Computer-engineered DNA to study cell identities

“We can follow with our eyes the color in a petri dish when we give a treatment”

12-Feb-2024 - A new computer program allows scientists to design synthetic DNA segments that indicate, in real time, the state of cells. Reported by the Gargiulo lab in “Nature Communications”, it will be used to screen for anti-cancer or viral infections drugs, or to improve gene and cell-based ...

A protein on cancer cells supports immune response against tumors

Surprising discovery

19-Sep-2023 - Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) identify a new and surprising function of a membrane protein on the surface of cancer cells: It supports and stabilizes an important "co-stimulatory" factor that enhances the activation of T cells, thus improving the immune response against ...

Scientists develop artificial intelligence method to predict anti-cancer immunity

Machine learning algorithms are shedding light on neoantigen T cell-receptor pairs

28-Sep-2021 - Researchers and data scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed an artificial intelligence technique that can identify which cell surface peptides produced by cancer cells called neoantigens are recognized by the immune ...

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2018 Announced

Appreciation of the research on cancer therapies

01-Oct-2018 - The researchersJames P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo were announced today as this year's winners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Their achievements in the field of cancer therapy was groundbreaking and worthy of the Nobel Prize Committee's appreciation. With the help of the immune ...

Hidden signs in cancer tissue

07-Aug-2018 - When scientists at ETH Zurich analysed huge amounts of genetic cancer data, they found previously unresearched molecular changes. These could help in developing new personalised cancer treatments. A research team led by Gunnar Rätsch, Professor of Biomedical Informatics at ETH Zurich, has ...

Largest-ever study of thyroid cancer genetics finds new mutations, suggests immunotherapy

27-Apr-2018 - University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers recently completed the largest-ever study of thyroid cancer genetics, mining the data of 583 patient samples of advanced differentiated thyroid cancer and 196 anaplastic thyroid cancers. In addition to identification of specific genes that may ...

New Biomarkers Predict Outcome of Cancer Immunotherapy

10-Jan-2018 - Researchers at the University of Zurich have identified biomarkers in the blood that make it possible to predict whether cancer patients will respond positively to immunotherapy. Patients for whom therapy does not work can thus be treated using different methods at an earlier stage. Nowadays, ...

New driver, target in advanced mucosal melanoma

16-Mar-2017 - Not all melanomas are created equal. While most melanomas appear on the skin as the result of sun exposure, a small subset of melanomas arise spontaneously from mucosal tissues. And while targeted treatments and immunotherapies have dramatically improved the prognosis for many patients with ...

The needle in the haystack

Immunotherapy for cancer: identifying suitable target antigens by mass spectrometry

19-Dec-2016 - New cancer therapies harness the immune system to fight tumors. One of the main principles behind these therapies is to find out precisely which molecules on cancer cells trigger an immune response. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry ...