Beyond CAR-T: New Frontiers in Living Cell Therapies
Taking a page from computer engineers, biologists are trying their hands at programming cells – by building DNA circuits to guide their protein-making machinery and behavior.
University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFTaking a page from computer engineers, biologists are trying their hands at programming cells – by building DNA circuits to guide their protein-making machinery and behavior.
This long-delayed treatment milestone might not have happened at all without seminal accomplishments by UCSF chemist Kevan Shokat, who succeeded in revitalizing a holy-grail-like quest after almost all others had given up.
T cells – immune cells that patrol our bodies in search of trouble – have become a central focus for UC San Francisco scientists working on living cell therapies, an approach that views cells
UCSF is launching a new initiative to propel the development of living therapeutics – a category of treatments broadly defined as human and microbial living cells that are selected, modified, or engineered to treat or cure disease – and bring them quickly to patients.
Leading scientists share some of the tools and strategies that could help us better confront and contain future outbreaks.
UCSF experts will showcase how taking a precision medicine approach helped to combat the COVID-19 pandemic during the Precision Medicine World Conference on June 14-18.
Sophie Dumont, winner of the 2021 Byers Award for Basic Science, focuses on finding out how, as well whether therapeutic targets exist to ensure equal – and healthy – division of chromosomes.
What kills most people who die from cancer is not the initial tumor. It’s the intolerable disease burden on the body that arises when tumor cells continually expand their numbers after spreading to different organs.
UCSF researchers have figured out precisely what receptor tyrosine kinases are, how they form and their role in cancer.
Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for cancer patients these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a new UCSF study.
Researchers at UCSF have demonstrated how to engineer smart immune cells that are effective against solid tumors, opening the door to treating a variety of cancers that have long been untouchable with immunotherapies.
A new study suggests that the dangers posed by wildfire smoke may also extend to the largest organ in the human body, and our first line of defense against outside threat: the skin.
The study is the first comprehensive review of fatalities linked to the deadly chemical in the United States and identified more deaths than previously reported.
Cancer starts with mutations in a cell’s DNA, but new UCSF research shows that the endurance of a tumor relies on its ability to rapidly evolve and adapt to challenges brought about by the environment in which it grows.
UCSF researchers found that mice in which activity of a protein called eIF4E is diminished, either genetically or pharmaceutically, gain only half the weight of other mice, even if all the mice eat a high-fat diet.
Tissue biologist Sarah Knox has long been fascinated with saliva. Just when she begins to doubt whether her singular passion will lead to real-world impact, an old family friend reaches out to her with a problem only she may be able to solve.
Many cancer patients might respond better to treatments with the help of a new prognostic indicator based on a distinctive pattern of gene activity within tumor cells.
A new study finds that inherited genetic variation plays a role in who is likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibitors, which release the immune system’s brakes so it can attack cancer.
The camp was co-founded by Arthur Ablin, MD, the former chief of pediatric oncology at UCSF.
Few would have predicted last January that a pandemic would upend our daily lives. But one grueling year in, UCSF experts have a clearer view of the path ahead.
A mutated version of the novel coronavirus has been making the news for being more contagious. We asked UCSF infectious disease expert Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, how the new variant emerged, whether available vaccines will still work, and what we need to do now.
UCSF scientists have discovered a new way to control the immune system’s “natural killer” cells, a finding with implications for novel cell therapies and tissue implants that can evade immune rejection.
A new research collaborative at UCSF will be focused on decoding the “rulebook” of metastatic cancer as a pathway to new treatments.
We asked several UCSF experts for a personal take on what will convince them that a vaccine is safe.
Immunotherapies are a promising anticancer arsenal and work by mobilizing the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Currently, however, only a third of patients respond to
The imaging technique for prostate cancer locates cancer lesions in the pelvic area and other parts of the body to which the tumors have migrated.
Finding medicines that can kill cancer cells while leaving normal tissue unscathed is a Holy Grail of oncology research.