Using an RNA sensor, MIT engineers have designed a new way to trigger cells to turn on a synthetic gene. Their approach could make it possible to create targeted therapies for cancer and other diseases, by ensuring that synthetic genes are activated only in specific cells. The researchers demonstrated that their sensor could accurately identify cells expressing a mutated…
Sheri Grill is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann’s lab studying germ cells, the cells that become eggs and sperm. We sat down with Sheri to learn more about her and her experiences in and out of the lab. What are you investigating? I work on germ cells, which are the cells that eventually become the egg and…
Prior to the 1990s, the treatment options available to cancer patients were so disfiguring, toxic, or ineffective that many chose to forego therapy altogether. That changed with the approval of the first immunotherapies: Rituxan for lymphoma and Herceptin for breast cancer. These drugs consist of antibodies that bind to molecules on their target cancer cells’ membranes, which activates a patient’s…
Custom-made to attack cancer cells, CAR T-cell therapies have opened a new era in the treatment of human cancers, particularly, in hematologic malignancies. All too often, however, they display a frustrating trait inherited from the body’s own immune system cells: a drastic loss of cancer-fighting fervor known as “exhaustion”. Exhaustion is not only seen in cancer-fighting T cells but is…
In a step forward for genetic engineering and synthetic biology, researchers have modified a strain of Escherichia coli bacteria to be immune to natural viral infections while also minimizing the potential for the bacteria or their modified genes to escape into the wild. The work promises to reduce the threats of viral contamination when harnessing bacteria to produce medicines such as insulin…
The gut is home to a cast of microbes that influence health and disease. Some types of microorganisms are thought to contribute to the development of inflammatory conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the exact cascade of events that leads from microbes to immune cells to disease remains mysterious. A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital,…
From steering a car to swinging a tennis racket, we learn to execute all kinds of skilled movements during our lives. You might think this learning is only implemented by neurons, but a new study by researchers at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT shows the essential role of another brain cell type: astrocytes. Just as teams…
UMass Chan Medical School PhD candidate Kathleen Morrill is one of 12 recipients nationally selected for the 2023 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. The Weintraub Award recognizes graduate students in the life sciences on the basis of the quality, originality and significance of their work. David Weaver, PhD, professor of neurobiology, nominated Morrill for her research on the behavioral genomics…
A type of immune therapy called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has revolutionized the treatment of multiple types of blood cancers but has shown limited efficacy against glioblastoma—the deadliest type of primary brain cancer—and other solid tumors. New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer March 10, 2023, suggests that drugs that…
A novel hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) method utilizing ‘graft sculpting’ is being tested in a phase 1 clinical trial in patients with refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who are at the highest risk of relapse after ‘standard’ transplants. In fact, the patients in the trial don’t qualify for a standard transplant because their disease remains active despite standard anti-cancer…
