The Science
Where hope becomes evidence.
Your gift funds the early, high-risk lab work that large funders often pass over. Here is a simplified look at what that work involves — from a library of existing medicines to a signal worth chasing.
Why rare cancers fall behind.
Duodenal cancer begins in the first part of the small intestine. Like many rare cancers, it is hard to study: there are fewer patients for clinical trials, fewer tissue samples for labs, and far less funding than for common cancers.
That is why we focus on drug repurposing — testing medicines already approved for other conditions against cancers that have been left behind. Because their safety is already well understood, repurposed drugs can sometimes reach patient trials faster and at lower cost than brand-new compounds.
Start with medicines we already know
Researchers assemble collections of drugs already approved for other uses — each with years of safety data behind it.
Test them, one tiny well at a time
Cancer cells grow in plates with dozens of small wells. A different compound goes into each, so many can be tested side by side.
Find the hits, then confirm them
Wells where cancer cells stop growing are “hits.” Each is retested across many doses to map a dose–response curve and rule out flukes.
Move the strongest leads forward
Promising results move into more complex lab models and, if they hold up, toward clinical trials — the step that can change care for the next family.
Inside the dish.
Cancer cells keep dividing when healthy cells would stop. Researchers look for compounds that slow them down. Try it — add a compound and watch the culture respond.
Untreated culture · cells dividing
A simplified illustration for explanation only — not real data, and not medical advice.