Harvard University Gazette October 2-8, 2008 - Harvard News Office ...

14/ Harvard University Gazette October 2-8, 2008
Genes
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tors. Two weeks later, human glioblastoma
cells were injected into the same or
adjacent areas of the animal’s brains.
After only four days, mice expressing interferon-beta
had significantly smaller
tumors than did a control group pretreated
with gene-free vectors. Two
weeks after the glioblastoma cells were
introduced, the tumors had completely
disappeared from the brains of the genetherapy-treated
mice.
Several additional experiments verified
that the anti-tumor effect was produced
by expression of interferon-beta
in normal tissue. The same tumor
growth suppression was seen when the
genes were delivered to one side of the
brain and tumor cells were injected into
the other. Using a specialized vector that
allows genes to be expressed only in neuronal
cells and not the glial cells from
which glioblastomas originate also produced
similar results. While other gene
therapy studies that have induced tumor
regression in mouse models required
several vector injections, these experiments
were able to suppress growth and
eliminate the implanted tumor with a
single injection of the interferon-betaencoding
vector, underscoring the approach’s
effectiveness.
“These results are particularly important
as we build on our understanding
of the microenvironments that allow
tumors to grow and spread,” explains
Sena-Esteves, an assistant professor of
neurology at Harvard Medical School.
“The therapeutic principle of genetically
engineering normal brain tissue could
be used to manipulate proteins required
for that microenvironment, preventing
tumors from migrating within the patient’s
brain and escaping other therapies.”
The same zone-of-resistance approach
could also be applied to the treatment
of other solid tumors, he notes.
Given the known side effects of interferon-beta
treatment, it will be important
to identify any toxicity caused by
long-term secretion of the protein in the
brain and develop preventive strategies,
such as turning off the introduced genes.
Next, the MGH team is planning to test
this strategy on glioblastomas that occur
naturally in dogs, which could not only
generate additional data supporting
human trials but also develop veterinary
treatments for canine patients.
Casey Maguire, research fellow in
neurology, MGH Neuroscience Center,
is the lead author of the Molecular Therapy
report. Other co-authors are Dimphna
Meijer; Stanley LeRoy; Laryssa
Tierney; Fabricio Costa; Xandra Breakefield,
professor of neurology, MGH Neuroscience
Center; Marike Broekman,
University Medical Center, Utrecht, the
Netherlands; and Anat Stemmer-
Rachamimov, MGH Pathology. The
study was supported by grants from the
Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and
the National Institutes of Health.
Massachusetts General Hospital established
in 1811, is the original and
largest teaching hospital of Harvard
Medical School. MGH conducts the
largest hospital-based research program
in the United States, with an annual
research budget of more than $500
million and major research centers in
AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer,
computational and integrative biology,
cutaneous biology, human genetics,
medical imaging, neurodegenerative
disorders, regenerative medicine, systems
biology, transplantation biology,
and photomedicine.
Harvard-Yenching Institute names doctoral fellows
Initiated in the 1960s, the Harvard-
Yenching Institute’s Doctoral Scholars Program
(DSP) now consists of two branches,
the Harvard-DSP and Non-Harvard DSP.
Each year the institute invites Harvard departments
in the humanities and social
sciences to nominate candidates for the
Harvard doctoral scholarships. To be eligible
for this program, candidates must be
from Asia.
Considered by a joint selection committee
of the institute and Harvard faculty
members, selected applicants receive a
three-and-a-half-year scholarship. Harvard-
DSP grantees have been nominated by and
trained in various departments, such as
East Asian Languages and Civilizations,
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations,
African and African American Studies, History,
History of Science, History of Art and
Architecture, Anthropology, Sociology, and
the Committee on the Study of Religion.
Eligible candidates for the Non-Harvard
DSP are junior faculty members and researchers
of Asian institutions affiliated
with the Harvard-Yenching Institute. If selected,
they will also receive a three-and-ahalf-year
scholarship to study abroad for a
doctoral degree in the humanities and social
sciences.
Rose Lincoln/Harvard News Office
Voting faculty from all of Harvard’s
Schools are eligible to apply for grants from
the Milton Fund, which supports original research
by Harvard faculty.
