Technology Workshop: Darrell Irvine
September 20, 2012
Drug Delivery
Darrell Irvine, Koch Institute watch...
The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Science + Engineering... Conquering Cancer Together
September 20, 2012
Drug Delivery
Darrell Irvine, Koch Institute watch...
Four KI members are part of research team funded by Defense Advanced Research Project (DARPA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) to create a versatile platform capable of accurately predicting drug and vaccine efficacy, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics in preclinical testing. more...
The Irvine lab uses nanomaterials-based "cell backpacks" to boost the immune response to cancer. watch...
Learn more about the work going on in the Irvine lab, which focuses on development of drug delivery tools and new methods for analyzing cellular immune responses. watch...
MIT engineers have designed a new type of nanoparticle that could safely and effectively deliver vaccines for diseases such as HIV and malaria. The new particles consist of concentric fatty spheres that can carry synthetic versions of proteins normally produced by viruses. These synthetic particles elicit a strong immune response — comparable to that produced by live virus vaccines — but should be much safer, says KI's Darrell Irvine. more...
Clinical trials using patients' own immune cells to target tumors have yielded promising results. However, this approach usually works only if the patients also receive large doses of drugs designed to help immune cells multiply rapidly, and those drugs have life-threatening side effects. Now a team of MIT engineers has devised a way to deliver the necessary drugs by smuggling them on the backs of the cells sent in to fight the tumor. That way, the drugs reach only their intended targets, greatly reducing the risk to the patient. more...
Darrell Irvine, Eugene Bell Associate Professor of Tissue Engineering watch...
