Cancer

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.

Why cancer drugs lose their powerMIT biologists show how tumors can become resistant to the commonly used chemotherapy drug cisplatin.

Weighing the cellMIT biological engineers devise a way to measure, for the first time, how single cells accumulate mass.

To starve a tumorMIT’s Matthew Vander Heiden is part of a new generation of cancer researchers trying to exploit cancer cells’ strange metabolism.

Listening in on single cellsA novel sensor array is the first to detect single molecules produced by living cells.

New and improved RNA interferenceResearchers use RNA interference to silence multiple genes at once. The advance, which one expert calls a ‘substantial breakthrough,’ could lead to new treatments for liver diseases.

Explained: RNA interferenceExploiting the recently discovered mechanism could allow biologists to develop disease treatments by shutting down specific genes.

Nanoparticles for gene therapy improveMIT team’s nanoparticles could become a safer alternative to gene therapy delivered by viruses.

Possible origins of pancreatic cancer revealedTumors can arise from different cell types in the pancreas, depending on the circumstances, according to MIT cancer biologists.

Cancer research gets physical5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute will fund projects by physicists that give a new view of cancer cells.