It’s a feat three decades in the making: Harvard University chemists have achieved what a new paper calls a “landmark in drug discovery” with the total synthesis of halichondrin. Known to be a potent anti-cancer agent in mouse studies, and found naturally in sea sponges — though only ever in minuscule quantities — the halichondrin…
Enhanced Human Blood-Brain Barrier Chip Performs in Vivo-Like Drug and Antibody Transport
Like airport security barriers that either clear authorized travelers or block unauthorized travelers and their luggage from accessing central operation areas, the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) tightly controls the transport of essential nutrients and energy metabolites into the brain and staves off unwanted substances circulating in the blood stream. Importantly, it’s highly organized structure of thin blood…
Scanning for Cancer Treatment
11,000 people are predicted to die from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2019, according to the American Cancer Society. The cancer starts in the bone marrow. There, mutated genes fail to prevent blood cells from replicating again and again and again, growing tumors. Chemotherapy helps two out of three patients achieve remission. And recently, drug…
Harvard Research Reveals Potential Therapeutic Target for ALS
Compound Could Provide New Therapy for Myeloid Leukemia
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have identified a drug compound that arrests in mice the progression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a bone marrow cancer that has not seen a new therapy in four decades. The research, led by David Sykes and David Scadden, co-director and director…
Generating Insulin-Producing Beta Cells in the Pancreas
The Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), three of Harvard’s clinical affiliates, and a biopharmaceutical company have formed an unusual collaboration to establish the Boston Autologous Islet Replacement Program (BAIRT) to accelerate a cure for diabetes. Recent advancements in stem cell biology have provided an unprecedented opportunity to treat diabetes, researchers say. HSCI co-director Doug Melton has developed…