Most people in the United States have some degree of immune protection against Covid-19, either from vaccination, infection, or a combination of the two. But, just how much protection does any individual person have? Researchers, led by Hojun Li, MD, PhD, of both Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, have now developed an easy-to-use test…
Monica Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Department of Surgery and the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, has been appointed by President Biden as the next director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). A surgical oncologist, clinical researcher, and the Richard E. Wilson Professor of Surgery in the Field of Surgical Oncology at Harvard…
When scientists want to study potentially dangerous pathogens—bacteria, viruses, or other organisms that can cause disease—they need to use specialized laboratory spaces. At the Ragon Institute, our state-of-the-art Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory is where experiments can be performed on pathogens that have the potential to cause serious or even fatal infections. This resource has been important for the study…
A major risk factor for diabetes, insulin resistance occurs when the cells of the body do not respond to insulin and cannot make use of the glucose (sugar) in the blood stream. The condition is known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis, a buildup of fats inside the blood vessels that can constrict blood flow to the…
As the COVID-19 pandemic has run its course, the questions we have been asking ourselves have evolved: from “How do I know if I’m infected?” to “How strong is my immunity?” to “Which strain of the virus do I have?” And, as new variants continue to emerge, it’s likely that we’ll keep asking ourselves those questions, often at the same…
A newly constructed map of the landscape of genetic changes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow that exists in diverse forms and arises from various causes, provides a better understanding of this complex malignancy that could lead to more accurate prognoses for patients, improved diagnostics, and novel treatments. The work is…
CAR T-cell immunotherapy is a powerful approach for treating certain leukemias and lymphomas, but it’s not available for many patients who need it. A new technique developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital could make CAR T-cell therapy more widely accessible. In CAR T-cell therapy, T cells from a patient’s own blood are engineered to carry…
Marine Krzisch is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch’s lab who works on making better models with which to study neurological diseases. She is trying to better model human neurological disease. I’m working on three diseases, Fragile X syndrome, which can cause intellectual disability, and the neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Ultrasound imaging is a safe and noninvasive window into the body’s workings, providing clinicians with live images of a patient’s internal organs. To capture these images, trained technicians manipulate ultrasound wands and probes to direct sound waves into the body. These waves reflect back out to produce high-resolution images of a patient’s heart, lungs, and other deep organs. Currently, ultrasound…
In a small patch of skin no bigger than an inch, there are millions of cells all performing various duties, like protecting us from bacteria and sensing temperature. A portion of them are melanocytes, a type of cell dedicated to producing melanin, the substance that gives our skin, eyes, and hair color. If triggered by UV light from the sun, melanocytes can…
