Resistance is Fertile: Studying Neuron Sensitivity in Culture

Resistance is Fertile: Studying Neuron Sensitivity in Culture

Collections: Image Award Winners, Precision Cancer Medicine

2015 Award Winner

Carrie Margulies, Leona D. Samson

Koch Institute at MIT, MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences, MIT Department of Biological Engineering, MIT Department of Biology

Why are some cells more resistant to treatment than others? The cloudy region on the right in this image shows undifferentiated stem cells, which display remarkable sensitivity to DNA-damaging chemotherapy when the repair protein ‘Aag’ is deleted from their genetic make-up. Once they differentiate into neurons, however, the same genetic deletion makes them resistant. Researchers are studying the development of these neurons (green) to determine why and how this switch in sensitivity occurs. They plan to apply this model to other cell types to create a more comprehensive picture of why cancer treatments succeed or fail.

See a related image from this project here.

Video

Carrie Margulies shares the story behind "Resistance is Fertile."

You can also watch her presentation from the the 2015 Image Awards exhibition opening event on March 10, 2015 or the image's teaser video on the Koch Institute's Facebook page.

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