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Immunology
Honoring a life scientist’s lifesaving science
Carl June accepted the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences at a Los Angeles ceremony, making him the sixth recipient from Penn.
Study reveals inequities in access to transformative CAR T cell therapy
Penn Medicine researchers have assessed the percentage of patients from minority health populations and reveal inequities in access to transformative CAR T cell therapy.
Accelerating CAR T cell therapy: Lipid nanoparticles speed up manufacturing
Penn Engineers have developed a novel method for manufacturing CAR T cells using lipid nanoparticles as delivery vehicles.
Initial SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations prime immune cells to respond to subsequent variants
Immunological imprinting from the original ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain has a significant impact on the antibody responses to the variants and boosters based on them.
Mapping pancreatic cancer to improve immunotherapy
Gregory L. Beatty, an associate professor of hematology-oncology and member of Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, and his team focus on improving immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer.
‘Dual target’ cell therapy appears to shrink brain tumors
Early Penn Medicine trial results show that targeting two tumor-associated proteins in patients with recurrent glioblastoma may be a promising step toward developing cell therapies for solid tumors.
What makes a breakthrough? ‘Eight steps back’ before making it to the finish line
Four of Penn’s Breakthrough Prize recipients, Carl June, Katalin Karikó, Virginia M-Y Lee, and Drew Weissman, were honored at a reception on Feb. 13.
Secondary cancers following CAR T cell therapy are rare
A new Penn Medicine analysis shows that the development of any type of second cancer is a rare occurrence, and some of the earliest patients have gone on to experience long-lasting remissions of a decade or more.
How Penn Medicine is changing the world with mRNA
Vaccines are just the beginning of the potential for messenger RNA, the Nobel Prize-winning technology.
First in-human clinical trial of CAR T cell therapy with new binding mechanism shows promising early responses
The therapy tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial might drastically change the way the T cells work, potentially allowing the new CAR T cell product to work where other products have failed.
In the News
The mRNA miracle workers
Nobel laureates Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine appear on “Sunday Morning” to discuss their careers, their mRNA research, and the COVID-19 vaccines.
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Blood tests can help diagnose Alzheimer’s—if they’re accurate enough. Not all are
Virginia Man-Yee Lee of the Perelman School of Medicine says it’s likely in the future that anyone older than 60 will get an Alzheimer’s test.
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AI detects cancers and immunotherapy biomarker
Daiwei Zhang and Mingyao Li of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues have developed an AI tool called iStar that can automatically spot tumors and types of cancer that are difficult for clinicians to see or identify and can predict candidates for immunotherapy.
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Godfather of mRNA vaccines reveals plans to immunize people against cancer years before tumors strike to ‘the disease from ever appearing’
Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine, who won the Nobel Prize for mRNA vaccines along with Katalin Karikó, is researching an mRNA vaccine against cancer.
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Is the flu shot market a slam dunk for mRNA vaccines? Experts aren’t so sure
Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine is working on a flu vaccine to provide protection against 20 subtypes of flu that may pose a pandemic threat in the future.
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Trial results offer hope to Kiwis with ‘incurable’ blood cancer
Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine praises New Zealand research into a new CAR T-cell cancer treatment for patients with blood cancer.
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