News Releases and Announcements
News and Highlights RSS
Alliance in the News
BIND Therapeutics Announces Collaboration with Pfizer
BIND Therapeutics and Pfizer Inc. have entered into a global collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize Accurins™. These nanoparticles carrying potent drugs, are capable of homing in on specific diseased cells, avoiding healthy ones, and escaping detection by the immune system. The collaboration aims to employ BIND’s Medicinal Nanoengineering® platform which can tailor the Accurins to impart tissue and cellular targeting capabilities to molecularly targeted drugs. Bind’s technology comes from the laboratories of Robert Langer and Omid Farokhzad at the MIT-Harvard CCNE.
Read more Alliance in the News »
Nanotechnology Enables Creation of Biomarkers for Cancer Detection
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new technology, which enables the creation of biomarkers to diagnose cancer earlier. While biomarkers that can help identify and diagnose cancer early could greatly improve the chances of survival for many patients, there have been so few validated biomarkers and detecting them can be difficult. To address this problem, the researchers have developed nanoparticles that can home to a tumor and interact with cancer proteins to produce thousands of biomarkers, which can then be easily detected in the patient's urine. Learn more about the research, recently published in Nature Biotechnology. View recent media coverage.
Read more Alliance in the News »
Research News
New Nanopore Sensor Simplifies Analysis of Methylated DNA
DNA methylation plays an important role in embryonic development, cell growth and reproduction, and many diseases. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign have developed a single molecule test for detecting DNA methylation. The details of this new test appear in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Microneedle-Delivered Nanoparticles Boost Antitumor Vaccines
Using a novel administration system and polymer nanoparticles, a team of investigators has shown that they can deliver anticancer antigens to dendritic cells and trigger an effective immune system response against melanoma tumors. The researchers published their findings in the journal ACS Nano.
Nanoparticle Harnesses Powerful Radiation Therapy for Cancer
Researchers at the University of Missouri have demonstrated the ability to create a multi-layered harness nanoparticle that can safely encapsulate powerful alpha-emitting radioisotopes and target tumors. The resulting nanoparticles not only offer the possibility of delivering tumor-killing alpha emitters to tumors, but also sparing healthy tissue from radiation damage. The researchers published their findings in the journal PLoS One.
Protein 'Passport' Helps Nanoparticles Get Past Immune System
The body's immune system exists to identify and destroy foreign objects, including bacteria, viruses, flecks of dirt, or splinters. Unfortunately, nanoparticles designed to deliver drugs and implanted devices, like pacemakers or artificial joints, are just as foreign and subject to the same response. A team of researchers has identified a way for such therapeutic devices to get past the body's security system. This research was published in the journal Science.
Nanoparticle Delivers Large Protein Complex to Cancer Cell Nucleus
Drug developers have been using nanoparticles to encapsulate and deliver a wide range of molecules to tumors. Now, they can add a large protein complex to that list. A team of researchers showed that not only could their degradable nanoscale shell carry proteins to cancer cells, but that they could transport a protein complex into the cell's nucleus. This research was published in the journal Nano Today.
