Because 98% of the human genome doesn’t serve a direct role in gene expression, many biologists have long thought of them as nothing but “junk DNA.” But might they hold the key to helping stem the formation of deadly cancers? In episode 34, Mike Feigin from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center talks with us about his discovery of mutations in part of the human genome that most people have so far tended to ignore, but which appears to regulate the expression of genes that drive the formation of cancers. His article “Recurrent noncoding regulatory mutations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma” (PDF) was published with multiple co-authors on May 8, 2017 in the journal Nature Genetics.