The complexity and specificity of biomedical research does not always lend itself to explanations that can be understood by a wide variety of audiences. One of the challenges of informing the public about progress in cancer research is to translate the technical scientific information into easy-to-understand language in an accessible format.

To meet the need for relevant information for a variety of audiences, NCI's divisions, branches, and offices produce a number of newsletters to keep their constituents up to date on the developments of interest to them. One newsletter was recently recognized for its efforts.

Earlier this summer, Frontiers in Science, the bimonthly newsletter of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR), was awarded the 2005 APEX Award for Publication Excellence by the Society of Technical Communication (STC). Frontiers was 1 of 661 newsletter entries nominated for the award, and 1 of 21 winners in the Web and Electronic Newsletters Category.

This is not the first time Frontiers in Science has been recognized. Its editors received an NIH Merit Award in 2004 for "outstanding development and management" of the newsletter. It also received an STC Excellence Award in 2003 for its content, organization, editing, and visual design.

"We saw Frontiers as a way to inform the CCR scientific staff of the very best work being conducted in CCR. It is also a good tool to provide knowledge of collaborations, as well as techniques and model systems that are available," said Dr. Stuart Yuspa, chief of the Laboratory of Cellular Carcinogenesis and Tumor Promotion, who heads the Scientific Advisory Committee that oversees the content. "By widely disseminating the newsletter, we are able to inform the broader scientific community about the work that's going on in CCR."

Frontiers in Science (http://ccr.cancer.gov/news/newsletter.asp) is one of several newsletters published by NCI divisions and offices, in print, on the Web, and often in both formats. Some other NCI newsletters include:

Basic and Biobehavioral Research Newsletter. Basic and Biobehavioral Research Branch, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/bbrb/newsletter/04_winter/index.html

Cancer Immunology and Hematology Newsletter. Division of Cancer Biology
http://dcb.nci.nih.gov/newsletters/cihb/cibnewsl.html

CMBB Quarterly Newsletter. Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Branch
http://minorityopportunities.nci.nih.gov/resources/jan2005.pdf

Equal Access. Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
http://crchd.nci.nih.gov/news/newsletter.html

Linkage. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics
http://dceg.cancer.gov/newsletter/Linkage.html

BenchMarks. Office of Communications
http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/benchmarks/archive

NEALON Report. Office of Liaison Activities
http://la.cancer.gov/nealon.html

The Poster. NCI at Frederick
http://web.ncifcrf.gov/ThePoster/

Update. Office of Policy Analysis and Response
http://www.scld-nci.net/updates/pdf/Update_YIR2005.pdf.