Tackling one of medicine’s biggest challenges

People outside and even inside of the Lab are often surprised when they discover how capabilities developed at our Laboratory to support our national security mission have also advanced our understanding of cancer and carcinogens. Our research in this area has grown out of efforts started 60 years ago aimed at understanding how low-level radiation exposure affects humans.

Understanding radiation effects led to our work on the Human Genome Project, where we developed expertise in gene sequencing, along with an extensive gene database. This work positioned us to explore ways to apply our predictive modeling capabilities to study cancer biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics—work that was enabled by the initiation of President Obama’s Cancer Moonshot program in 2016.

Today, our cancer research spans multiple areas. For example, one team studies how cancer metastasizes to bones. Once this occurs, it can be much more challenging to treat the cancer. Another team is exploring the possibility of using biomimetic nanoparticles to combine immunotherapy with chemotherapeutics and improve treatment outcomes.

Many of our cancer researchers leverage the capabilities of LLNL’s National User Resource for Biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (bioAMS), including the unique ability to use isotopic tracers to precisely determine how humans metabolize carcinogens. Teams are applying the Lab’s bioAMS capabilities to study the pharmacokinetic profiles of new drug candidates, as well as how to improve chemotherapeutics via microdosing, which allows researchers to study compounds at ultra-low levels that are not toxic to humans. BioAMS is so sensitive that scientists can use it to measure the number of drug molecules that actually make it to a tumor in animal models.

Learn more about our six decades of cancer research and explore the breadth of research taking place in our Biosciences and Biotechnology Division.

Read about some of our latest collaborative cancer research, including:

• Our partnership with the University of California, Davis, to study the electrical properties of cancer cells and how they contribute to breast cancer metastasis.
• Our multi-institutional collaboration to leverage the power of next-generation supercomputers to model protein interactions and mutations that play a role in many forms of cancer.
• Our collaboration with a University of California, Merced, graduate student to explore how biosensors can improve cancer diagnostic capabilities.