Emory Sound Science Podcast: Exploring New Treatments for Rare Cancers

Nov. 17, 2008

Charles Staley, MD, chief of surgical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and the Winship Cancer Institute, is exploring how new technologies, including nanotechnology, could be used to diagnose and treat rare cancers such as pancreatic cancer.

To listen to Staley's own words about research and treatment for rare cancers, access Emory's new Sound Science podcast at http://www.whsc.emory.edu/soundscience/.

"Pancreatic tumors are difficult to image because they don't show up very well on CT scans and MRI," says Staley. "If we can get nanoparticles to be taken up by the cancer cells, we can image the tumor better. Once we're able to do that, perhaps we can put either radiation or chemotherapy into these particles to deliver them directly to the tumor."

Staley specializes in rare cancers, especially those of the esophagus, pancreas, stomach, liver, small bowl and rectum. His team treats many of the approximately 600 patients with pancreatic cancer in the state of Georgia.

His previous research involved intra-arterial chemotherapy, a treatment that allows drugs to be injected into an artery that flows directly into the liver.

After receiving his medical degree with honors from Dartmouth Medical School in 1987, Staley completed his general surgery residency at the University Health Center of Pittsburgh and his surgical oncology fellowship at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In 1995 Staley was appointed Holland M. Ware Professor in Surgical Oncology and chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology of the Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine.