Sat Aug 02 05:12:44 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the provided text, written in a straightforward, informative style:
**Harvard Scientists Use AI to Boost Immunity, Potentially Revolutionizing Cancer and Vaccine Development**
**GUWAHATI, August 2, 2025** – In a groundbreaking development, a team of Harvard scientists has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to design proteins that significantly enhance the production of immune cells, potentially revolutionizing the fight against cancer and viral infections. The research, published in the journal *Cell*, details how AI-designed proteins can activate Notch signaling, a critical pathway for T cell development.
The team, led by Assam native Dr. Rubul Mout, engineered a synthetic activator of Notch signaling, which plays a crucial role in cellular differentiation and is essential for transforming human immune progenitors into T cells. The earlier method of activating Notch signalling in laboratory settings by immobilising Notch ligands on tissue culture dishes is not applicable for therapeutic use in humans. The quest for a viable, soluble activator of Notch signalling that could work in vivo (inside a living body) made the team develop a library of custom-designed soluble Notch agonists and systematically test their ability to activate the Notch pathway and support T cell development and function.
“In response to viral infections or cancer, the body requires a higher production of T cells to mount an effective immune defense. However, this process depends on the activation of the Notch signalling pathway, for which no effective molecular activators have been available,” explained Dr. Mout.
Using AI-driven protein design technologies, the researchers demonstrated the large-scale generation of T cells in a laboratory bioreactor. This advancement is particularly significant given the increasing demand for T cell production in hospitals for CAR T cell-based cancer immunotherapies. Moreover, when the agonists were injected into mice during vaccination, the animals displayed significantly improved T cell responses, indicating an enhanced immune response. The treatment resulted in increased production of memory T cells, which are crucial for the long-term impact of vaccines.
The study highlights the potential of this technology in immunotherapy, vaccine development, and immune cell regeneration. Dr. Mout added, “What excites me the most is using this technology to engineer synthetic proteins that simultaneously bridge T cells and cancer cells, boost T cell-mediated killing, and neutralize the immunosuppressive tumor micro-environment. Our goal is to develop next-generation immunotherapies and cancer vaccines.”
The collaborative effort involved 24 scientists, including prominent figures like George Daley, Dean of Harvard Medical School, and Nobel laureate David Baker, whose work in AI-driven protein design contributed significantly to this breakthrough. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute also contributed to the study.
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