Harvard attracts federal funding, supports economy
Federal research funding is a key driver for the advances in scientific knowledge that deepen our understanding of intractable diseases, hasten new treatments, and improve our daily lives. Allon Klein, associate professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), used federal monies to help propel a breakthrough in how researchers analyze cells in the body. His newly developed device lets researchers analyze single cells in large numbers, helping them understand diseases and where to intervene. “It’s rare that a disease only affects a single cell type, and a good example of that is cancer, where inside a tumor there is much more than just the cancer cells themselves,” Klein said. “They would not be able to survive without being fed from blood vessels, and they interact with immune cells, and with cells that lay down the matrix on which tumors grow. “We can already see tremendous uptake of single-cell technologies in disease...