Tag Archives: Immunotherapy
Interview: Scientist And Inventor Mark Kendall – “Nanopatch” Replacement For Vaccination (Podcast)
Rocket scientist-turned-immunology expert Mark Kendall talks about his Nanopatch, which could revolutionise vaccinations and eradicate some diseases.
Mark Kendall (born 1972) is an Australian biomedical engineer and innovator. He is an Entrepreneurial Professor of the Australian National University. His field of research is the delivery of immunotherapeutics to the skin without the use of a needle or syringe.
In 2011, he co-founded the development company Vaxxas with an investor syndicate. The company’s technology, called Nanopatch, is intended to serve as a needle-free vaccine delivery device. In 2011, Kendall and his AIBN team received the Australian Research Council Eureka Prize for Excellence in Research by an Interdisciplinary Team. In 2012, he was awarded the Rolex Awards for Enterprise for his “pioneering efforts to expand knowledge and improve human life”.
Infographics: “Cancer And The Immune System”
Science Podcasts: CRISPR & Immunotherapy, Ice Age Cave Art Dated With Wasp Nests (ScienceMag)
On this week’s show, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a Science paper that combines two hot areas of research—CRISPR gene editing and immunotherapy for cancer—and tests it in patients.
Sarah also talks with Damien Finch, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne, about the Kimberly region of Australia and dating its ice age cave paintings using charcoal from nearby wasp nests.
Cancer Studies: Vitamin D Limits Melanoma Growth By Boosting Effects Of Immunotherapy
From a Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News release:
“But what’s really intriguing is that we can now see how vitamin D might help the immune system fight cancer. We know when the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway is active in melanoma, it can dampen down the immune response causing fewer immune cells to reach the inside of the tumor, where they could potentially fight the cancer better.
“Although vitamin D on its own won’t treat cancer, we could take insights from the way it works to boost the effects of immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to find and attack cancer cells.”
In melanoma patients, elevated serum levels of vitamin D appear to be helpful. Tumors are thinner. Outcomes are improved. But how, exactly, are these benefits realized? To answer this question, researchers at the University of Leeds scrutinized the interaction between vitamin D and the vitamin D receptor (VDR) on melanoma cells. The researchers, fully aware that vitamin D on its own won’t treat cancer, hoped to identify cell signaling pathways that could lead to new therapeutic strategies.
To read more: https://www.genengnews.com/news/vitamin-ds-melanoma-taming-ways-uncovered/
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