Researchers Thompson, Compton Probe Tumor Suppressor
February 16, 2010
Lebanon, NH
Sarah Thompson & Duane Compton, PhD
Norris Cotton Cancer Center researchers Sarah Thompson and Duane Compton, PhD, continue to make progress in their laboratory's search for ways to exploit chromosomal instability (CIN) in cells to suppress the growth of cancer.
In a study recently published in the Journal of Cell Biology, Compton, Associate Director of Basic Sciences and Director of the Cancer Mechanisms Research Program at the Cancer Center, and Thompson, a graduate student working toward her PhD in the Compton Laboratory at DMS, describe marking a chromosome with a fluorescent trace to show that, unlike aneuploid tumor cells, normal cells fail to grow when they mis-segregate the marked chromosome.
"Aneuploidy arises when chromosomes mis-segregate during cell division and is common in many tumors," Compton says. "The research is important because it could lead to a method for suppressing cancer cell growth."
