CANCER DRUGS FINE-TUNED BY WATCH CRYSTALS

"Targeted medicine" has been a tantalizing yet elusive goal. The lung cancer drug Iressa, tailored to a particular kind of cancer DNA, has in a few patients worked spectacularly well but in the majority has not. Now Paul Bertics, a biomolecular chemist, may have figured out why. Not only that, he may have designed an easy test to determine who will do well on the drug and who will not-a test using liquid crystals like the ones in your digital wristwatch.

U.S. News and World Report (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/cancer/hb051005a.htm?track=rss)