Tackling cancer at the nanoscale
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Tackling cancer at the nanoscale
When Paula Hammond first arrived on MIT’s campus as a first-year student in the early 1980s, she wasn’t sure if she belonged. In fact, as she told an MIT audience yesterday, she felt like “an imposter.”
However, that feeling didn’t last long, as Hammond began to find support among her fellow students and MIT’s faculty. “Community was really important for me, to feel that I belonged, to feel that I had a place here, and I found people who were willing to embrace me and support me,” she said.
Hammond, a world-renowned chemical engineer who has spent most of her academic career at MIT, made her remarks during the 2023-24 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award lecture.
Established in 1971 to honor MIT’s 10th president, James Killian, the Killian Award recognizes extraordinary professional achievements by an MIT faculty member. Hammond was chosen for this year’s award “not only for her tremendous professional achievements and contributions, but also for her genuine warmth and humanity, her thoughtfulness and effective leadership, and her empathy and ethics,” according to the award citation.
“Professor Hammond is a pioneer in nanotechnology research. With a program that extends from basic science to translational research in medicine and energy, she has introduced new approaches for the design and development of complex drug delivery systems for cancer treatment and noninvasive imaging,” said Mary Fuller, chair of MIT’s faculty and a professor of literature, who presented the award. “As her colleagues, we are delighted to celebrate her career today.”
In January, Hammond began serving as MIT’s vice provost for faculty. Before that, she chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering for eight years, and she was named an Institute Professor in 2021.
A versatile technique
Hammond, who grew up in Detroit, credits her parents with instilling a love of science. Her father was one of very few Black PhDs in biochemistry at the time, while her mother earned a master’s degree in nursing from Howard University and founded the nursing school at Wayne County Community College. “That provided a huge amount of opportunity for women in the area of Detroit, including women of color,” Hammond noted.
After earning her bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1984, Hammond worked as an engineer before returning to the Institute as a graduate student, earning her PhD in 1993. After a two-year postdoc at Harvard University, she returned to join the MIT faculty in 1995.
At the heart of Hammond’s research is a technique she developed to create thin films that can essentially “shrink-wrap” nanoparticles. By tuning the chemical composition of these films, the particles can be customized to deliver drugs or nucleic acids and to target specific cells in the body, including cancer cells.
To make these films, Hammond begins by layering positively charged polymers onto a negatively charged surface. Then, more layers can be added, alternating positively and negatively charged polymers. Each of these layers may contain drugs or other useful molecules, such as DNA or RNA. Some of these films contain hundreds of layers, others just one, making them useful for a wide range of applications.
“What’s nice about the layer-by-layer process is I can choose a group of degradable polymers that are nicely biocompatible, and I can alternate them with our drug materials. This means that I can build up thin film layers that contain different drugs at different points within the film,” Hammond said. “Then, when the film degrades, it can release those drugs in reverse order. This is enabling us to create complex, multidrug films, using a simple water-based technique.”
Hammond described how these layer-by-layer films can be used to promote bone growth, in an application that could help people born with congenital bone defects or people who experience traumatic injuries.
For that use, her lab has created films with layers of two proteins. One of these, BMP-2, is a protein that interacts with adult stem cells and induces them to differentiate into bone cells, generating new bone. The second is a growth factor called VEGF, which stimulates the growth of new blood vessels that help bone to regenerate. These layers are applied to a very thin tissue scaffold that can be implanted at the injury site.
Hammond and her students designed the coating so that once implanted, it would release VEGF early, over a week or so, and continue releasing BMP-2 for up to 40 days. In a study of mice, they found that this tissue scaffold stimulated the growth of new bone that was nearly indistinguishable from natural bone.
Targeting cancer
As a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Hammond has also developed layer-by-layer coatings that can improve the performance of nanoparticles used for cancer drug delivery, such as liposomes or nanoparticles made from a polymer called PLGA.
“We have a broad range of drug carriers that we can wrap this way. I think of them like a gobstopper, where there are all those different layers of candy and they dissolve one at a time,” Hammond said.
Using this approach, Hammond has created particles that can deliver a one-two punch to cancer cells. First, the particles release a dose of a nucleic acid such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), which can turn off a cancerous gene, or microRNA, which can activate tumor suppressor genes. Then, the particles release a chemotherapy drug such as cisplatin, to which the cells are now more vulnerable.
The particles also include a negatively charged outer “stealth layer” that protects them from being broken down in the bloodstream before they can reach their targets. This outer layer can also be modified to help the particles get taken up by cancer cells, by incorporating molecules that bind to proteins that are abundant on tumor cells.
In more recent work, Hammond has begun developing nanoparticles that can target ovarian cancer and help prevent recurrence of the disease after chemotherapy. In about 70 percent of ovarian cancer patients, the first round of treatment is highly effective, but tumors recur in about 85 percent of those cases, and these new tumors are usually highly drug resistant.
By altering the type of coating applied to drug-delivering nanoparticles, Hammond has found that the particles can be designed to either get inside tumor cells or stick to their surfaces. Using particles that stick to the cells, she has designed a treatment that could help to jumpstart a patient’s immune response to any recurrent tumor cells.
“With ovarian cancer, very few immune cells exist in that space, and because they don’t have a lot of immune cells present, it’s very difficult to rev up an immune response,” she said. “However, if we can deliver a molecule to neighboring cells, those few that are present, and get them revved up, then we might be able to do something.”
To that end, she designed nanoparticles that deliver IL-12, a cytokine that stimulates nearby T cells to spring into action and begin attacking tumor cells. In a study of mice, she found that this treatment induced a long-term memory T-cell response that prevented recurrence of ovarian cancer.
Hammond closed her lecture by describing the impact that the Institute has had on her throughout her career.
“It’s been a transformative experience,” she said. “I really think of this place as special because it brings people together and enables us to do things together that we couldn’t do alone. And it is that support we get from our friends, our colleagues, and our students that really makes things possible.”
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Note: Since my old masterlist is getting notes again (and I'm hosting @tbb-appreciation-week this year), I thought it's a good time to release a new version with a lot more resources. If any of you know another site or thing that it's missing from the list, let me know and I'll include it!! [Altho, I'm getting this close 🤏 to the hyperlinks limit on this thing 😆]
Note 2: To avoid tagging the 3 people from whom I got multiple resources repeatedly, I've placed 1-3 asterisks between square brackets after the links, depending on the OP. I give the respective credit to them in a legend at the end of the post.
PLACES / TIME
Interactive Galaxy Map by Henry Bernberg
Map of the Galaxy
List of planets and moons [Wikipedia /needs expanding]
Planet Name Generator 1 [SciFi Ideas]
Planetary System Generator [Donjon]
Tatooine Location References [*]
Various locations Cross-Sections (Jedi Temple, Palp's office, Tipoca City & more) [**]
Republic - Separatist - Hutt space during the Clone Wars
Hyperspace Travel Times (to calculate how much time would take to go from point A to point B within the GFFA)
Standard Calendar and Holidays [including month names!]
Galactic Standard Calendar [wookiepedia // including week day names]
Date converter according to SWTOR [Google sheet]
Dated Star Wars Chronological Order (Movies + live-action shows + animation)
TCW Chronological Timeline by @mauvrix
Estimated date for: shared by @spectres-fulcrum
Partisans' attack on Onderon
Siege of Lasan
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
General
Star Wars Name Generator 1 [Donjon]
Star Wars OC flow chart by @thefoodwiththedood
Star Wars Name Generator 2 [FantasyNames]
Star Wars Name Generator 3 [FantasyNames]
MetaHuman [Unreal Engine]
The character creator
Droid Name Generator
Star Wars Randomizer by @aureutr
Character Picrew [Twi-leks, Zabraks, Torgutas and Nautolans] @/megaramikaeli
Jedi
Taking a Closer Look at the Jedi Order in Star Wars Canon [Meta/Reference Guide] [**]
Jedi Order Structure Flowchart by @rileys-nest
Mandalorians
Mandalorian Armor design by MandoCreator
Keepers of the Way (Mandalorian Lore) [*]
Clones
Complete List Of Named Clone Troopers shared by @propheticfire (Organized by Unit)
Clone Creator [MandoCreator]
Clone Picrew
Star Wars Character Templates by SmacksArt [the ULTIMATE battery of template for any human/humanoid original character in any era. From troopers to droids, from Jedi to Sith, from KOTOR to the sequel Trilogy. 100% RECOMMENDED]
Basic Guide to Clone Trooper Armour by @odekiisu
GAR structure summary by @intermundia
The Clone Wars Republic Military Hierarchy Flowcharts [***]
Clone Trooper Lore [*] [Ranks, Culture, Training, Organization, etc.]
