Release date: Oct. 30, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Emory’s CancerQuest Seeks to Inform and Educate

A new Web site developed at Emory University is devoted to giving cancer patients a tool to learn practical, scientific knowledge about their illness. Called CancerQuest and found at www.cancerquest.org, the site is designed to teach people the biology of cancer in a clear and concise manner.

While there is a wealth of cancer news and advice on the Internet, much of it is either very technical and designed for doctors and scientists, or broad and simple, says Gregg Orloff, a senior lecturer in biology at Emory who spearheaded the development of CancerQuest.

"I found that there is not much out there that really teaches the biology of cancer, that can explain to people what is happening to them," Orloff says.

While not clinical in scope, CancerQuest gives a detailed, yet easy-to-grasp overview of how cells work, and what happens when they break down and become cancerous. The site outlines the actions and effects of various treatments, but does not make any recommendations, he says.

CancerQuest is structured like a textbook and features several animated graphics to explain concepts. A dictionary is built in, so users can quickly look up the definitions of scientific terms. All references are documented, with links to other Web pages for those wanting more information about a particular aspect of treatment or different types of cancer. Future plans include offering the project in several languages.

The idea for CancerQuest, which received funding through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant, came to Orloff during his wife’s experience with breast cancer. During treatment, her oncologist recommended that she attend a support group of other breast cancer sufferers, and she brought along her husband.

"When people realized I was a biology professor, they began asking me a barrage of questions about cancer. It made me realize there was a real need for information—a hunger for it," Orloff says.

In the process of creating CancerQuest, the project also became a teaching tool for students. Orloff recruited students from his classes with Web-savvy skills and artistic ability to illustrate and help build the site, and other students conducted research and wrote some of the material.

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