Research Notes 'U' scientists stop spread of prostate cancer University scientists have discovered a way to prevent metastatic prostate cancer from spreading to other organs. The team, lead by Donna Livant, an assistant professor of cellular biology at the Medical School, performed many experiments on rats that document the ability to block cancer cells' invasive activity as well as stop the growth and dispersal of tumors by a peptide derivative. The results, published in the journal Cancer Research, explain that this improvement is made by the development of a new cancer-inhibiting peptide. Scientists created the peptide by changing one amino acid in a short sequence of the common blood protein fibronectin. This new peptide derivative, which scientists named PHSCN, was used on human and rat prostate cancer cell lines in culture and was found to be a powerful cell invasion inhibitor. Reset will now focus on why the peptide is so effective. The University currently holds several patents on the PHSCN peptide related to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Prof. develops database using atomic quantums Computers have typically stored and retrieved data in bits and bytes, but that might all change as University researchers have created a database using atomic quantum phases instead. The research, led by physics Prof. Philip Bucksbaum, was funded by the National Science Foundation and published in an issue of the journal Science. In this experiment, a computer randomly assigned data to one quantum state in a single cesium atom, which they were able to store by using an intense laser light to invert the quantum wave for that particular quantum state. Researchers speculate that this concept may lead to a quantum computer system, but are unsure for the present due to the new nature of the concept. Low copper levels stabilize maturity of bodily tumors Researchers at the University were able to determine that by keeping body copper levels low, cancer tumors are unable to grow. George Brewer, a human genetics professor, and Sofia Merajver, a molecular genetics researcher and oncologist at the University's Comprehensive Cancer Center, have provided the first evidence that multiple types of cancer can be treated by targeting copper as a "common denominator" of angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the process by which tumors foster the growth of blood vessels, allowing them to expand beyond its initial tiny cluster of cells. Low copper levels were found to allow normal body copper-reaction functions while at the same time starving tumors of the copper they need for angiogenesis. The study, which was originally tested on lab mice, has completed the first phase of testing on humans. Human subjects that suffer from various cancers and have exhausted all other conventional treatment methods were given doses of tetrathiomolybdate, a compound used to lower copper levels. The researchers hope to move on to the second phase of the testing later in the year by the use of 100 test subjects with less-advanced cancer. The current results were published in this month's issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Lindsey Alpert. Originally on page 3A in the 1-27-2000 issue of the Daily.