Liposuction and plastic surgery aren’t often mentioned in the same breath as cancer. 

But they are the inspiration for a new approach to treating cancer that uses engineered fat cells to deprive tumors of nutrition. 

Researchers at UC San Francisco used the gene editing technology CRISPR to turn ordinary white fat cells into “beige” fat cells, which voraciously consume calories to make heat. 

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has awarded a $6 million grant to USC investigators pioneering a new first-of-its-kind genetic therapy for glioblastoma, a severe form of brain cancer. The treatment would be the first gene therapy for glioblastoma to use a novel, more precise delivery system that is less likely to harm non-cancerous cells. The three-year grant, led by USC in collaboration with members of the Zolotukhin Lab at the University of Florida, builds on three advances the team has made towards a novel glioblastoma treatment, with the goal of moving it closer to clinical trials: new drug treatment targets involving key "master regulator" genes typically active only in early fetal development that can drive growth in a tumor; a newly identified AAV (adeno-associated virus) delivery vehicle for gene therapy that appears to target glioblastoma cells while sparing healthy cells; and the development of a new enhanced tumor mapping procedure that could help optimize catheter placement and maximum drug diffusion in the brain.

The incidence of advanced prostate cancer in California rose markedly in the decade since doctors stopped routinely screening all men for the disease, according to a new study by UC San Francisco.

The work could help produce more effective future anti-aging treatments.