National Cancer Institute in the context of Frederick, Maryland

32°54′04″N 117°14′31″W / 32.901192°N 117.241937°W / 32.901192; -117.241937

Sanford Burnham Prebys is an American nonprofit biomedical research institute located in La Jolla, California, conducting biomedical and translational research, including stem cell and drug discovery studies. It operates a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center and conducts genomics research.

The phases of clinical research are the stages in which scientists conduct experiments with a health intervention to obtain sufficient evidence for a process considered effective as a medical treatment. For drug development, the clinical phases start with testing for drug safety in a few human subjects, then expand to many study participants (potentially tens of thousands) to determine if the treatment is effective. Clinical research is conducted on drug candidates, vaccine candidates, new medical devices, and new diagnostic assays.

The antennas contained in mobile phones, including smartphones, emit radiofrequency (RF) radiation (non-ionising radiation such as microwaves); the parts of the head or body nearest to the antenna can absorb this energy and convert it to heat or to synchronised molecular vibrations (the term 'heat', properly applies only to disordered molecular motion). Since at least the 1990s, scientists have researched whether the now-ubiquitous radiation associated with mobile phone antennas or cell phone towers is affecting human health. Mobile phone networks use various bands of RF radiation, some of which overlap with the microwave range. Other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation.

In response to public concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the International EMF (Electric and Magnetic Fields) Project in 1996 to assess the scientific evidence of possible health effects of EMF in the frequency range from 0 to 300 GHz. They have stated that although extensive research has been conducted into possible health effects of exposure to many parts of the frequency spectrum, all reviews conducted so far have indicated that, as long as exposures are below the limits recommended in the ICNIRP (1998) EMF guidelines, which cover the full frequency range from 0–300 GHz, such exposures do not produce any known adverse health effect. In 2024, the National Cancer Institute wrote: "The evidence to date suggests that cell phone use does not cause brain or other kinds of cancer in humans." In 2011, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the WHO, classified wireless radiation as Group 2B – possibly carcinogenic. That means that there "could be some risk" of carcinogenicity, so additional research into the long-term, heavy use of wireless devices needs to be conducted. The WHO states that "A large number of studies have been performed over the last two decades to assess whether mobile phones pose a potential health risk. To date, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use."

The Wistar Institute (/ˈwɪstɑːr/) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in biomedical science with special focuses in oncology, immunology, infectious disease, and vaccine research. Located on Spruce Street in the University City section of Philadelphia, Wistar was founded in 1892 as a nonprofit institution to focus on biomedical research and training.

Since 1972, Wistar has been a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center, and in that time, the Institute has established itself as a well-regarded research nonprofit. The NCI gave Wistar the highest cancer center rating of "exceptional" in two consecutive cancer center grant renewals in 2013 and 2018. Additionally, the Institute was ranked in 2024 in the 1st percentile for Innovation by the SCImago Institution Ranking (SIR) and third in US Research Institutions by Heartland Forward.

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a project to catalogue the genomic alterations responsible for cancer using genome sequencing and bioinformatics. The overarching goal was to apply high-throughput genome analysis techniques to improve the ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer through a better understanding of the genetic basis of the disease.

TCGA was supervised by the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Genomics and the National Human Genome Research Institute funded by the US government. A three-year pilot project, begun in 2006, focused on characterization of three types of human cancers: glioblastoma multiforme, lung squamous carcinoma, and ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. In 2009, it expanded into phase II, which planned to complete the genomic characterization and sequence analysis of 20–25 different tumor types by 2014. Ultimately, TCGA surpassed that goal, characterizing 33 cancer types including 10 rare cancers.