The ERASur (Evaluation of Resection or Ablation for Limited Metastatic Colorectal Cancer) clinical trial has reached a major enrollment milestone, with more than one-third of its targeted patients now accrued, signaling strong momentum for this national study. ERASur (Alliance A022101) is investigating whether adding total ablative therapy—including ablative radiation, surgery, or thermal ablation of all metastatic sites—to standard chemotherapy can improve overall survival compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with newly diagnosed, limited metastatic colorectal cancer.

Scientists have uncovered more than 1,700 new proteins that could have implications for human diseases, including cancer. Mostly very small, these proteins were found in what’s called the ‘dark proteome’, which covers gene products from previously overlooked sections of DNA. These proteins have unusual properties, motivating scientists to coin a new concept, peptideins, to help understand their potentially unique biology. Their findings are being shared with scientists worldwide in an open-source format to stimulate further research.

The new technology deploys a recently discovered CRISPR protein, Cas12a2, which acts like a paper shredder. When activated by a specific genetic target, it rips the genome apart, a lethal move that researchers can program to destroy harmful virus-infected cells or cancer cells.