by Miriam Kathleen Gomez Why is it so difficult to treat cancer? These are the questions that very often cross our minds. As a cancer researcher, I often wonder if curing cancer will ever be possible. We have come so far in research with new techniques and instruments being developed every day making things like sequencing the whole genome possible. We have successfully eradicated diseases like small pox . . . . . . . but not cancer. Why is it? Why is cancer so different from other diseases? Cancer cells are cells from the body that have acquired an ability to grow uncontrollably. Most of the times when a normal cell converts into a cancerous cell the immune system of the body detects the change and kills the cancerous cell, but sometimes the cancer cell can disguise itself as a normal cell and go on dividing unchecked thus forming a tumour. One of the reasons curing cancer is difficult is because cancer is not one disease with one magic cure....
They say a pipette is a scientist's most powerful weapon.