Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have made some significant strides into breast cancer and how it metastasizes. And with the help of a new microscope that the state has helped fund through settlements with pharmaceutical companies, they expect to excel that research toward a cure. 

"The things I need to find out just can't be found out in any other way," said Dr. Iain Buxton, who heads up that research.

While he and his team have seen chemical changes as the cancer travels from the breast to other organs, they have never actually seen them. Now they can.

"We've discovered that they are exosomes, or just very tiny particles that the body has no immunity response to when they travel. And now we can see them. This microscope can boost them with florescent and we can track them. It's amazing. We already have found a two chemical cocktail that can stop them. And that's really our goal. To stop them before they can get to another organ. We've done that in mice. Now we need to transfer that science to humans," he said. 

He expects the new technology to help expedite that research so that he can work with other research teams across the country.

"This is not a cure. We do know that we can take a tumor out and now we know we can stop remnants of the disease from traveling and that should get us to a cure," he said.