Director’s message

Dear Reader,

In this issue of Synthesis, we highlight remarkable achievements by our incredible team at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center to optimize care for people with cancer, train the next generation of cancer researchers and deploy high-tech, leading-edge research tools. Ultimately, we envision that these efforts will reduce the cancer burden in our community and beyond.

Our cover story spotlights the cancer center’s Supportive Oncology Program, which promotes exceptional palliative care. The program offers patients professional support to manage pain, stress and other challenges at any point during the cancer journey. You will learn that palliative care is not just confined to the end of life but is a critical component of a patient’s overall treatment plan, regardless of cancer stage.

Also in this issue of Synthesis, we’ll tell you about Cancer Biology, a popular undergraduate science class at UC Davis, and its role in helping secure the pipeline for cancer researchers. This class builds a solid foundation in biology for our young researchers, allowing them to develop the skillset to methodologically study and solve the cancer problem.

We will introduce you to UC Davis biomedical engineer Steven George, whose laboratory at UC Davis is creating a novel platform for determining whether a certain drug against breast cancer will be effective for a specific patient’s tumor. George explains this “tumor-on-a-chip” technology and how it may help personalize cancer treatment.

Taking innovative ideas from the laboratory to the clinic is an essential part of what we do at UC Davis. On the hunt for new agents against advanced prostate cancer, researcher Allen Gao found promise in an old tapeworm drug, niclosamide. Today, Gao is collaborating with oncologist Chong-xian Pan on the clinical trial of a drug that has proven to be effective not only in the laboratory but, remarkably, in the clinic.

We are happy to present these and other stories in this issue of Synthesis. If you have any suggestions for future editions, please contact our editor, Dorsey Griffith, at dgriffith@ucdavis.edu.