A singular insight into cancer therapy
A type of cancer treatment known as CAR T therapy has shown great promise for blood cancer treatments in the last decade. Too often, though, patients relapse within a short time. The lab of Rong Fan, professor of biomedical engineering, used a technology that Fan developed that analyzes one cell at a time to uncover some critical clues about why these relapses happen. They found that a type of cell known as Th2 was prominent among patients who had gone into a long-lasting remission. The new information could potentially contribute to treatments to prevent these relapses.
Science, with a twist
Scientists have learned in recent years that twisting certain materials at specific angles can form what are known as “moiré materials,” which elicit previously undiscovered properties. Led by Fengnian Xia, the Barton L. Weller Associate Professor in Engineering and Science, a team of researchers has used these materials to build an intelligent sensor—the size of about 1/1000 of the cross-section of a human hair—that can simultaneously detect the intensity, polarization, and wavelength of light, tapping into the quantum properties of electrons. It’s a breakthrough that could help advance the fields of astronomy, health care, and remote sensing.
Polymer researchers branch out
Polymers, which are made of repeat units of small molecules to form a larger molecule, have various structures. One kind of polymer, shaped as if it has tiny tree branches, has significant potential for the biomedical field, nanoelectronics, and other applications. Researchers in the lab of Mingjiang Zhong, assistant professor of chemical & environmental engineering and chemistry, have developed a way to efficiently create these unique structures with a combination of mechanistic experiments and computer simulations. The next step, Zhong said, is putting these materials to real-world uses, possibly for water filtration.
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