DTN 039: Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment with CAR T

Plus: A new asteroid mining method, solar cell prices plunge to all time low, an alien-hunting aerogel core fission fragment rocket engine, and more.

November 05, 2023

The Big Picture

“Over the past few years, the treatment of some hard-to-treat blood cancers has been revolutionized by therapies based on engineered T cells, which leverage the patient’s own immune system to destroy cancerous cells. But until recently researchers haven’t had much luck developing these T-cell therapies—called CAR T—for solid tumors, which make up the vast majority of cancer diagnoses. New trial results, however, suggest that scientists are finally making some headway with next-generation CAR T therapies. Last week, BioNTech presented preliminary results from a clinical study of one called BNT211 at the European Society for Medical Oncology conference in Madrid. The team treated 44 people with solid tumors, mostly ovarian and germ-cell cancers, with varying doses of CAR T cells and, in some cases, a vaccine to help boost the therapy. Among 38 people for whom there was enough data to assess how well the treatment worked, 45% responded, meaning their tumors shrank or disappeared altogether. The presentation focused on a different group of 27 participants who received a higher dose of the treatment. In that group, the researchers saw an even better response rate: nearly 60%.” (MIT Tech Review)

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JPEG of the Week

Blue light shining onto a human hand.

In January, Positron Dynamics was awarded a Phase 1 NIAC award from NASA to develop a Aerogel Core Fission Fragment Rocket Engine.

Aerogels (pictured above) are a class of synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas, without collapse of the gel structure. Positron Dynamics proposed developing a “nuclear fission fragment rocket engine (FFRE) that is exponentially more propellent efficient than rocket engines currently used to power today’s space vehicles.” The engine would use superconducting magnets to contain the fission fragments as the fuel breaks apart and direct them out the nozzle, generating thrust with extreme efficiency. Positron Dynamics proposed using the FFRE for sending a telescope to the “solar gravitational lens” approximately 542 AUs from the Sun to image potentially habitable exoplanets at unprecedented resolution. With existing propulsion technology this mission would take more than 100 years; with the FFRE, it could be accomplished in as few as 15. (via NASA)

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