After 18 months being incubated by Versant Ventures, upstart Repare Therapeutics has emerged from stealth mode with an impressive $68 million, backing from Celgene and some big-name execs. The Montreal and Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech saw founding investor Versant Ventures co-lead the series A round with MPM Capital. They were also joined by other syndicate investors … Continued
Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have received two grants from the Sohn Conference Foundation to advance their investigation into how cancer spreads in children. Dr. David Lyden, the Stavros S. Niarchos Professor in Pediatric Cardiology and a professor of pediatrics, Dr. Haiying Zhang, an assistant professor of cell and … Continued
Some people struggle to find their paths in life. Not Chris Mason, PhD, Associate Professor and geneticist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. He had already determined he wanted to be a geneticist by the time he reached eighth grade. “I was—and still am—a curious kid. I wanted to know how the world … Continued
Ali Brivanlou slides open a glass door at the Rockefeller University in New York to show off his latest experiments probing the mysteries of the human embryo. “As you can see, all my lab is glass — just to make sure there is nothing that happens in some dark rooms that gives people some weird … Continued
President Obama calls the quest to cure cancer the “moon shot” of his presidency. But if the federal government has its way, this rocket may never leave the launchpad.
Geneticist Jennifer Doudna on the controversy about Crispr-Cas9, a technique that could potentially cure genetic diseases.
A Proposal from FasterCures by Melissa Stevens (Milken Institute Review) - In the past few years, the media has showered us with headlines about recordsetting biotech financing – outsized venture-capital rounds, unprecedented public market appetite for IPOs, and robust sector returns. But a closer look suggests there is more froth than substance at this frontier of medicine and science.
For the National Institutes of Health and its supporters, 2015 could turn out to be a pretty good year. As Congress continues negotiations on a mammoth omnibus spending package, advocates are hopeful that their favored institution is becoming a congressional priority again—and that an extended period of uncertainty may be coming to a close.
WASHINGTON — One day last winter, desperate as his son fought for his life against a killer brain cancer, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family reached out to one of America’s most famous, and controversial, doctors for help.
By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) – New therapies that clinical data show can eliminate blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma in 40 percent to 90 percent of patients may have to be genetically modified to include a switch that shields healthy cells from attack.