Tasmanian devils are the only animal known to be able to fight off cancerous tumors, and a WSU researcher hopes to find how that ability could transfer to human cancer treatment.

Mark Margres, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Biological Sciences, presented his research on the regression of these tumors in one particular population of Tasmanian devils in Australia.

Prior research has shown the animals can spread the disease among themselves by biting each other’s faces, according to the University of Cambridge’s Transmissible Cancer Group.

Biopsies of Tasmanian devils are taken from labs in Australia, but scientists at WSU and University of Idaho conduct research and data analysis, Margres said.

He said he hopes these studies will have correlations within the human biological genome regarding cancer treatments. This particular type of cancer mutates less than cancer found in humans, he said.

The disease was first recognized in 1996 due to the widespread transmission of cancerous tumors in the Tasmanian devils, Margres said.

Biologists are still researching how exactly the animals respond to the disease, seeking applications for human cancer treatment.

In particular, Margres said, researchers are looking for the mutation site, the part of the DNA strand that could show how some Tasmanian devils are able to naturally fight off cancerous tumors.

The sample of Tasmanian devils for this study included 15 cases where scientists sequenced the genomes of the individual devils. Eight showed full regression, while the rest did not.

The data collected in this study showed no fixation of evolutionary mutations in any of the populations of Tasmanian devils, meaning not all members of the population had the same genetic advantage.

There has been a decrease in Australia’s Tasmanian devil population, as only a select few are able to regress the tumors.

Now that Margres has completed his research on Tasmanian devil DNA, he plans to continue his research by looking at mutations in the cancerous tissue itself. He said he hopes to partner with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Biolunch seminars

WSU’s School of Biological Sciences holds weekly Biolunch Seminars on campus in Abelson Hall.

“Presenters are mostly graduate students who are required to discuss their thesis and present the public with the research and data they collected,” said Mark Smithson, who organizes these events.

Smithson said the meetings are open to students and postdoctoral students and staff member trying to raise awareness of projects they would like to research.

These seminars are a way to get students involved within the biological science community as it unites people of a common interest, he said.