Timothy Chan

When runoff from rain can kill off most everything in a downstream river, you know that our cities are brimming with toxic chemicals.

Amgen…what a mess! The FDA Cracks Down on Tavneos | Science | AAAS science.org/content/blog-p…

Trial by trial, step by step How precision medicine improved outcomes in ALK-positive lung cancer (which typically affects younger, non-smokers):

People often ask how breakthroughs occur in cancer biology-often the story is more complex - the survival plot for myeloma outcomes is extraordinary - improvements come about in incremental steps - in my lifetime treatment of Myeloma has almost transformed into a curable disease

Colorectal cancer rates in adults under 50 have doubled since the late 1980s. One in five colorectal cancer diagnoses now occurs in someone under 55, up from one in ten in 1995. A new study highlights the most concrete factor responsible for this trend. Using DNA methylation profiles as molecular records of lifetime exposure, the authors compared cancer patients under 50 with patients over 70 and identified the herbicide picloram as a significant new risk factor. There are converging lines of evidence. The picloram exposure signature was significantly elevated in early-onset tumor tissue and replicated across nine independent patient cohorts. Across 21 years of US county-level data spanning seven states, higher picloram use tracked higher early-onset CRC incidence, and the signal held after adjusting for income, education, and the use of other pesticides. Picloram associated tumors also showed a distinct molecular profile, with APC mutations at 74% versus 90% in low-exposure tumors, suggesting these cancers follow a different biological pathway than classical CRC. Picloram entered commercial use in 1964. Patients now diagnosed in their 70s were already adults before meaningful exposure was possible. Patients now diagnosed in their 30s and 40s were exposed across childhood and adolescence, the developmental windows when epigenetic programming is most plastic. This study delivers the first triangulation of molecular, ecological, and temporal evidence pointing at a specific environmental driver of one of the steepest cancer trends in modern epidemiology.

Paxlovid ineffective in vaccinated adults across two large randomized trials showing no reduction in hospitalization or death Nearly two years to publish this null finding! 🤔 nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

NEW U.S. GOVERNMENT CANCER DATA Cancer in those under 50 overall jumped ~6.4% from 2021 to 2023. BRAIN TUMORS: +19.5% COLON/RECTAL CANCER: +19.4% SMALL INTESTINE CANCER: +15.5% OVARIAN CANCER: +12.8% STOMACH CANCER: +7.3% BREAST CANCER: +3.6%

NEW: NIH spending on new medical research has fallen roughly $1 billion behind the pace of years past, delaying thousands of scientific projects. @benjmueller @irenatfh nytimes.com/2026/04/22/sci…

American science continues to shrink despite the story being told to the public. And it’s the long term consequences that will be most devastating.

A couple skipped the bride and groom dance and had a lightsaber fight at their wedding ⚔️

Are we losing the next breakthrough before it has a name? 7,899 NIH R01s expire in 2026. That’s ~$4.1B at risk. We’re celebrating daraxonrasib (rightfully). But that result sat on decades of funded R01 science. Here’s the disconnect: “Money is flowing..” says NCI leadership. Only thing flowing for most PIs is time. Labs don’t run on reassurance. They run on continuity. With R01s rolling off without replacement: ⇣ staff are cut ⇣ experiments stalled ⇣ trainees lose footing ⇣ early-career scientists disappear May–June is the breaking point. Daraxonrasib is what a funded runway produces. This chart is what happens when you thin it. We ain't “slowing” some breakthroughs, we're basically erasing them before they exist. Source: NIH RePORTER via @Jori_health

@DrPatrick @ClevelandClinic Looking forward to exploring areas of partnership

Great meetings today. Transforming cancer globally at scale. @ClevelandClinic

Editorial CATNON IDHmt Grade 3 Astrocytoma · NO benefit concurrent temozolomide · Sig benefit w/adjuvant TMZ · MGMT NOT prognostic · Poor prog CDKN2A/B homo deletion, PDGFRA amp, methy profile academic.oup.com/neuro-oncology…

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada spoke about the contradictions of human nature: “Some people dream of having a swimming pool at home, while those who have one hardly ever use it. Those who have lost a loved one feel a profound sense of loss, while others often complain about their living relatives. Those without a partner long for one, while those who have one often don't appreciate it. The hungry would give anything for a meal, while the satiated complain about the taste of their food. Those without a car dream of owning one, while those who have a car are always looking for a better one.” The key to happiness is gratitude: truly seeing and appreciating what we already have, and understanding that somewhere, someone would give anything for what we take for granted.

This LEGO build cost him 200K and two marriages, but it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. 😳

There is only one week remaining before The Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist award application portal closes. Application guidelines can be found here: bit.ly/49jbcSk Additional questions? Contact Shandra Koler at skoler@sontagfoundation.org for assistance.

Pike effect🧐 Very interesting🐟🐠

Great week of our @ClevelandClinic @CCLRI Faculty Center Bootcamp on how to find an academic job; thanks to all the panelists (Apollo, Mike, Brian, Evan, Rishi) and co-organizer @longworth724 - looking forward to preparing our trainees for the next round of interviews!

@iannisaifantis1 @nyugrossman Congratulations on all you accomplished as chair! NYU has benefited tremendously from your leadership

After almost 13 years I am stepping down from the helm of the Department of Pathology @nyugrossman. It was a privilege and a pleasure to contribute to the creation of one of the most exciting Pathology Departments in the US and to work with fantastic colleagues, pathologists, research scientists, staff and trainees. During this exciting period, the department of Pathology almost tripled its faculty numbers, clinical and research (grant) revenue and invested heavily in a state-of-the-art molecular pathology lab, the growth of molecular microbiology, the expansion and automation of our clinical labs, and the integration of new digital and artificial intelligence tools that are redefining how our pathologists diagnose disease. We are now one of the few departments with ~100% slide digitization and a fully digital sign out. At the same time, the department’s research profile has increased significantly with the recruitment of leaders in the areas of immunology, cancer biology, computational science as well as world-renowned pathologists and physician-scientists. On a personal level, I was blessed to be thrown in deep water early in my life and bet on the talent and brilliance of colleagues who helped me set the foundation for a truly integrated and modern Pathology Department. I remain here to aid the transition of leadership, excited to spend more time in my own research laboratory and soon take up new challenges...@NYUGSOM_Path

A 𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧 is a novel peptide that is derived from a somatic variant in a tumor cell and can be recognized as “nonself” by T cells. Neoantigens are tumor-specific and have not been encountered during thymic T-cell development and are therefore not subject to central tolerance. To learn more about this NEJM Illustrated Glossary term, read the Clinical Implications of Basic Research article “Understanding How Aspirin Prevents Metastasis” by Ruth E. Langley, MB, BS, PhD, and John Burn, MD, from University College London and @uniofnewcastle: nej.md/4pTzyaw Explore more terms: nej.md/glossary