Dr. Weeks’Comment: Fueled by distinguished professor of oncology, Max Wicha, M.D. at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, oncologist are having to acknowledge that chemotherapy and radiation WITHOUT address the cancer stem cells, make your cancer worse… University of Auckland seminar acknowledges that the cancer community is polarized…
Cancer, cancer stem cells and chemotherapy resistance 
(Seminars)
Contact email: r.mcdonald@auckland.ac.nz
Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology seminar by Dr Melanie McConnell, Malaghan Institute of Medical Science.
The identification and isolation of the cancer stem cell has revolutionised cancer cell biology research, and polarised the cancer research community. While definitions vary, the most common description of a cancer stem cell is the cells within a tumour that are both:
(i) capable of initiating new tumor growth and
(ii) resistant to therapy.
We have isolated both cancer stem cells and therapy resistant cells from the aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), and have examined the relationship between cancer stem cell activity and resistance to multiple therapeutic strategies – chemotherapy, radiation and immune attack.