Every November, millions worldwide grow mustaches and join Movember, a global movement launched in 2003 to spark conversations about men’s health, including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health. The initiative encourages men to challenge stigmas, prioritize their health, stay current with recommended screenings, and seek medical attention when symptoms arise. Supporting Movember’s mission, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology is highlighting the critical role of clinical research in advancing men’s cancer care. Through greater awareness, early detection, and access to promising treatments, the Alliance aims to help improve outcomes for men with cancer and support their physical and mental well-being throughout survivorship. With support from the National Cancer Institute, the Alliance develops and conducts clinical trials that move cancer research forward. Currently, eight ongoing studies are exploring ways to improve the detection and treatment of men’s cancers, including prostate and testicular cancer, as well as enhance quality of life and support for patients and their loved ones after treatment. 

Learn how mutations present in a patient’s original disease predict relapse risk, giving a way to stratify patients to prevent relapse from ever happening.

Anthony B. El-Khoueiry, MD, has been appointed director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, effective November 1^st, 2026. Prior to the appointment, El-Khoueiry served as associate director for clinical research, medical director of the Clinical Investigations Support Office and Chief of Section of Developmental Therapeutics/Phase I program at USC Norris. He also holds the Verna R. Richter Chair in Cancer Research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. El-Khoueiry is a medical oncologist with Keck Medicine of USC and has led numerous clinical trials that ushered meaningful therapies for cancer patients. USC Norris brings together laboratory scientists, clinicians and cancer epidemiologists to investigate cancer biology, risk factors and care. As director, El-Khoueiry will advance the center’s mission to translate scientific discoveries into new approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. He sees its culture of team science, its innovative basic and translational research, its strength in population science, and early phase clinical trial program as crucial to that work. El-Khoueiry is an international leader in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, with a particular focus on liver and biliary tract cancers. Much of his work has centered on clinical trials of investigational therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cancer of the biliary tract (cholangiocarcinoma). These include experimental drugs that alter gene activity in cancer cells, block signals that help cancer grow, and change how the immune system responds to cancer. His research was pivotal to ushering in the era of immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma and has contributed to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approvals for multiple new therapies.

The 13th World Congress on Targeting Microbiota, taking place in Málaga, Spain, on November 4–5, 2026, will examine the evidence needed to translate microbiome research into clinical practice. The programme focuses on microbial function, causality and translation, with sessions on immunity, diagnostics, precision nutrition, cancer and healthy longevity.

Learn how St. Jude scientists, led by Scott Blanchard, PhD, identified the translation regulation mechanisms involved in mRNA decoding are involved in cancer development and treatment resistance.

Researchers investigated how quantum computing could improve machine learning when healthcare data are limited. Testing five computing frameworks, the team found that a quantum support vector machine using D-Wave Quantum Inc. technology achieved up to 94.31% accuracy in predicting lung cancer from symptoms and risk factors. The findings demonstrate the potential of quantum machine learning for healthcare applications, while representing preliminary results that require further validation before clinical use.