One of the world’s largest cancer research organizations is getting together with Oregon Health & Science University to work on the detection of cancer before it grows too large.
Cancer Research UK and the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU have agreed on specific research goals: To better understand the biology of cancers early in their development, and to create better technologies to detect them.
OHSU's Dr. Brian Druker said the earlier the disease is diagnosed, the better a patient’s chance of survival.
“We’re trying to distinguish between growths that don’t need intervention from growths that would potentially kill somebody or lethal malignancies," he said. "We’re trying to be much more accurate or precise in our detection of early cancers.”
Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny, stunned fundraisers last year with a $1 billion cancer challenge, offering to contribute half the money if OHSU could raise the rest. Through an extensive fundraising campaign, and a contribution of $200 million from the state of Oregon, the university reached its goal.
Now that money has been raised, hundreds of scientists are in the process of being hired to expand OHSU's research.