Power Drugs
Problems with mitochondria – cells’ tiny energy-producing units – can cause illnesses as diverse as cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Volkmar Weissig, a pharmaceutical scientist at Northeastern University, says he’s devised the first drug delivery system that can shuttle a drug through a cell to target its mitochondria. Weissig coats drugs in a common antibacterial compound; the positively charged coating is attracted to the mitochondria, which are the most negatively charged parts of the cell. In a recent experiment with mice, Weissig found that tumors treated with the coated version of the cancer drug Taxol grew only half as much as those treated with the uncoated drug. Weissig says he could also use the approach to shuttle DNA to the mitochondria, a possible basis for gene therapy to correct mutations in mitochondrial DNA – which have been implicated in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. A Boston startup company, MitoVec, plans to couple Weissig’s technology with several existing cancer drugs and begin testing it in humans in two to three years.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google
Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.