Cancer research is a deeply personal mission for many, but for Samantha Pattenden, it’s a calling rooted in family and her own battle with the disease. Imagine receiving a call from your grandfather, diagnosed with colon cancer, asking you to explain the drugs he’s being given—drugs he doesn’t understand. That’s exactly what happened to Pattenden during her undergraduate years, and it ignited a lifelong drive to unravel the mysteries of cancer treatments. But here’s where it gets even more compelling: years later, her own fight with breast cancer added a patient’s perspective to her scientific pursuit, making her work both personal and profoundly impactful.
Today, Pattenden is an associate professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. With a doctoral degree from the University of Toronto and postdoctoral experience at the Stowers Institute and UNC, she’s built her lab around a critical yet often overlooked player in cancer: chromatin biology. Chromatin, the scaffold that packages DNA within a cell’s nucleus, must be opened for genes to be read. Pattenden’s research reveals how these ‘openings’ in chromatin can give cancer cells their unique identity and fuel their growth—a discovery that’s both groundbreaking and controversial in its implications.
And this is the part most people miss: Pattenden’s lab is tackling some of the toughest challenges in pediatric oncology through two major projects. The first focuses on Ewing sarcoma, a bone and soft tissue cancer affecting children and young adults. Collaborating with Dr. Ian Davis, chief of pediatric hematology oncology at UNC Children’s Research Institute, her team is hunting for compounds to counteract an abnormal protein that opens chromatin in the wrong places, triggering tumor growth. To do this, they designed a targeted assay and screened over 120,000 compounds with support from the National Cancer Institute’s Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) program. After 15 years of research, they’re now zeroing in on candidates that could one day reach clinical trials.
But that’s not all. Pattenden’s second project targets two aggressive pediatric cancers: osteosarcoma, which starts in bone-forming cells, and neuroblastoma, originating in immature nerve cells. Here’s the controversial part: While many researchers focus on broad-spectrum treatments, Pattenden’s approach is hyper-specific, aiming to modulate cancer cells without harming healthy ones. Is this the future of cancer therapy, or are we overlooking the complexity of the disease? The debate is far from settled.
Teamwork is at the heart of her success. Whether collaborating with pediatric oncologists, chemists, or engineers, Pattenden believes these projects are only possible through collective effort. But here’s the question that lingers: With cancer being so diverse—not one disease but many—can we ever develop a one-size-fits-all solution? Pattenden’s answer is a resounding no. Her goal is to find small molecules that target cancer cells with precision, leaving healthy cells unharmed. It’s ambitious, but as she puts it, ‘These diseases are so complicated. We need this kind of research.’
What do you think? Is precision medicine the key to conquering cancer, or are we underestimating its complexity? Share your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation. To dive deeper into Pattenden’s groundbreaking work, check out her research here: https://pharmacy.unc.edu/2025/10/01/pushing-the-boundaries-of-cancer-drug-discovery/.
