Vision for the future
Amanda Paulovich, Oncologist and Cancer Geneticist
An entire arm of Amanda Paulovich's lab is dedicated to four computerized machines, each the size of a small automobile. Sitting at the head of one, Paulovich leans in and with steady hands guides into place a tube not much thicker than a human hair. Protein molecules will travel through the tube, bombarded by ions in a complex system of analysis that could reveal the earliest signs of cancer.
As a key researcher in the Hutchinson Center's Early Detection and Intervention Initiative, Paulovich is working overtime with these high-tech mass spectrometers to search for proteins and other molecules in the blood, known as "biomarkers," that may indicate cancer long before a tumor is detected.
"For many common cancers, when the disease is caught early enough, nine out of 10 people can be saved," Paulovich said. "But the sad truth is that tens of thousands of people each year are diagnosed too late. I am looking ahead to the day when we change all that."
Paulovich's vision of the future includes simple blood tests that detect cancer biomarkers and innovative drugs that stop cancer before it starts growing. She is among the pioneers in this growing area of medical science that could literally transform how we fight the disease.
Paulovich and her team are fine tuning the mass spectrometry technology that will move the field toward this future. "We are in a new era in which biology and technology have advanced to the point where we have powerful new tools for discovering cancer biomarkers in the blood," she said. "This era is going to find new ways to deal with the incredible complexity in medicine, including cancer."
With Paulovich in a leadership role, the Hutchinson Center is one of only two institutions in the United States chosen to lead a National Cancer Institute-sponsored project to discover new cancer biomarkers. She and her colleagues are also spearheading partnerships to promote early detection and molecular diagnostics as an international health initiative.
Straightening up from her work, Paulovich brings her hands together to emphasize a point. "With the explosion of research enabled by new technology, I am confident that answers are within reach," she said. "We are working to find those answers and put an end to cancer's toll on human life."
Read more about other Hutchinson Center faculty.
» Steve Henikoff, Geneticist and Inventor
» Sunil Hingorani, Pancreatic Cancer Researcher
» Julie McElrath, HIV Vaccine Researcher
» Katie Peichel, Geneticist
» Scott Ramsey, Physician, Cancer Researcher, and Health Economist
» Nina Salama, Microbiologist
» Cassian Yee, Immunotherapy Researcher
