Tag: Dana-Farber

  • Campus & Community

    7 from Harvard among new Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators

    Seven Harvard affiliates are among 33 scientists from across the United States to be appointed as investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

    Microscope.
  • Health

    Prospect of shorter treatment and cure for chronic myelogenous leukemia

    Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a slowly progressing type of blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow. Researchers discovered that CML stem cells die in response to inhibition of a protein called Ezh2. Drugs that target the protein are currently being tested in clinical trials for other cancers.

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    When ‘watch and wait’ works best

    Harvard researchers have found that as many as 50 percent of young girls treated for germ cell ovarian tumors might be spared chemotherapy using a “watch and wait” strategy to determine if the follow-up treatment is needed.

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    Blood types indicate greater risk for cancer

    Offering a novel clue about the basic biology of pancreatic cancer, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have confirmed a decades-old discovery of a link between blood type and the risk of developing the disease.

  • Campus & Community

    Cancer Society’s daffodils can drive away winter blues

    With months until spring’s anticipated return comes a beacon of yellow hope. Daffodils are an invigorating component in the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) efforts, and Harvard is again a key participant in Daffodil Days, the ACS’s annual flowery fight to help patients and eradicate cancer.

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    ‘Death protein’ may lead to drugs that force cancer cells to self-destruct

    Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a previously undetected trigger point on a naturally occurring “death protein” that helps the body get rid of unwanted or diseased cells. They say it may be possible to exploit the newly found trigger as a target for designer drugs that would treat cancer by forcing malignant cells…

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    Researchers identify promising gene target for neuroblastoma therapy

    Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a set of previously unknown mutations in a single gene in 8 percent of neuroblastomas, tumors of the nervous system that occur in young children and account for approximately 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths.

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    Genetic ‘fingerprint’ shown to predict liver cancer’s return

    Scientists have reached a critical milestone in the study of liver cancer that lays the groundwork for predicting the illness’s path, whether toward cure or recurrence. By analyzing the tissue in and around liver tumors, an international research team has identified a kind of genetic “fingerprint” that can help predict whether cancers will return.

  • Campus & Community

    Spend an ‘Evening with Champions’ Oct. 10-11

    Top world skaters will skate for a cause this weekend (Oct. 10-11) when they gather at Bright Hockey Center for the Jimmy Fund’s annual “An Evening with Champions.” Hosted by 1992 Olympic silver medalist Paul Wylie ’90, the event has raised more than $2.4 million for the Jimmy Fund, which supports adult and pediatric cancer…

  • Campus & Community

    Harvard-Affiliated Dana-Farber Reaps CIO 100 Award

    CIO Magazine has named the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a 2008 CIO 100 Award winner. The magazine presents the award to 100 organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology. The winners were announced in the magazine’s Aug. 15 issue.

  • Health

    Anxiety linked to overestimation of breast cancer risks

    Elevated levels of anxiety may cause women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common form of noninvasive breast cancer, to overestimate their risk of recurrence or dying from breast cancer, suggests a study led by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

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    Research in brief

    Major differences in protocols used to determine brain death; Harvard researchers achieve stem cell milestone; Consortium links chromosome abnormality to autism disorders; Blocking HIV infection; Oral osteoporosis meds appear to reduce the risk of jaw degradation; Six new genetic variants linked to heart-disease risk factor; Gene variation may elevate risk of liver tumor in some…

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    Genome study charts genetic landscape of lung cancer

    An international team of scientists Sunday (Nov. 4) announced the results of a systematic effort to map the genetic changes underlying lung cancer, the world’s leading cause of cancer deaths.

  • Campus & Community

    Newsmakers

    Visiting scientist Frederick “Skip” Burkle, a senior fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), was recently elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM). New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd will deliver the Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics Thursday (Oct. 25) at 6 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the…

  • Campus & Community

    Newsmakers

    It was announced Wednesday (Oct. 10) that the prestigious 2007 IZA Prize in Labor Economics goes to Harvard’s Richard B. Freeman. He was praised by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany for “fundamental contributions that have monumentally shaped modern labor economics.”

  • Health

    Manipulating genetic switch in mice eases MD symptoms

    Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown in a laboratory study that revving up a crucial set of muscle genes counteracts the damage caused by a form of muscular dystrophy.

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    Study questions ‘cancer stem cell’ hypothesis in breast cancer growth

    A Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study challenges the hypothesis that “cancer stem cells” — a small number of self-renewing cells within a tumor — are responsible for breast cancer progression and recurrence, and that wiping out these cells alone could cure the disease.

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    Common prostate cancer therapy may carry risks

    Androgen deprivation therapy – one of the most common treatments for prostate cancer – may increase the risk of death from heart disease in patients over age 65, according to a new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and other institutions.

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    Adjusting to death of a loved one

    “Is my grief normal?” That is one of the most common questions posed by people who have lost a loved one. A new study by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers has helped answer that question by affirming the commonly accepted stages of grief – disbelief, yearning, anger, depression, and acceptance – and the sequence in which…

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    Practical way to target cancer cell mutations demonstrated

    A study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University provides the first demonstration of a practical method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities that might be treated with “targeted” drugs.

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    Study: Heed spiritual needs of cancer patients

    People with advanced cancer felt they received little or no spiritual support from religious communities and the medical system, according to a new survey. However, those who did receive such support reported a better quality of life.

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    New findings may increase longevity of stem cells

    Identifying the mechanisms that control cell life span is one of the more important questions facing stem cell researchers, indeed, all researchers attempting to understand normal and abnormal cell and organ development. So the recent discovery by a Harvard Stem Cell Institute team that a family of well-known transcription factors plays a major role in…

  • Health

    Saving your self from yourself

    “Your gut is a complicated place,” notes Shannon Turley, an assistant professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. In addition to processing food three or more times a day, an intestine needs to protect you from being damaged by yourself.

  • Health

    Mystery muscles make mightier mice

    Scientists have muscled in on a genetic switch that allows mice to run longer and faster. Humans possess the same switch, so the discovery might open new paths to treating muscle-wasting diseases and building better bodies.