Cancer

Engineers at MIT have devised a microfluidic technique to capture and count circulating plasma cells from small samples of blood. The technique, which relies on conventional blood draws, may provide patients with a less painful test for multiple myeloma.

Method may help myeloma patients avoid painful biopsies

Microfluidic device isolates plasma cells from blood rather than bone marrow.

April 4, 2017

MIT researchers have devised a new vaccine candidate for the Zika virus. “It functions almost like a synthetic virus, except it’s not pathogenic and it doesn’t spread,” says postdoc Omar Khan.

Progress toward a Zika vaccine

Researchers program RNA nanoparticles that could protect against the virus.

March 29, 2017

Research scientist Bogdan Fedeles and postdoc Supawadee Chawanthayatham have discovered a mutational signature that reveals liver cell exposure to aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen.

Detecting mutations could lead to earlier liver cancer diagnosis

New technique can reveal exposure to aflatoxin, a potent carcinogen, before tumors develop.

March 27, 2017

By tethering hundreds of tiny particles to the surfaces of tumor cells in the presence of a mechanical force, an MIT team made the cells much more vulnerable to attack by a drug that triggers cancer cells to commit suicide.

Tethered nanoparticles make tumor cells more vulnerable

New strategy could improve performance of some immune-based drugs.

March 20, 2017

Left to right: MIT Professor Angelika Amon, Glenn Foundation President and Director Mark Collins, University of Rochester Professor Vera Gorbunova, and MIT Professor Leonard Guerente.

Vera Gorbunova delivers eighth Paul F. Glenn Lecture

Expert on long-lived rodents provides insights into research on longevity and cancer resistance.

February 16, 2017

MIT Professor Regina Barzilay has struck up new research collaborations, drawn in MIT students, launched projects with local doctors, and begun empowering cancer treatment with the machine-learning insight that has already transformed many areas of modern life.

Putting data in the hands of doctors

Computer scientist Regina Barzilay empowers cancer treatment with machine learning.

February 16, 2017

Coming together for immuno-oncology

Takeda's $1 million gift to the MIT Koch Institute will advance research into how the immune system affects cancer.

February 13, 2017

MIT researchers have developed a portable technology, known as Seq-Well, that can rapidly prepare the RNA of many cells for sequencing simultaneously.

Making single-cell RNA sequencing widely available

Portable tool could help scientists learn more about cells’ roles in many diseases.

February 13, 2017

This image shows triple-negative breast cancer cells with high levels of “Mena invasive” protein and treated with Paclitaxel. The cell cytoskeleton is shown in blue, the dynamic microtubules are shown in green, and the stable microtubules are shown in red.

Biomarker could help guide cancer therapy, avoid drug resistance

Biologists link levels of Mena protein to breast cancer cells’ sensitivity to chemotherapy.

November 22, 2016

When cells suffer DNA damage, there are several different pathways that can kick in to help repair it, depending on the type of damage. Cells from different people and different tumors vary greatly in their ability to repair DNA damage, and scientists have been pursuing measurements of this ability as a way to predict how patients will respond to DNA-damaging chemotherapy.

Predicting cancer cells’ response to chemotherapy

Measuring DNA repair capability can reveal tumors’ sensitivity to drugs.

November 2, 2016

T cells — immune cells that are targeted to find and destroy a particular antigen — are key to the adaptive immune response. In this image, the top row shows few T cells in untreated mice, while the bottom rows show many T cells produced after immunotherapy treatment.

Fighting cancer with the power of immunity

New treatment elicits two-pronged immune response that destroys tumors in mice.

October 24, 2016

Researchers have developed a novel way to test tumors for drug susceptibility. They successfully tested this approach with a very aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme and a type of blood cancer, pictured here in dark purple, known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

A new strategy for choosing cancer drugs

Device can predict tumor responses by measuring cell growth after drug exposure.

October 10, 2016

Nanosensors could help determine tumors’ ability to remodel tissue

Measuring enzyme levels could help doctors select appropriate treatments.

September 29, 2016

A new gene therapy technique being developed by researchers at MIT uses microRNAs — small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression — to control breast cancer metastasis.

Gene therapy technique may help prevent cancer metastasis

Gene-regulating RNA molecules could help treat early-stage breast cancer tumors before they spread.

September 19, 2016

High-capacity nanoparticle

Particles that carry three or more drugs hold potential for targeted cancer therapy.

September 14, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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