A strategy called Watch & Wait (W&W) has increasingly been used, including at the Champalimaud Foundation, to avoid surgery and its associated complications, in a selected group of patients  whose tumours become undetectable after chemoradiotherapy. In terms of the local tumour control, it has been shown to be as safe to operate them later – if ever their tumour gives any sign of coming back – as to operate them immediately after chemoradiotherapy treatment.

TIL for the treatment of patients with solid cancer: an interactive workshop

Personalised T-cell therapy has now reached the solid tumour therapy field as a first of-its-kind immunotherapy for patients with melanoma with an approval granted by the FDA on February 17th  2024.

Cancers become resistant to chemotherapy in two major ways. They either have preexisting resistance to a type of drug or they can develop resistance through mutations.

Here are some of the main reasons for cancer drug resistance to arise. 

The Champalimaud Foundation is looking for Anatomical Pathology Technicians to be part of the Pathology Department team.

Duration

The position has an initial duration of 12 months.

Position

The selected candidates will be part of the technical team of the Anatomic Pathology Service and will work in gross examination, histology, cytology, ancillary techniques, and other laboratory tasks.

For some time now, the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer), the world’s body that defines carcinogens, has considered night shift work as a potential carcinogen.

But what about the general population of adults that are not night-shift workers and that sleep too little or go to bed too late – or have “poor quality" sleep, waking up repeatedly during the night? Are they also at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer and are therefore more likely to die prematurely than people whose sleep patterns are considered healthier?

We are used to hearing about vaccines that prevent diseases, protecting us from them before we ever catch them. They train the immune system to recognise and fight common bacteria and viruses. One or several shots suffice to ensure that, when we are actually confronted with the danger, our body’s immune system will produce the right cells and antibodies to protect us: the disease will be prevented before it ever affects our body. Sometimes the vaccine’s effects are lifelong, in other cases you need a periodical boost to maintain a strong level of immunity.