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For patients with blood cancer such as leukemia, a bone marrow transplant can extend life or even potentially cure the disease. The ideal bone marrow donor is a close relative, such as a brother or sister. If none is available, doctors look for an unrelated donor whose stem cells best match those of the recipient.  

Scientists at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL) successfully increased the yield production of a challenging protein used in antibody tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, publishing their findings earlier this month in Protein Expression and Purification. 

Scientists at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and investigators across the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed a highly specific serology test to determine whether a person has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, a vital tool to understanding the spread of infection from the virus that causes COVID-19. 

A type of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that is relatively uncommon among all women is more prevalent among women of African ancestry in the United States according to a National Cancer Institute study published in the International Journal of Cancer and co-authored by scientists at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.  

Patients who have a better-than-average response to cancer treatment can help further research that might benefit all cancer patients. Analysis of their tumor tissues can provide clues about the genetic keys that make their tumor more responsive to treatment.  

As word of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak spread around the world, countries began looking inward to prepare. In Mali, Prime Minister Dr. Boubou Cisse visited University Clinical Research Center (UCRC) laboratories at the University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB) in March to see how its facilities could help.  

The antiviral treatment remdesivir accelerated recovery time among hospitalized participants with advanced COVID-19 compared to participants who received placebo containing inactive ingredients, according to results of a clinical trial published May 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine.  

Is a single dose of a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine sufficient to induce an immune response capable of preventing HPV infection and cervical cancer? That is an area of focus of the Frederick National Laboratory’s HPV Serology Laboratory, this time with a new collaboration with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine School to investigate immune responses to a single dose of the HPV vaccine in girls in Tanzania.  

As COVID-19 spread around the U.S., health care providers needed guidelines to treat patients—and they needed them fast.

The solution? A website that would house data- and expert-backed clinical treatment guidelines devised by a panel of U.S. physicians, statisticians, and other experts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), universities, and health care organizations.

The Frederick National Laboratory led a collaborative project to build one, finishing in just two weeks.