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Slalom Hawk Tower, Seattle

Michael Metzger, Assistant Investigator, Pacific Northwest Research Institute

THE CANCERS THAT NEVER DIE: WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM CONTAGIOUS CANCERS IN CLAMS

Cancer cells can evolve as they divide and spread through the body, but cancers normally do not live longer than their hosts. In rare cases, (in Tasmanian devils, dogs, and many species of bivalves), cancer cells can jump from one animal to another, spreading for centuries or even millennia as infectious cells that blur the line between metastatic cancer and infectious disease. The Metzger Lab studies these contagious cancers in clams, cockles, and other bivalves to determine how they spread through the environment, how they continue to evolve, and how the clams themselves are evolving to become resistant to the cancers.