A single breakthrough can change everything. In the 1960s, Michigan State University researchers discovered cisplatin, one of the world’s most effective cancer-fighting drugs, with support from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. It transformed treatment for millions of patients and launched a wave of Spartan-led research that’s still saving lives today. From understanding the origins of cancer to engineering precision therapies, MSU scientists continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the fight against this disease.

More than 250 researchers with Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences are working on solutions for better diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients. They bring together diverse expertise across disciplines and, often, one advancement contributes to another. This is the beauty of discovery. Many of these researchers receive funding from federal agencies as well as other sources.

Improving the outlook for pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with an average survival of just nine months after diagnosis. Roughly 66,000 people are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. To change this grim outlook, researchers from Henry Ford Health and MSU have joined forces to improve diagnosis and treatment.

Jennifer Klomp (right), assistant professor, College of Human Medicine, and Howard Crawford, senior researcher at Henry Ford Health. Courtesy photos

“When I started as a pancreatic cancer researcher in 2017, the goal was to get five-year survival rates into double digits,” says Jennifer Klomp, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in the MSU College of Human Medicine. “Now we’re at 13%, and I think that number is going to increase significantly, very quickly.”

Klomp works with fellow MSU researcher and husband Jeff Klomp as part of a wider effort led by Howard Crawford, a senior researcher at Henry Ford Health who created a research team focused on pancreatic cancer. Together, the researchers are studying how cancer cells communicate and are focusing on RAS, a gene known to drive cancer. Although RAS has been a challenging target for drugs, new RAS inhibitors are showing promising results, shrinking tumors and potentially making surgery possible for some patients.

The collaboration also includes a large, diverse biobank of blood and tumor samples, helping researchers worldwide. With these joint efforts and cutting-edge research, the outlook for pancreatic cancer patients is becoming more hopeful, and the team believes major improvements in survival rates are on the horizon.

This research is funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.   

Read more on MSUToday.

Driving early advances in brain cancer treatment

“Non-cancerous cells are going the speed limit,” says Charles “Chaz” Hong, chair of the Department of Medicine in MSU’s College of Human Medicine. “A cancerous cell is going 100 miles per hour and has turbo drive. We’ve discovered a mechanism to target the turbo drive and turn it off. And it seems to stop cancer cells in their tracks.”

Charles Hong, chair of the Department of Medicine at MSU College of Human Medicine. Courtesy photo

Hong and his team discovered a compound that may hold the key to improving the prognosis for glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. In 2023, nearly 15 million Americans were diagnosed with glioblastoma, which has a five-year survival rate of just 6.9%. 

“We found that GPR68, an extracellular proton sensing receptor, detects pH drops in tumors, triggering pathways that promote cancer cell survival and growth and help them dodge anticancer treatments,” Hong says. “We also identified a compound, dubbed Ogremorphin, that blocks GPR68 and destroys cancer cells.”  

Hong is hopeful that the discovery of Ogremorphin is a step toward a future where glioblastoma — and potentially other forms of cancer — are manageable diseases. 

“We can potentially keep glioblastoma in check and transform the definition of the disease from a fatal condition to something that you simply live with, or even cure,” he says. 

This research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Read more on MSUToday.

Destroying breast cancer with “smart” bomb therapy

MSU researchers have developed a new “smart” treatment that uses light to destroy aggressive breast cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, in 2025 nearly 317,000 women and 2,800 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Additionally, roughly 60,000 new cases of noninvasive breast cancer will be diagnosed.

“Our work offers an effective treatment for aggressive breast cancers,” says Amir Roshanzadeh, a graduate student at MSU who is part of the research team. “It also opens the door to breakthroughs for treating additional cancers and targeted drug delivery.” 

The research team also included Sophia Lunt, an MSU professor in biochemistry and molecular biology in the College of Natural Science; Richard Lunt, an MSU professor and Johansen-Crosby Endowed Professor in Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering; and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Riverside.

The team created special light-sensitive chemicals called cyanine-carborane salts. These are used in a method called photodynamic therapy, or PDT.

In PDT, these chemicals are injected into the body and collect inside cancer cells. Then, near-infrared light, which can reach deep into the body, activates the chemicals. Once activated, they act like a “smart” bomb — killing the cancer cells but not hurting healthy ones.

This new therapy is better than older PDT treatments because it works faster and leaves the body more quickly, and researchers expect it to help deliver drugs directly to other types of cancers as well.

This research was supported in part by funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences — both within the National Institutes of Health.

Read more on MSUToday.

Detecting cancer with honeybees

Just like dogs, honeybees have an incredible sense of smell. And researchers at MSU have discovered that they can help detect lung cancer — the most common cancer type in both men and women worldwide — based on a person’s breath.

The research team, led by Debajit Saha, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering and MSU’s Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, created fake breath samples — some that mimicked a healthy person and others that mimicked a person with lung cancer. They tested around 20 bees by placing them in tiny 3D-printed harnesses and attaching small sensors to their brains.

When the bees were exposed to the different breath samples, their brain activity changed. The bees could even detect very tiny amounts of cancer-related chemicals — just a few parts per billion. The bees also showed they could detect different types of lung cancer cells just by the smell.

This research could lead to a new noninvasive way to detect lung cancer early. In the future, people might simply breathe into a device that uses a bee-brain-inspired sensor to check for cancer and send results quickly to doctors.

This research was supported in part by funding from the National Science Foundation.

Read more on MSUToday.

In the fight to save lives, MSU’s decades-long track record of advances and therapies, wide-ranging faculty expertise and leading-edge labs make the university a powerful partner for federal investment — turning today’s support into tomorrow’s cancer breakthroughs.

Read more stories about how MSU researchers are fighting cancer.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government.