By Alice McCarthy

A recent paper published in New England Journal of Medicine reveals that treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with hypomethylating agents (HMAs) activates a sleeping oncogene, leading to poorer survival. This discovery raises the possibility that early treatment with...

Fernando Camargo recognized for pioneering scientific contributions and outstanding leadership

Fernando Camargo, Ph.D., has been named as the inaugural Regenerative Biology Endowed Chair by the Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) Department of Pediatrics, in recognition of his pioneering scientific contributions and outstanding leadership. Camargo is a professor in the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) and Harvard Medical School (HMS)...

Novel delivery system for tissue-regenerative molecules enables local, sustained release for greater efficacy

A group of researchers, led by HSCI Co-Director David Scadden, MD, has shown that bone cells pass packets of genetic material directly to bone progenitors, increasing blood production and stimulating the immune cells necessary to fight infection. ... Read more about A new signaling system for blood regeneration

HSCI researchers identify mechanism with therapeutic potential for anemia

HSCI scientists find that signaling defects can influence red blood cell traits

The field of genetics has made huge strides over the past couple of decades, from the first sequencing of the human genome to a growing understanding of the machinery that turns genes on and off —...

HSCI co-director David Scadden is part of a multi-institutional, cross-disciplinary team that has been awarded a $14.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The team is using gene and cell therapy approaches to develop a potential cure for HIV.

The researchers will combine gene editing against HIV with technologies for safer and more effective blood stem cell transplants. Such transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, are currently used for severe blood cancers. They renew a patient’s immune system, which can be damaged by cancer therapies, by...

Harvard researchers target chemotherapy-resistant leukemia by using metabolism

HSCI scientists develop CRISPR-based tool for lineage tracing

A new mouse model allows scientists to track every cell in the body, from the embryo stage until adulthood. The system, published in the journal Cell, could yield a greater understanding of development, aging, and disease.

“The dream of many developmental biologists for decades is a way to reconstruct every single...

HSCI principal faculty member Stuart Orkin, M.D. is the recipient of the 2020 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine. The award, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.

Orkin is the David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He is being recognized for breakthrough discoveries about red blood cells that offer...

HSCI researchers have identified potential drugs to treat telomere diseases such as dyskeratosis congenita (DC), in which cells age prematurely. The researchers tested over 100,000 compounds on patient stem cells, and identified several drugs that restored  the cells’ telomeres — the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that regulate how cells age.

“We envision these to be a new class of oral medicines that target stem cells throughout the body,” said Suneet Agarwal, an HSCI principal faculty member at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We expect restoring telomeres in...

Live imaging of blood stem cells reveals that location matters in the bone marrow

Biomaterial-based vaccine protects against acute myeloid leukemia in mice

There are many more cell types than you might think. In your liver, for example, the cells in one section may be different than those in another. But researchers have only a general idea of how stem cells differentiate into broad categories (like “liver”) and divide to make new cells.

Understanding each different cell type – and how it interacts with its neighbors over time – is one of the greatest challenges in biomedical research.

A new study led by HSCI researcher Vijay...