Creating a ‘parts list’ for cancer’s spread, with help from a worm. Duke Today, May 4, 2023. As most textbooks tell it, cells are the basic building blocks of the body. But to one research team at Duke University, cells are a jailbreak waiting to happen. Now, in a study of C. elegans worms, they’ve created a “parts list” for a cell caught in the act of making an escape — a key step in the spread of cancer.