mRNA Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise
Science Friday22 Aug 2025

mRNA Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise

This month, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated almost $500 million in mRNA vaccine development grants and contracts. While HHS has said that these cuts won't affect mRNA cancer research, some researchers have expressed concern about the impact on their ongoing work. In light of these developments, we’re revisiting a conversation from February.

A team at Memorial Sloan Kettering is developing an mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat. A few years ago, the team embarked on a small trial to test the vaccine’s safety. Sixteen patients with pancreatic cancer received it, and half of them had a strong immune response. A follow-up study found that in six of those patients, the cancer hadn’t relapsed after three years.

Host Flora Lichtman spoke to study author Vinod Balachandran about the work, which has not yet been affected by the cuts, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Guest: Dr. Vinod Balachandran is an associate attending surgeon and Director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1380)

Colorado’s snow drought deals a major blow to recreation

Colorado’s snow drought deals a major blow to recreation

Winter in Colorado looked very different this year. Many parts of the state experienced record-high temperatures and record-low snowpack, which had downstream effects on farming, sports, tourism, and ...

17 Aug 11min

How do you find a ‘lost’ species?

How do you find a ‘lost’ species?

The earth is facing a biodiversity crisis, and there’s a lot of attention on species that are threatened, or at risk of dying out completely. But, there’s another critter category that’s a little more...

14 Aug 18min

What we get wrong about vaccine hesitancy

What we get wrong about vaccine hesitancy

President Trump has signed an executive order calling for a change to the childhood vaccination schedule. Specifically, he wants to separate the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and...

13 Aug 12min

Why this lab studies the speed of bug pee and other curiosities

Why this lab studies the speed of bug pee and other curiosities

In a lab in the Rocky Mountains, a group of scientists is hard at work trying to find answers across biology, physics, and engineering: They’re looking into things like the hydrodynamics of insect pee...

12 Aug 18min

Some primates undergo even more extreme childbirth than humans

Some primates undergo even more extreme childbirth than humans

Human childbirth is often difficult and incredibly painful—just ask anyone who’s been through it. And for a long time, childbirth seemed to be uniquely difficult for humans. But a new study suggests t...

11 Aug 11min

Deb Haaland is a politician, and proud of it

Deb Haaland is a politician, and proud of it

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was the first Native person to hold a cabinet position. Now she’s running to be governor of New Mexico.  Haaland joins Host ...

10 Aug 17min

Sitting all day is terrible for us. Moving a little can help

Sitting all day is terrible for us. Moving a little can help

Keeping your butt in a seat for hours a day increases the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, psychiatric conditions, and more. But in our tech-filled world, many of us lead sedentary lives, whether beca...

7 Aug 18min

A Nagasaki survivor and physician recounts his life's work

A Nagasaki survivor and physician recounts his life's work

Dr. Masao Tomonaga was only 2 years old when the United States bombed his home city of Nagasaki. He survived, and grew up to become a physician for other survivors, known as hibakusha. He also studied...

6 Aug 18min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
tingenes-tilstand
romkapsel
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
liberal-halvtime
rekommandert
jss
villmarksliv
dekodet-2
abels-tarn
sinnsyn
vett-og-vitenskap-med-gaute-einevoll
fjellsportpodden
rss-overskuddsliv
rss-rekommandert
rss-paradigmepodden
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
diagnose
rss-inn-til-kjernen-med-sunniva-rose
nordnorsk-historie