Faculty and junior fellows from the University’s
various Schools
have been the beneficiaries
of small grants gener-
The application
deadline is Oct.
ated from the bequest of
15. For more information,
visit ignating funds be used
William F. Milton ’24 des-
www.hms.harvard.edu/spa/
any special investigation
“to defray the expenses of
funding/internal/milton.shtmlcal,
historical or scientif-
of a medical, geographiic
nature … for promoting
the physical and material
welfare and prosperity of the human race, or
to assist in the discovery and perfecting of
any special means of alleviating or curing
human disease or to investigate and determine
the value of the importance of any discovery
or invention, or for any other special
This year’s new doctoral grantees
Bian He (Department of History of Science)
grew up in Beijing and went to
Peking University for her bachelor of science.
While studying toward a master of
science degree in human nutrition at the
University of Illinois, she took classes in
history of science in her spare time, and
this area turned out to be much more fascinating
and intellectually engaging for her.
Finding herself not really belonging to laboratories,
Bian has decided to change her
course of study, and is now concentrating
on historical research on modern science
and medicine in East Asia.
Chen Jingling (Department of East
Asian Languages and Civilizations) was
born in Shanghai, China. Having earned
both her bachelor and master of arts degrees
in Chinese and comparative literature
from Fudan University, she comes to Harvard
to study for a Ph.D. degree in modern
Chinese literature. Her passions include
the study of the literary relations between
ancient Greece and modern China. She has
published several articles in academic journals
in China and was a visiting fellow at
National Taiwan University in 2006 with the
support of the China Cultural Development
Foundation.
Lam Weng-Cheong (Department of Anthropology)
is originally from Macau and
earned both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from
Peking University. Lam’s research interest
area is Chinese archaeology with a special
or temporary project … not included in the
routine work of the college … .” The Mitten
grants often fill gaps in funding, the Milton
Fund committee says. For example, clinical
research in infectious diseases is not readily
funded by the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) nor the private sector.
Milton grants have enabled hundreds of
Harvard faculty, particularly assistant professors,
to explore new ideas and launch innovative
projects, often shaping lifelong investigative
interests and scientific collaborations.
The Milton Fund “has had a very dramatic
effect on my career and on my team and
our department as well,” explained Daniel
Pallin, an assistant professor of medicine
and pediatrics, who last year received support
from the Milton Fund. Pallin is researching
the best treatment for cellulitis, a
common skin infection. CA-MRSA (community-associated
methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus) is a form of staph
focus on the Chinese Bronze Age, including
bronze casting technology, craft production,
ancient funeral ceremonies, and feminist archaeology.
He has participated in several
excavations in China, including excavations
in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces.
Ren Wei (Department of History of Art
and Architecture) came to Harvard directly
from Beijing after spending three weeks
watching the Olympics. She will be studying
Chinese modern art of the late 19th
and early 20th century. Having received her
B.A. degree from Williams College in 2007,
Ren embarked on a quest to explore art
and identity in Italy, the United Kingdom,
Australia, and Germany as a Thomas J.
Watson fellow. Speaking fluent French, Italian,
and Spanish, Ren keeps her love of
languages growing, and she will be studying
German and Japanese at Harvard.
Yu Wen (Department of History) is from
Xi’an, an old capital city for 13 dynasties in
China and also well known as the jumpingoff
point of the famous ancient Silk Road.
Having earned her M.A. degree in modern
Chinese intellectual and cultural history
from Fudan University, Yu comes to Harvard
to study modern Chinese history from
a grassroots perspective, trying to understand
through what nexus the idea of
“making a modern nation” has entered
into the perception and experience of Chinese
people’s daily life.
Clarity amidst
the mist
A student concentrates
on her
work at the edge
of the fountain in
front of the Science
Center.
Milton Fund offers unique opportunities for faculty
bacteria that was first described less than 15
years ago and is now a major cause of skin infections
nationwide. Millions of people are
treated each year with antibiotics for this
“flesh-eating bacteria.” Pallin explained that
although he had been a co-investigator on
clinical trials, “this was the first human experiment
that I had designed and that I am
executing on my own as the principal investigator.”
Between 2000 and 2008, 336 Milton
grants were awarded to Harvard faculty.
Many members of the faculty review committee
received Milton grants when they
were young faculty, and impressed by the
consequences for their own career, carry on
the Milton tradition by funding the next generations
of faculty in their independent
work. The Milton Fund has grown over the
decades with more than $1 million awarded
to faculty in recent years. The current grant
limit is $35,000 and applications are due on
Oct. 15.