Virtually every advance we have in medicine, virtually everything we do to try to improve outcomes for patients or understand their illnesses comes from clinical trials. So it is really an essential part of moving medicine forward and moving treatments forward to provide better care for patients.
To learn more about clinical trials and the importance of futhering research [go]
The mechanisms controlling how breast cancer develops, spreads to other parts of the body and responds to therapy remain poorly understood, but researchers from the Cornell University College of Engineering and Weill Cornell Medicine hope to change that through the Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism — a new multi-institutional translational research unit to be established with a National Cancer Institute grant.
MD-PhD student Christian Saffran Photo credit: Travis Curry
As an undercover investigator in the New York Police Department's organized crime unit, Christian Saffran had a knack for identifying underlying causes of criminal activity. In a job where being nimble could mean the difference between life and death, he thrived on seeing beyond the obvious to secure arrest warrants and make communities safer.
This clinical trial is for men and women with high-grade gliomas. Glucose (sugar) is thought to be a contributor to tumor growth. The ketogenic diet (a high fat, low carbohydrate diet) and metformin (a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat type 2 diabetes) are both known to lower blood glucose levels.
Many studies are designed for people with specific diseases or conditions. Others are looking for healthy volunteers, and some studies enroll both individuals with diseases/conditions, as well as, healthy volunteers for comparison. Every clinical trial has detailed criteria that determine whether an individual is eligible to participate.
How Are Clinical Trial Participants Protected?
Before joining a study, participants undergo a process of Informed Consent, which includes discussion of the risks and potential benefits of participating in a study.
The institution conducting the research must utilize an Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB is made up of physicians, researchers, and community members. The board reviews every study before deciding if the study can move forward. The main focus of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of study participants. The IRB monitors each study, at least annually, throughout the life of the study.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has strict regulations for the conduct of clinical trials to ensure the protection of study participants.
Two Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have received the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Clinical Investigator Award for 2016 for their innovative research.
A vaccine developed at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian to blunt the effects of cocaine has advanced to clinical trials for testing in humans. After demonstrating that the vaccine prevented cocaine from reaching the brain in earlier animal studies, investigators are now enrolling active cocaine addicts in a Phase I randomized control study to test how it works in people.
At Weill Cornell Medicine, people are the heart and soul of our institution. Our faculty and staff — the physicians, scientists, and administrators who work so hard every day to fulfill our mission to care for patients, discover innovative cures and treatments, and teach the next generation of physicians — make us who we are.
