IMPORTANT RESEARCH HAPPENING NOW!
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY GRANTEE, ROSS CAGAN: ON PATH TO SAVE
LIVES, MONEY AND DIMINISH SUFFERING.
The common fruit fly is one of the newest tools in the fight against cancer. With targeted
research and personalized treatment, a fruit fly avatar can be created of a cancer patient,
to best determine the most effective treatment needed, on an individualized, case by
case basis.
For the purposes of fighting cancer and studying disease, fruit flies are quite remarkable, in that they are tiny,
inexpensive to feed and house, and have a short life span (a few days to a week). But most importantly, humans and
fruit flies have similar genes when it comes to how our cells develop and grow and we can take advantage of that to
learn to better treat disease.
Thanks to decades of research progress, scientists can now produce fruit flies with specific genetic mutations. What
this means for cancer research is that scientists can help a diabetic, Stage 4 cancer patient by designing custom fruit
flies with Stage 4 diabetic tumors. With all of these personalized flies, we suddenly have a radical new way of testing
cancer treatments. Scientists can isolate groups of these flies and then use different individual drugs as well as
cocktail combinations of those same drugs to test which treatment is most effective in shrinking that particular tumor.
What this means is that patients can avoid months of experimental treatment regimens with harsh side effects and
experience a better quality of life. Patient outcomes are also better under this new model which offers personalized
care, rather than treating all breast cancers or colon cancers the same way, which can have mixed results. This
revolutionary project was funded by donors from the Great West Division and the American Cancer Society made a
$9.5 million investment in this research to Ross Cagan and his team. This is just one way we are making a difference
and saving lives.
Please watch this amazing video of this breakthrough and lifesaving work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Hjf1Fc2L4
This is possible because of fundraisers and donors like YOU! Thank
you for all you do for the fight against cancer!
Together, we are saving lives faster!
Together, we will FINISH THE FIGHT!
2015 Relay for Life of South Lane County • 17