Over 600,000 people in the United States are living with kidney or renal pelvis cancer. This year, over 80,000 new patients will be diagnosed. Could the speckles inside a tumor cell nucleus one day help clinicians figure out the best course of treatment?
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Assistant Professor Katherine Alexander has partnered with the Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) to investigate. The KCA has awarded Alexander the 2025 Trailblazer Award to support her lab’s cutting-edge nuclear speckle research. She is the first CSHL researcher to receive the award.
“Depending on how the speckles look, can we predict whether a patient is more likely to respond to different treatments?” Alexander says. “If we can confirm this, it could lead to more personalized cancer therapies and help improve patient outcomes across the board.”
Founded in 1990 in Chicago, IL, the KCA is an international nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering patients and caregivers, and leading change through education, research, and advocacy. The Trailblazer Award and other KCA initiatives fund innovative investigators pursuing high-impact research with the potential to improve kidney cancer treatment and care.
Written by: Nick Wurm, Communications Specialist | wurm@cshl.edu | 516-367-5940