Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have identified a compound that helps protect the cells destroyed by spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most frequent fatal genetic disease in children under 2 years of age. SMA is a neurodegenerative disease targeting motor neurons, the long nerve cells that relay messages from the brain to the muscles and that…
Harvard Launches Data Science Initiative
A statistician and a computer scientist have been named co-leaders of Harvard’s new Data Science Initiative, the Harvard University Office of the Vice Provost for Research announced today. A University-wide program that will aid cross-disciplinary collaboration, the initiative will be led by Francesca Dominici, professor of biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and David C. Parkes, George F. Colony…
New Approach to Cancer Treatment Carries Success With Caveat
The Knotty Problem of Bringing Regenerative Medicine to Market
When Lawrence Summers delivered his last commencement address as Harvard’s president 10 years ago, he spoke of the rosy future for stem cell science and regenerative medicine. The advancing technology, he said then, promised a cure for cancer, another for diabetes, a vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease, and ways to control AIDS, any one of which…
