Bucklan is a second-year graduate student in the University Program in Genetics and Genomics, an interdisciplinary biomedical PhD program. He also works in the lab of Simon Gregory, PhD, the director of the Brain Tumor Omics Program in the Duke Department of Neurosurgery.

Katherine B. Peters, MD, PhD, reviews the phase 3 INDIGO trial (NCT04164901), highlighting its patient population, significant progression-free survival benefit, and the impact of vorasidenib on delaying disease progression and need for further intervention.

Researchers in the lab of Matthew Waitkus, PhD, at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center have identified a promising new target for treating certain brain tumors, including IDH-mutant astrocytomas.

Researchers at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke have enrolled the first patients in a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating a novel FDA Breakthrough Device designed to safely monitor recurrent glioblastoma in real time.

Glioblastoma is the most common type of malignant primary brain tumor and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In 2021 the World Health Organization updated the classification of Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors to restrict glioblastomas to isocitrate dehydrogenase-wildtype (IDHwt) tumors, improving understanding of the prognosis and optimal therapy for these tumors.

Mustafa Khasraw, MD, deputy director of the Duke Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, is at the forefront of a promising clinical trial aimed at improving outcomes for patients with glioblastoma.

Therapies that unleash the immune system to fight tumors have greatly extended the lives of people with many types of cancer. But there are reports that patients with melanoma and lung cancer whose disease has spread to the brain may experience serious inflammatory reactions after receiving immunotherapy drugs concurrently with radiation. In a study appearing April 9 in JAMA Network Open, researchers at the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis report a nearly two-fold increase in the risk of symptomatic brain inflammation, termed radiation necrosis, among patients with brain metastases receiving the immunotherapies within four weeks of a form of targeted radiation therapy called radiosurgery.

A newly defined parameter may help explain why certain immunotherapies for brain tumors fail and therefore offer new opportunities to curb tumor progression, according to research led by Peter Fecci, MD, PhD, director of the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis.

Matthew Waitkus, PhD, a member of the Duke Neurosurgery faculty and a researcher in the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, has been awarded a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society.

This study aimed to identify knowledge gaps and misconceptions about PC among patients with primary brain tumors (PBTs), their caregivers, and their medical providers.