Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure.Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and compare applications of the various cancer treatments. These applications include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy and combined treatment modalities such as chemo-radiotherapy. Starting in the mid-1990s, the emphasis in clinical cancer research shifted towards therapies derived from biotechnology research, such as cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy.
Cancer research is done in academia, research institutes, and corporate environments, and is largely government funded.