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03
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2023
DTN 039: Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment with CAR T
The Big Picture
Innovative new cell therapies could finally get at tough-to-target cancers
“Over the past few years, the treatment of some hard-to-treat blood cancers has been revolutionized by therapies based on engineered T cells, which leverage the patient’s own immune system to destroy cancerous cells. But until recently researchers haven’t had much luck developing these T-cell therapies—called CAR T—for solid tumors, which make up the vast majority of cancer diagnoses. New trial results, however, suggest that scientists are finally making some headway with next-generation CAR T therapies. Last week, BioNTech presented preliminary results from a clinical study of one called BNT211 at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Madrid. The team treated 44 people with solid tumors, mostly ovarian and germ-cell cancers, with varying doses of CAR T cells and, in some cases, a vaccine to help boost the therapy. Among 38 people for whom there was enough data to assess how well the treatment worked, 45% responded, meaning their tumors shrank or disappeared altogether. The presentation focused on a different group of 27 participants who received a higher dose of the treatment. In that group, the researchers saw an even better response rate: nearly 60%.” (MIT Tech Review)
Deep Tech News
- After decades of dreams, a commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly
- Solar cell prices plunge to all-time low
- Virtual Superlensing Made a Reality
- In a ‘world first,’ autonomous giant drones are flying cargo to offshore wind turbines
- A New Hope For Concentrating Solar Power
JPEG of the Week
Aerogels (pictured above) are a class of synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas, without collapse of the gel structure. Positron Dynamics proposed developing a “nuclear fission fragment rocket engine (FFRE) that is exponentially more propellent efficient than rocket engines currently used to power today’s space vehicles.” The engine would use superconducting magnets to contain the fission fragments as the fuel breaks apart and direct them out the nozzle, generating thrust with extreme efficiency. Positron Dynamics proposed using the FFRE for sending a telescope to the “solar gravitational lens” approximately 542 AUs from the Sun to image potentially habitable exoplanets at unprecedented resolution. With existing propulsion technology this mission would take more than 100 years; with the FFRE, it could be accomplished in as few as 15. (via NASA)
Peer Review
- NASA Tech Breathes Life into Potentially Game-Changing Antenna Design
- Researchers discover new ultra strong material for microchip sensors
- Nanoparticles deliver treatment directly to tumors of deadly brain cancer
- First-ever observation of a virus attaching to another virus
- Processor made for AI speeds up genome assembly
- Chemists make breakthrough in drug discovery chemistry: Two methods to replace carbon with a nitrogen atom in a molecule
- Mining asteroids: A new method to extract metals from asteroids
- Velvet worm slime could inspire sustainable synthetic materials
Funding x M&A
- Bee Partners closes fourth fund to add more capital for pre-seed founders in deep tech
- Kuva Space raises €16.6M Series A to scale hyperspectral imagery ambitions
- SkyCell raises $57M at a $600M valuation to build smart containers for pharmaceutical transport
- Shield AI raises $200M at a $2.7B valuation to scale military autonomous flying tech
Miscellanea
Millions of Fruit flies will be dropped on Los Angeles / In 1886, the US Commissioned 7,500 Watercolor Paintings of Every Known Fruit / Diffractive Solar Sail / The Ultra-Efficient Farm of the Future Is in the Sky / Rats have an imagination / FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Has Been Found Guilty of Fraud / Starfish Are Heads—Just Heads / The future of warfare: A $400 drone killing a $2M tank / An asteroid came uncomfortably close to Earth in July. Could we have stopped it? / The Second Person to Get a Pig Heart Transplant Just Died / The Miracle of Photography
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