Could Physics Hold the Key to Cancer?

An ASU effort to unravel the fundamental forces behind a leading killer--cancer--was recently featured in BBC reporter Tom Feilden's blog.

Despite decades of research, cancer remains a major killer worldwide. So, could progress in understanding and controlling malignancy be made by scientists from outside the established cancer research community, such as theoretical physicists and astronomers? That fresh approach is behind a research center at ASU –the Center for Convergence of Physical Science and Cancer Biology at ASU, led by astronomer Paul Davies, who heads the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University.

The ASU center is one of 12 Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers nationwide established by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute. ASU's PSOC has received $1.7 million in funding for each of the first two years of a five-year proposal to tackle the root causes of cancer.

To read the story and listen to a podcast featuring scientists Paul Davies, Roger Johnson and others, go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/today/tomfeilden/2010/09/could_physics_provide_the_key.html