Louise Showe Foremost in advancing cancer research is the recent mapping of the human genome. Genomics and proteomics make it possible to isolate tumor samples with precision and evaluate the global changes in gene expression that occur in tumors. Also impacting the field is an improved understanding of the cell cycle, cell motility, signal transduction, and gene expression, all central processes that are disturbed in cancer cells. According to Showe, tissue and protein arrays are among other important advances that are affecting cancer research and changing the way scientists analyze disease. Tissue arrays can be used to analyze tumor specimens for a particular expressed gene and to determine the mechanisms of the action of drugs at the level of gene expression or function.
Protein arrays allow gene expression analysis on the scale of a few or single cells.
The technologic advances have created opportunities for scientists interested in cancer research. Expertise in areas as varied as genetics, immunology, molecular biology, electron microscopy, structural biology and X-ray crystallography, is applicable to cancer research today. For example, advances in cell cycle understanding have created fresh opportunities for cell biologists working on cancer. And genomics and proteomics particularly highlight the need for biologists and other life scientists with strong computational skills, including a familiarity with bio-informatics and statistics. Both Showe and Beckerle note a growing interest within cancer research in identifying new compounds with health-related functions in the natural environment as well as in the laboratory.