Cancer research is at an “inflection point” where scientists must adapt to new ways of sharing data and putting patients at the center of care, said former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. at the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting.

Plenary Address Added to AAAS Annual Meeting Lineup Former Vice President Joe Biden will stress the urgency to advance cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care during a newly added plenary address at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s upcoming 184th Annual Meeting on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Regenerating organs for patient transplants, research and policy questions for “smart” vehicles, advances in the fight against cancer, and voter participation in elections will be discussed in Austin, Texas at the 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, the world’s largest general scientific conference.

Nearly two-thirds of mutations in human cancers are attributable to random errors that occur naturally in healthy, dividing cells during DNA replication, researchers report in the 24 March issue of Science. Though mutations that cause human cancer have traditionally been thought to originate from heredity or environmental sources, these results — grounded in a novel mathematical model based on data from around the world — support a role for so-called "R" or random mutations in driving the disease.

Susan Hockfield Has Built Support for Major Research Initiatives