Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Brain cancers are rare, but devastating. Patients face short life expectancies after diagnosis. Brain tumors are often impossible to remove completely. And radiation and chemotherapy don’t always stop them from spreading.
It’s a daunting class of disease to study, but that didn’t dissuade Michelle Monje from trying. She has spent two decades studying how brain tumors form and interact with healthy brain cells, and pioneered the field of cancer neuroscience.
Guest:
Dr. Michelle Monje is a professor of pediatric neuro-oncology at Stanford Medicine.
Other episodes you may enjoy:
• Promising new treatments for pancreatic cancer and ALS (sciencefriday.com/segments/new-treatments-pancreatic-cancer-als?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?)
• The new frontier of cancer research is in space (sciencefriday.com/segments/cancer-research-space-microgravity-tumors?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?)
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com (sciencefriday.com/segments/why-brain-cancer-is-hard-to-treat?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?) . (sciencefriday.com/segments/parenting-tips-from-the-animal-kingdom/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri)
Subscribe to this podcast. (pod.link/73329284) Follow our show on Instagram (instagram.com/scifri/) , TikTok (tiktok.com/@scifri) , Facebook (facebook.com/scifri) , and Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/scifri.bsky.social) @scifri and sign up for our newsletters (sciencefriday.com/newsletters/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri) . Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374
Brain cancers are rare, but devastating. Patients face short life expectancies after diagnosis. Brain tumors are often impossible to remove completely. And radiation and chemotherapy don’t always stop them from spreading.
It’s a daunting class of disease to study, but that didn’t dissuade Michelle Monje from trying. She has spent two decades studying how brain tumors form and interact with healthy brain cells, and pioneered the field of cancer neuroscience.
Guest:
Dr. Michelle Monje is a professor of pediatric neuro-oncology at Stanford Medicine.
Other episodes you may enjoy:
• Promising new treatments for pancreatic cancer and ALS (sciencefriday.com/segments/new-treatments-pancreatic-cancer-als?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?)
• The new frontier of cancer research is in space (sciencefriday.com/segments/cancer-research-space-microgravity-tumors?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?)
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com (sciencefriday.com/segments/why-brain-cancer-is-hard-to-treat?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri?) . (sciencefriday.com/segments/parenting-tips-from-the-animal-kingdom/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri)
Subscribe to this podcast. (pod.link/73329284) Follow our show on Instagram (instagram.com/scifri/) , TikTok (tiktok.com/@scifri) , Facebook (facebook.com/scifri) , and Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/scifri.bsky.social) @scifri and sign up for our newsletters (sciencefriday.com/newsletters/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri) . Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374
