Cancer Research

Kristal Lull remembers many numbers. Forty-seven was her mother's age when she was found to have breast cancer in October. Twenty was the number of times Lull had to repeat to herself that her mother had the disease for Lull to believe it. Two was the number of surgeries her mother had, followed by eight rounds of chemotherapy and 34 radiation treatments. This weekend, 60 will be the number that demands Lull's attention. That is the number of miles the Glen Burnie resident will walk in honor of her mother, Diane McCormick, during the Breast Cancer 3-Day.

The entire McQuin family of Mount Airy fought alongside the oldest son, Bobby, as he battled leukemia. Now that Bobby is in remission, the family has taken on a new project: a cross-country bike tour to raise money for cancer research.Everybody is going on the trip, which starts in San Diego next month and ends in Virginia Beach, Va., in July. "Everybody" means all 10 McQuins: parents Bob and Beth; Bobby, 19; Sean, 17; Megan, 15; Craig, 9; Amy, 7; Todd, 5; Shannon, 18 months; and Larisa Stone, 29, their foster daughter.

For years, Michael G. Hanna had a radical vision for how cancer might be treated in the not-too-distant future.His dream: A cancer patient is given an injection of a drug that is so "smart" it zooms directly to tumor cells, bypassing healthy ones. The body's own defenses are alerted to attack the tumor, and the triggers for new cancer growth are disarmed.Like Hanna, cancer researchers in the United States and Europe have long toiled on just such a magic bullet. Hurdles, though, have been high.

THE JOHNS HOPKINS Medical Institutions' East Baltimore campus is expected to add two large academic buildings, costing a total of $67 million, as part of an effort by administrators to upgrade teaching and research facilities.The first project due to get under way is a $17 million School of Nursing building, planned for the east side of Wolfe Street between McElderry and Jefferson streets. Designed by Ayers Saint Gross of Baltimore, it will combine nursing programs now scattered over five sites on two campuses.

Annapolis artist Bobbie Burnett does not consider herself a deeply religious woman. But ask her about her life's mission, and she will look you straight in the eye and say the angels had a hand in it. As if to support her claim, Burnett points to a table in the center of her basement studio filled with examples of the three-dimensional stained-glass angels she has spent the past decade creating. In the late-afternoon sunlight, the figures radiate a kaleidoscope of lavender, blue and gold.

Spending some time in the sun and eating hot peppers may help fight cancer. And using aspartame to sweeten your coffee probably won't cause the disease. Those are just a few of the conclusions announced this week at the 97th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington. About 16,000 scientists attended the event and presented more than 6,000 papers. One of the most intriguing findings concerned vitamin D. Researchers at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto looked at more than 2,000 women, about half of whom had breast cancer.

Many people have heard of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or Google co-founder Sergey Brin. But few know about Bert Vogelstein, a Johns Hopkins scientist who helped map the cancer genome and created gene and stool tests to detect colon cancer. A new, international award, similar to the Nobel Prize, but with a bigger payout of $3 million, aims to change that. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg and Brin joined Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner and Anne Wojcicki, founder of genetic testing company 23andMe, to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Awards Dr. Angela Brodie has been selected to receive the Dorothy P. Landon-AACR Prize for Translational Cancer Research for her groundbreaking work in developing aromatase inhibitors, a new class of breast cancer drugs. Brodie, a professor of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will receive the $200,000 prize April 3 in Washington, D.C. Aromatase inhibitors help prevent the recurrence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women by reducing the level of estrogen, cutting off the fuel to cancer cells.

On February 18, 2003, WILLIAM H. BROOKS; beloved husband of Mammie A. Brooks. The family will receive friends at Epworth UM Chapel, Liberty Road and St. Lukes Lane, on Wednesday at 11 A.M. Memorial Services will follow at 11:30 A.M. Contributions may be made to the National Foundation for Cancer Research, 4600 East-West Highway, #525, Bethesda, MD 20814. Services provided by March Funeral Home West. See www.marchfh.com