Conquering Cancer through the Convergence of Science and Engineering

If you're in the Boston area, you won't want to miss this symposium at MIT:

MIT150 Symposia: Conquering Cancer through the Convergence of Science and Engineering

Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Time: 8:30am - 5:00pm
Location: Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue

Life sciences and engineering converge on cancer at MIT. As our faculty and students begin to chart the next course in cancer research, we will celebrate the unique role they have played in its history and illustrate how and why MIT researchers are converging their disciplines to conquer cancer.

A series of moderated panel discussions—to include top biologists, leading clinical experts, technologists, and biomedical engineers—will engage the audience in exploration of three topics:

* What were the defining (and teaching) moments in the first three decades of the War on Cancer?
* How is convergence changing the cancer research paradigm at MIT?
* What clinical results can we expect to come from the deployment of new approaches to cancer research?

Protein linked to lung cancer

We know that smoking and radon can cause lung cancer. As we learn more about the biology of malignant tumors, hopefully we will see some cancer cures emerging on the horizon. The latest research from the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT suggests that the protein NF-kappaB could be a novel target for cancer drugs. According to this recent MIT News story:

NF-kappaB is a transcription factor protein that is normally activated when a cell is under attack from a virus or bacterium. Previous studies have suggested that constant activation of NF-kappaB enhances survival of tumor cells.

The research findings were published in Nature and I'm eager to read the entire study. The key points were that the expression of the cancer gene ras and loss of the tumor suppressor gene p53 activates activate NF-kappaB. So, lung cancer patients who have this combination could be treated by a drug that targets NF-kappaB.

Two MIT professors elected to the Institute of Medicine

Congratulations to MIT Professor of Economics Amy Finkelstein and Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT! They were elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an arm of the National Academies of Science.

To read more about these brilliant individuals, click here to go to MIT News.

MIT Research: Monitoring Cancer Tumor Growth

MIT students are having so much fun with research these days. Nanotechnology has taken biomedical research to an entirely new level. In many ways, this research reminds me of my days at MIT when I was involved in some biomedical cancer research. I was working on biopsy needles that involved hyperthermia treatment, but this story is about an implantable device that continuously monitors how a malignant tumor responds to treatment. Researchers at MIT engineered a tiny cylindrical, 5-millimeter implant that contains magnetic nanoparticles coated with antibodies. Can you do that?

Lead author of the research paper (published in Biosensors & Bioelectronics) is Karen Daniel, a recent MIT PhD recipient. Other authors are recent PhD recipients Grace Kim (not related - as far as I know) and Christophoros Vassiliou; Marilyn Galindo, research affiliate in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; Alexander Guimares, a radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital; Ralph Weissleder, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School; Al Charest, visiting assistant professor of biology at MIT; and David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Professor Robert Langer.

The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and the National Science Foundation. Image source: MIT news site.