Clones and Kamino [*]
The Bad Batch Characters Concept Art shared by @shadowthestoryteller
MISCELLANEOUS
Star Wars Character Age Comparison Chart by @the-yearning-astronaut
Tusken Raiders lore by @snarwor
Materials (fabrics, leathers, silks, plastics, construction, metal composites, etc.)
Materials in Star Wars by marvel_dc_heart_throbs
Star Wars Fashion [*]
Leisure, Art, Musical Instruments, Ethnography [*]
Political and Criminal Organizations in the GFFA [**]
Financial reference about credits by @thecoffeelorian
List of TCW Opening Quotes
Transcripts of all the TCW episodes shared by @book-of-baba-fett
Star Wars Crawl Creator [not exactly writing-related, but just for fun]
HEALTH AND MEDICINE
Canon Medical Lore [*]
Real World reference for Field organizational structure for corpsman (medics) [*]
Kaliida Shoals Medical Center (Republic Haven-class medical station) shared by @clonewarsarchives
GAR Battalion Aid Station [*]
GAR Clone Medic Q/A [*]
More combat medicine, shipboard medicine, veteran issues, and military culture [*]
SHIPS AND VEHICLES
Ship Generator 3D
Ship Name Generator
All Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) shared by @stairset
Republic Vessels Reference [*]
Low Altitude Assault Transport/Infantry (LAAT/i) [*]
List of GAR Flagships in the Clone Wars by @meandmyechoes
Layout of the Havoc Marauder
Dimensions of various ships from the Clone Wars [**]
FOOD AND DRINKS
Star Wars Menu Generator
In-Universe Alcoholic beverages
Canon Cocktails (recipes) [*]
Another In-Universe Drinks list shared by @systemic-dreams
Teas in Star Wars by marvel_dc_heart_throbs
Foodstuff [*]
Canon Star Wars Holiday Recipes [*]
Trask Chowder Recipe (from The Mandalorian) [*]
LANGUAGES; PHRASES AND SLANG; VOCABULARY
Languages of the Galaxy [*]
Script of different languages in the GFFA by @lucif-hare-blog
In-Universe phrases and slang [Google sheet]
List of phrases and slang [wookiepedia]
List of equivalents to real-world objects [wookiepidia]
Talk Like a Clone Trooper shared by @archeo-starwars
Aurebesh Translator [Aurebesh.org]
Learning Aurebesh Tools [Aurebesh.org] Reading - Writing.
Mando'a Database [Mando.org]
Mando'a Transcripticon [MandoCreator] (Create your own text in the Mando'a script.)
@project-shereshoy (Blog that collects and posts sources for Mando'a from all over the internet.)
Mando’a Categorized Spreadsheet
Learning Mando'a Tools [MandoCreator] Reading - Writing.
Setting Thesaurus Entry: Spaceport [Writers helping writers]
Fan-created Conlangs
@dai-bendu-conlang (Jedi Culture Explored) (This blog is the home of the Dai Bendu Conlang, invented by the Archive of Our Own Users aroacejoot, @ghostwriterofthemachine, and loosingletters for the Jedi Order in Star Wars.)
Lasana Lexicon by Anath_Tsurugi (fandom lexicon of the Lasat Language)
HELPFUL BLOGS & SITES
The amazing @fox-trot, who not only makes astonishing art and write an amazing fic, she also responds to medical questions and gives all kinds of references for writing medic characters. Check her #medicposting tag and you'll find tons of information. Also check #star wars reference and her art tag while you're at it.
