Vadim Backman: Detecting Cancer at its Earliest Stages

11/14/16 • 8 min

What if you could detect cancer at its earliest stages – before there are any symptoms that would send you to a doctor? What if such a diagnostic tool existed and it was low-cost, minimally invasive and easy to use? The impact would be huge.Northwestern University professor of bioengineering and biophotonics Vadim Backman is closing in on this goal. By the end of 2017 he expects that the first of a series of cancer pre-screening tests will be available for use by physicians.

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Ed Damiano: A Father’s Mission to Develop a Bionic Pancreas

For the 1.25 million American adults and children with type 1 diabetes, managing blood-sugar levels is a 24/7 affair that involves sticking their fingers many times a day and either manually injecting insulin as needed or wearing an insulin pump.Blood glucose management is an inexact science, with levels too high or too low having dangerous consequences. Even a small overdose of insulin can be deadly. Boston University Professor Ed Damiano’s involvement with type 1 diabetes began in May 2000 on a highly personal note when his son David was diagnosed at just 11-months old.

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Amy Wagers: Repairing Genes That Cause Muscular Dystrophy

Thousands of diseases are rooted in our genes, occurring when something goes wrong during cell multiplication and causes a mutation in the gene’s DNA sequence. This is why researchers the world over heralded the 2012 revelation of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, a groundbreaking tool for editing faulty genes. CRISPR-Cas9 allows scientists with relative ease and precision to snip out a segment of mutated or damaged DNA, correcting genes that are disease-causing and opening the door to potential treatments for diseases where there currently are none. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is one of those diseases, and Dr. Amy Wagers of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute is leading an effort to use edited stem cells to treat Duchenne.