Partnering with the best of biotechnology is one of the key ways that Merck is building its oncology research program. When Merck acquired Aton Pharma, Inc. last year, that firm’s search for safer, more effective cancer treatments fit well with Merck’s own research strategy.

A co-founder of Aton and now Senior Director of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics at MRL Boston, Dr. Victoria Richon recently presented her team’s research on histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors at the MIT Center for Cancer Research. “HDAC represents an interesting  new target in cancer research,” Vicky explains. “DNA coils around structural proteins called histones which play an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Our goal is to change the behavior of cancer cells to have them act more ‘normally,’ and lose the ability to proliferate.”

For decades, the genetic model of cancer where mutations trigger unchecked cellular proliferation guided oncology research. But in the past ten years or so, many scientists have demonstrated that epigenetic gene silencing is also an important driving force in cancer.

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