NIEHS Distinguished Lecturer Norman Sharpless, M.D., recently explained his team’s efforts to revert the DNA-damaging effects of chemotherapy so that patients receive the cancer-killing benefits with fewer side effects, such as fatigue and bleeding resulting from damage to bone marrow cells. Sharpless, who directed the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 2017-2022, is a University of North Carolina School of Medicine professor and co-CEO and founder of Jupiter BioVentures.

During his Nov. 14 lecture, Sharpless described how a drug, which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, protects normal bone marrow cells and improves survival among patients undergoing chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer. To reduce deaths due to cancer overall, he discussed the importance of identifying and removing environmental exposures and treating obesity to reduce the prevalence of colon, liver, and uterine cancer.

Check out the video below to learn more about his team’s approach to reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy, and the most important decision that a cell must make every day.