leukemia.