Volume 51 – Number 16 Wednesday – February 7, 2007 TechTalk S ERVING T HE M I T C OMMUNITY Reactivated gene shrinks tumors, MIT study finds Anne Trafton cancer treatments,” said David Kirsch of known whether such activity would actu- properly, it activates DNA repair mecha- News Office MIT’s Center for Cancer Research and ally reverse tumor growth in primary nisms and prevents cells with damaged Harvard Medical School, one of the lead tumors. DNA from dividing. If DNA damage is co-authors of the paper. The new MIT study shows that re-acti- irreparable, p53 induces the cell to destroy Many cancers arise due to defects in The study appeared in the Jan. 25 vating p53 in mouse tumors dramatically itself by undergoing apoptosis, or pro- genes that normally suppress tumor issue of Nature. It was conducted in the reduces the size of the tumors, in some grammed cell death. growth. Now, for the first time, MIT laboratory of Tyler Jacks, director of the cases by 100 percent. When p53 is turned off by mutation researchers have shown that re-activat- Center for Cancer Research, the David H. “This study provides critical genetic or deletion, cells are much more likely ing one of those genes in mice can cause Koch Professor of Biology and a Howard evidence that continuous repression of a to become cancerous, because they will tumors to shrink or disappear. Hughes Medical Institute investigator. tumor suppressor gene is required for a divide uncontrollably even when DNA is The study offers evidence that the P53 has long been known to play a tumor to survive,” said Andrea Ventura, an damaged. tumor suppressor gene p53 is a promising critical role in the development of many Italian postdoctoral associate in the Center In this study, the researchers used target for human cancer drugs. tumors—it is mutated in more than 50 per- for Cancer Research and first author of the engineered mice that had the gene for p53 “If we can find drugs that restore p53 cent of human cancers. Researchers have paper. See GENE function in human tumors in which this identified a few compounds that restore In normal cells, p53 controls the cell pathway is blocked, they may be effective p53 function, but until now, it has not been cycle. In other words, when functioning Page 4 U.N. paper: Human Team develops activity fuels nanoparticles for global warming chemo delivery Anne Trafton New particles mimic platelets News Office Elizabeth Dougherty Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Last week’s release of a widely antici- pated international report on global warm- ing coincides with a growing clamor within On a quest to modernize cancer treat- the United States to reduce greenhouse ment and diagnosis, an MIT professor and gas emissions and prevent the potentially her colleagues have created new nanopar- devastating consequences of global cli- ticles that mimic blood platelets. The team mate change. wants to use these new multifunctional “There’s more interest in this now particles to carry out different medical than at any time in the last 20 years,” says missions inside the body, from imaging to Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmo- drug delivery. spheric Sci- After years ences at MIT, of research, “we who was a lead still treat cancer author of the with surgery, report issued by radiation and the Intergovern- chemotherapy,” mental Panel on said Sangeeta Climate Change Bhatia, an asso- (IPCC). ciate professor The report in MIT’s Depart- issued Feb. 2 in ment of Electri- Paris, a 21-page cal Engineering summary of a and Computer much longer Sangeeta Bhatia Science and the Ronald Prinn study on the sci- Harvard-MIT ence behind cli- PHOTO / DONNA COVENEY Division of Health Sciences and Technolo- mate change, concludes there is a greater gy. “People are now starting to think more than 90 percent chance that greenhouse Molding light waves in terms of ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ that sci-fi gases from human activity are responsi- movie where they miniaturized a surgical ble for most of the steadily rising average An MIT team, including postdoc Peter Rakich (above), has developed a novel way team and injected it into someone.” global temperatures observed in the past to add the power and speed of light waves to traditional electronics. See story on The National Cancer Institute has rec- 50 years. page 5. ognized the value of Bhatia’s work and has “There’s clear evidence that green- awarded her a grant to continue this line of house gases have been increasing by very research. Bhatia and collaborators Michael large amounts since preindustrial times, J. Sailor, chemist and materials scientist at and the vast majority of these increases Microwaves designed for missile detection the University of California at San Diego, are due to human activity,” said Prinn, and Erkki Ruoslahti, tumor