Inside STAT: Tumors in a dish help personalize pancreatic cancer therapy 

EACH SPHERICAL OR ODD SHAPED STRUCTURE IS A TUMOR ORGANOID. (MUTHUSWAMY LAB/BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER)

Only 15% of pancreatic cancer patients are alive two years after their diagnosis, and 54-year-old Margaret Schwarzhans is among them. She’s not only made it 2 1/2 years following her diagnosis, but has thrived, which she partially credits to her mental state. Beyond the regular yoga and smattering of inspirational quotes around her house, Schwarzhans’ success can also be traced back to an experimental trial, one where her tumor cells are grown in a lab dish and dosed with different drugs to see which ones are most likely to have an effect on her cancer. Although most other patients will have to wait until Phase 2 of the trial to let the lab experiments guide their treatment, Schwarzhans is among the first to already have her physician try this approach. STAT contributor Karen Weintraub has more here.