@writebetterstarwars, which seems to be inactive, but there are a bunch of references there.
@howtofightwrite The place to find out how to write a good fight scene.
@scriptmedic no longer active, but it has a great deal of useful information.
@scripttorture for your whump needs. Major trigger warning for all its content.
@sw-anthrobiology A blog dedicated to collecting headcanons about the biology and cultures of Star Wars species.
@archeo-starwars In-universe sources on culture and history.
@clonewarsarchives Resources & Concept Art Blog for The Clone Wars animated series.
Wookiepedia If you don't find something in here, it's probably because it doesn't exist, neither as a canon nor legends reference.
Star Wars Databank: The official Star Wars website's reference guide. All canon.
WRITING IN GENERAL (For those who don't want to die like Stormtroopers)
SlickWrite: Completely free; online. Checks grammar, punctuation, flow, and writing style according to different settings (including fiction writing).
ProWritingAid: [RECOMMENDED] One of the most thorough online proofreader I've ever used. Although when using a free account gives extremely thorough feedback, with +20 different in-depth reports, for only the first 500 words. However, you can earn a premium account license (for a year or for life) if you get 10 or 20 new users signing up for free; (if you wouldn't mind doing so using the link above and help me earn mine, please). The settings allow you to check your writing according to your needs, from general to formal to creative. It has a bonus that you can check depending on the genre you're writing. For example, in creative, you can choose romance or sci-fiction (there are 14 sub-genre in total). And just like google docs, you can share a document, and people can view, comment or edit it too.
LanguageTool: [RECOMMENDED] Another excellent proofreader. It also has a word limit in free accounts, but if you use the add-on for Google Docs, it counts each page as a new document, so hitting the word limit is nearly impossible. It helps you to rewrite a sentence (3 a day), even if it doesn't raise any flags; it's very useful for when your sentence is grammatically correct, but it doesn't feel quite right.
Grammarly, Hemingway Editor: No so great, but they do the basic job.
Legend
[*] Shared by @fox-trot
[**] Shared by @gffa
[***] Shared by @cacodaemonia.
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Oldest Wine Ever Discovered in Liquid Form Found in Untouched Roman Tomb
A 2,000-year-old Roman funerary urn unearthed in southern Spain has been shown to contain the oldest wine ever found still in liquid form.
Discovered during home renovations at a property in Carmona in 2019, the contents of the urn were analyzed by a team of scientists from the University of Cordoba in a study published Monday.
Study lead author José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, a professor of organic chemistry at the university, said that the urn was found to contain cremated remains, burned ivory thought to come from a funeral pyre and around 4.5 liters (1.2 gallons) of reddish liquid.
“When the archaeologists opened the urn we almost froze,” he said. “It was very surprising.”
The team then carried out a chemical analysis of the liquid and found that it was wine.
This was a big surprise, because wine normally evaporates quickly and is chemically unstable, Ruiz Arrebola said.
“This means it is almost impossible to find what we have found,” he said, explaining that the wine had been preserved by a hermetic seal that prevented it from evaporating, but it is not clear how the seal formed.
Further chemical analysis allowed the team to identify the liquid as a white wine, as it didn’t contain syringic acid, a substance only present in red wines, Ruiz Arrebola said.
It also has a similar mineral salt composition to the fino wines produced today in the region, he added.
“It’s something unique,” said Ruiz Arrebola. “We have been lucky to find it and analyze it – it’s something you only see once in your life.”
The researchers believe their discovery dethrones the current holder of the record for oldest wine in a liquid state, the Speyer wine bottle, found in Germany, which is thought to be around 1,700 years old. However, the age of the Speyer bottle has not been confirmed by chemical analysis.
The vessel was one of six funerary urns containing remains found in the mausoleum.
The discovery of a gold ring and other valuable artifacts suggest it was built by a family of considerable wealth, Ruiz Arrebola said.
However, little else is known about their lives, because cremation would have destroyed any DNA, he explained, adding that this means it is impossible to say whether the six people were related.
Ruiz Arrebola now plans to try to work out which modern-day local wine it was most similar to, although there are hundreds to work through.
By Jack Guy.
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