Polarized blazar X-rays imply particle acceleration in shocks.

Most of the light from blazars, active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight, is produced by high-energy particles, up to around 1 TeV. Although the jets are known to be ultimately powered by a supermassive black hole, how the particles are accelerated to such high energies has been an unanswered question. The process must be related to the magnetic field, which can be probed by observations of the polarization of light from the jets.

Rapid quasi-periodic oscillations in the relativistic jet of BL Lacertae.

Blazars are active galactic nuclei (AGN) with relativistic jets whose non-thermal radiation is extremely variable on various timescales. This variability seems mostly random, although some quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), implying systematic processes, have been reported in blazars and other AGN. QPOs with timescales of days or hours are especially rare in AGN and their nature is highly debated, explained by emitting plasma moving helically inside the jet, plasma instabilities or orbital motion in an accretion disc.

Discovery of a mutant-selective covalent inhibitor of EGFR that overcomes T790M-mediated resistance in NSCLC.

Unlabelled: Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with activating EGF receptor (EGFR) mutations initially respond to first-generation reversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. However, clinical efficacy is limited by acquired resistance, frequently driven by the EGFR(T790M) mutation. CO-1686 is a novel, irreversible, and orally delivered kinase inhibitor that specifically targets the mutant forms of EGFR, including T790M, while exhibiting minimal activity toward the wild-type (WT) receptor.

Temporal molecular and biological assessment of an erlotinib-resistant lung adenocarcinoma model reveals markers of tumor progression and treatment response.

Patients with lung cancer with activating mutations in the EGF receptor (EGFR) kinase, who are treated long-term with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), often develop secondary mutations in EGFR associated with resistance. Mice engineered to develop lung adenocarcinomas driven by the human EGFR T790M resistance mutation are similarly resistant to the EGFR TKI erlotinib. By tumor volume endpoint analysis, these mouse tumors respond to BIBW 2992 (an irreversible EGFR/HER2 TKI) and rapamycin combination therapy.

Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH)--detection of unbalanced genetic aberrations using conventional and micro-array techniques.

This unit presents comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), a genome-wide screening technique for genetic aberrations in tumor samples. Specific emphasis is placed on recent applications to the analysis of murine model systems for human cancer. CGH is an invaluable tool for identifying the characteristic genetic rearrangements in these models.