biologist at the whose specific task on the panel was to improve breast cancer treatment Burnham Institute for Medical Research, assess this issue. will receive $4.3 million in funding over This is the fourth climate report issued Elizabeth Thomson (Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007), five years. by the IPCC since it was established by the News Office includes a discussion of promising results The grant will allow the team to contin- U.N. in 1988. Prinn, who is the director of from the latest clinical trials of the therapy. ue work on promising nanoparticle solu- MIT’s Center for Global Change Science, Treating cancer with heat is not a new tions that, while not quite miniature surgi- was one of more than 100 lead authors for A breast cancer treatment based on idea, but “researchers were having trouble cal teams, do have the potential to help the three-year study, which involved cli- MIT research originally intended for using it to treat tumors deep within the identify tumors and deliver chemotherapy mate researchers from around the world. detecting missiles is documented in a new body,” said Fenn. Further, it’s difficult to locally. For the first time, the IPCC provides book by Alan J. Fenn, an MIT researcher deliver the heat only to cancer cells with- One solution already underway involves and inventor of the technique. See GLOBAL WARMING The book, “Breast Cancer Treatment See TREATMENT See PARTICLES Page 6 by Focused Microwave Thermotherapy” Page 8 Page 2 NEWS RESEARCH HUMANITIES UPOP ON TOP DEEP STORAGE THING ONE AND THING TWO Undergrad opportunity program celebrates five Storing CO2 below ground may prevent pollution MIT fetes all things Seuss. years, honors alumni service. above. Page 7 Page 2 Page 4 COPERNICUS’ CLOSET “WELLCOME” HOME WHEN SCIENCE MEETS SPIN IAP course offers hands-on lesson in clothing design Richard Hynes named scientific head of major U.K. The 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant crisis in the Middle Ages. charity. decoded. Page 8 Page 7 Page 7 PAGE 2 February 7, 2007 NEWS MIT Tech Talk UPOP 5th anniversary honors alumni service Professor fasts over Nancy DuVergne Smith providing trade order management and Brettman ’69, CEO and director of Dyno- tenure process MIT Alumni Association financial network services, says students gen Pharmaceuticals, encourages stu- can use UPOP to learn about the dynam- dents to expand their understanding of On Monday, Feb. 5, Associate Profes- ics of working with teams of people. For people different from themselves. He sor James L. Sherley began a fast on cam- Each January, about two dozen tech- him, the ability to communicate is the expanded his own intellectual horizons pus to protest both the decision not to pro- savvy alumni return to campus to help most essential skill that young profession- by earning S.B. degrees in biology and mote him to tenure and the outcome of his teach two weeklong boot camps, the als can acquire. UPOP uses boardroom Russian literature. His advice to UPOP previous grievance process. intensive training at the core of the Under- strategy sessions and mock interviews students: “It’s not just what you know, it’s In an e-mail to the community, Vice graduate Practice Opportunities Program to teach effective communication. “You how you communicate with people, how President for Institute Affairs and Secre- (UPOP). The alumni volunteers work with want to have a really clear picture of what you work with people and how you are tary of the MIT Corporation Kirk D. Kolen- more than 250 engineering sophomores the customer needs, what the company’s able to understand where they are coming brander expressed concern for the well- who are developing business and interper- doing and how you’re going to fulfill your from.” being of Sherley and his family. Noting sonal skills they will take to internships part,” he says. To learn more about UPOP, visit web. that President Susan Hockfield and Pro- next summer and, later, into professional Another 2007 alumni volunteer, Lee mit.edu/engineering/upop/. vost L. Rafael Reif had encouraged Sherley life. to seek other means to voice his concerns, To celebrate UPOP’s fifth anniversary he stated that MIT would uphold Sherley’s and honor its major sponsors, program right to express his views in a manner that leaders created the Desh and Jaishree did not disrupt the work of the Institute. Deshpande UPOP Service Award. Three In addressing a gathering of colleagues, volunteers, each with more than 1,000 family and friends outside Hockfield’s hours of UPOP service, received the first office on Monday, Sherley expressed his awards Feb. 2. Two alumni, Paul Edelman hope that the administration would put in ’78 and Mark Herschberg ’95, have vol- place processes by which to recognize and unteered as teaching assistants since the redress racism, when it occurs.