Cancer

Vander Heiden wins cancer innovation awardAwarded $450,000 grant over three years

Putting up a struggle against cancerBlood-vessel cells can combat aggressive tumors, helping to prevent them from spreading through the body, new study finds.

Delivering a potent cancer drug with nanoparticles can lessen side effectsThe new nanoparticle, which delivers the drug in a form activated when it reaches its target, also treats tumors more effectively than the unadorned drug in mice.

A new approach to bladder-disease treatmentImplanted device can release slow, steady dose of medicine over extended period, removing the need for repeated procedures.

Timing is everything for cancer protein p53Biologists find that restoring the gene for p53 can slow the spread of advanced lung tumors, but doesn’t help early-stage cancers.

Slideshow: the Koch Institute transforms East Campus environsCompletion of cancer-research building opens green space for community use and creates vibrant streetscape.

Direct deliveryCancer scientists believe nanoparticles could accurately target tumors, avoiding side effects.

Using the body’s own defenses to combat cancerBy engineering T cells to attack tumors, researchers hope to add a new weapon to their cancer-fighting arsenal.

Turning off cancer genesRNA interference holds much promise as a cancer treatment, but technical challenges remain.

A better way to target tumorsIn spite of slow progress toward targeting cancer drugs to individual patients, hope remains.

A new target for cancer drugsShutting down an enzyme that responds to DNA damage could boost the effects of traditional chemotherapy.

More than just a pretty flowerMIT chemists engineer the periwinkle plant to produce compounds that could become more effective cancer drugs.

Cancer’s hiding spots revealedDiscovery that tumor cells can escape from chemotherapy could lead to new treatments that prevent relapse.

New Koch Institute building to open soonResearchers will start moving into the 365,000-square-foot building next week.

MIT Medical promotes employee mammogramsNo referral or copay for female employees between 40 and 70 who are enrolled in any MIT-sponsored health-insurance plan.

Surprising similarities between human and zebrafish tumorsNew finding that tumor cells in both species have too many chromosomes could help pinpoint genes that drive cancer development.

New nanoparticles could improve cancer treatmentParticles can deliver a combination of chemotherapy drugs directly to prostate-cancer cells.

Getting bacteria to do a plant’s jobResearchers engineer microbes for low-cost production of precursor of anticancer drug Taxol and other pharmaceuticals.

An unexpected twist in cancer metabolismA cancer-cell quirk could be exploited to develop new drugs that starve tumors.

From sponges, a potential cancer drugMIT chemists have synthesized a family of natural compounds that have shown promise in killing tumor cells.

A pharmacy on the back of a cellDrugs encapsulated in new MIT nanoparticles can hitch a ride to tumors on the surface of immune-system cells.

Lunch with a Laureate: Robert HorvitzPresented by the MIT Museum and the Cambridge Science Festival

Super-sizing a cancer drug minimizes side effectsResearchers design a new version of cisplatin that spares the kidneys, letting doctors use higher doses.

Annual Technology Day Report 2010From Technology Day 2010 Against the Grain: The Power of Thinking Differently

MIT’s Koch Institute in strategic partnership with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen PharmaceuticalsOrganizations will collaborate in multiple areas of oncology research and technology development.

Researchers seek to put the squeeze on cancerCell contractions may be key to initiating new blood-vessel growth near tumors.

Explained: Directed evolutionSpeeding up protein evolution in the lab can yield useful molecules that nature never intended.

Tackling cancer on a new frontNew program at MIT’s Koch Institute targets the growing cancer problem in India.