The more, the merrier? How extra chromosomes help cancer cells survive

Cancer cells often turn an abnormal number of chromosomes – aneuploidy – from a harmful condition into a survival advantage. By studying engineered aneuploid yeast strains, the Campbell lab shows in a study published in EMBO Reports that drug resistance does not arise from single genes, but from subtle, combined changes across many genes at once. These findings may help to explain why aneuploidy is so common in cancer and influence how scientists search for therapeutic targets.