Fruit flies and mice are producing about a million tumors as subjects for advancing cancer research at the Louisiana State University school of medicine in New Orleans.
Engaged in a large program to discover the mode of development of cancer, the school is keeping abreast of modern research in hope of contributing to an eventual cancer cure.
Director of the cancer research is Texas-born Dr Walter J. Bur-dette. associate professor of surgery, who has at his disposal about 2,500 mice and innumerable fruit flies, With these he has already been able both to increase and decrease tumors by getting to some of the basic facts of the dreaded growths.
One of these is the relationship of chromosomes in the cells to the development of tumors. By his knowledge gained from animals, Dr. Burdette is now able to breed mice and know before hand what kind of tumors they will have.
Studying tumors in flies is microscopic work, but it too has led to considerable medical knowledge and has the advantage of speeding up rapid examination. "We can examine 10,000 flies easily, but it would take longer with mice and much longer with humans," Dr. Burdette explains.
