Daniel Heller

Engineering macrophages for cancer immunotherapy: emerging insights and therapeutic potential - npj Biomedical Innovations npj Biomedical Innovations - Engineering macrophages for cancer immunotherapy: emerging insights and therapeutic potential

I’m pleased to share our lab’s first paper (a review), highlighting new insights into macrophages, their mechanobiology, and cancer therapeutic potential through both genetic and non-genetic approaches. @jacobsschool.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Nature Nanotechnology journal cover showing a carbon nanotube-based quantum well nanosensor surrounded by red blood cells.

On the cover of this month's issue of Nature Nanotechnology! Our nanosensor + AI-based liquid biopsy (blood test) for brain tumors that also enables the discovery of new biomarkers. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A rev in Ther Adv Med Onc highlights the unique challenges of early breast cancer in young BRCA carriers-covering surveillance, risk‑reducing surgery, PARP‑based therapy, fertility considerations, and survivorship needs. 🔗https://buff.ly/6fj4pvT
#BreastCancer #BRCA #Oncology #YoungPatients

Analysis of 346 BCBM cases from the GEICAM RegistEM registry reveals faster CNS progression and poorer survival in TNBC and HER2+ subtypes, with major differences between de novo vs subsequent brain metastases.
🔗 buff.ly/74yHwuH
#BreastCancer #BrainMets #HER2 #TNBC #RealWorldEvidence

279 postdoctoral fellowships!

Download freely our database of postdoctoral fellowships and grants. For each entry, we provide eligibility criteria, $ amount, deadline, etc.

Good luck!

Here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

New preprint on technologies to scale up CRISPR screens.

We use them to map 665,856 pairwise genetic perturbations and outline a path to comprehensive interaction mapping in human cells.

We also introduce an approach for cloning lentiviral libraries with billions of elements.

Small intracellular vesicles outperform small extracellular vesicles in uptake, drug delivery and retinal neuroprotection - Nature Biomedical Engineering A protocol to isolate small intracellular vesicles from human cells is reported; these are molecularly distinct from small extracellular vesicles and show superior therapeutic potential in retinal deg...

We've all heard of EVs for drug delivery, but what about intracellular vesicles?

Small intracellular vesicles outperform small extracellular vesicles in uptake, drug delivery and retinal neuroprotection | Nature Biomedical Engineering share.google/xWrOtYU4ElbJ...

New Liquid Biopsy Uses AI and Nanosensors To Diagnose Brain Tumors Learn about a blood test using carbon nanotubes that could potentially detect brain tumors.

Thanks to MSKCC for supporting and explaining our work to detect brain cancers earlier with nanosensor/AI “machine perception” so that they are easier to treat, and hopefully cure!
www.mskcc.org/news/new-liq...

Thanks Arde for highlighting our paper!!

Tumor microenvironment–targeted PROTAC nanoparticle self-assembly broadly predicted by structural descriptors Nanoparticles targeted to solid tumor vasculature improve the pharmacologic properties of PROTACs.

2. A new publication in 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 from Dr. @danielheller.bsky.social's team at @mskcancercenter.bsky.social on their work on nanoparticle drug delivery to improve the pharmacologic properties of PROTACs.

Dr. Heller is past ACS Research Scholar Grantee!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Tumor microenvironment–targeted PROTAC nanoparticle self-assembly broadly predicted by structural descriptors Nanoparticles targeted to solid tumor vasculature improve the pharmacologic properties of PROTACs.

Congrats to our team on building a technology that enables virtually all PROTAC protein degrader drugs to be delivered to tumors! “Tumor microenvironment–targeted PROTAC nanoparticle self-assembly broadly predicted by structural descriptors” | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Image showing nanoparticles sequestering drugs in the lysosome for an extended period, as compared to the free drug which diffuses freely out of compartments/cells.

Congratulations to former lab members Chen Chen, @anamarieperea.bsky.social, and colleagues who found that nanoparticles can take advantage of the lysosome to sequester drugs to control/prolong their release into the cell and increase anti-tumor efficacy! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

I’ve already highlighted this landmark #lipidtime paper by @nadlerlab.bsky.social & colleagues, but ICYMI, do read André’s thread — this study is a huge leap forward in understanding the logic of intracellular lipid flux & is a phenomenal example of #chembio probes 🤝 quantitative imaging 🤝 modeling!

On the Power of Small Acts of Noncompliance At a moment when large-scale resistance can feel futile,
there are other ways to oppose, engage, and fight back.

Read this, read it again, breath the words into your lungs, and then go live them.

This is our mission.

www.thenation.com/article/acti...

Proofs just hit!

👇

Phospholipase PAFAH2 Mediates Ferroptosis Surveillance and Lipid Remodeling to Promote Resistance in KEAP1 Mutant Cancers Although ferroptosis resistance is prevalent among many cancer cell types, precisely how ferroptosis surveillance mechanisms are induced remains elusive due to the heterogeneity of the cellular mutational status and metabolic states. Here, we find that phospholipase PAFAH2 regulates ferroptosis through its unique ability to specifically detoxify membrane-bound oxidized phospholipids in KEAP1 mutant and NRF2-active cancer cells. We show that the genetic or chemical perturbation of PAFAH2 is sufficient to sensitize KEAP1 mutant lung adenocarcinoma cells to ferroptosis. Lipidomic analyses reveal that PAFAH2 inhibition shifts the cellular lipidome to a distinctly ferroptosis state characterized by the enrichment of key phospholipids previously identified to be important in ferroptosis, like ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamines. Finally, we comparatively assessed the antitumor efficacy of PAFAH2 inhibitor monotherapy versus cotreatment with a nanoparticle-stabilized GPX4 inhibitor formulation. Our findings support that the broad applicability of PAFAH2 inhibition can be used in ferroptosis induction and abrogation of ferroptosis resistance across cancer types.

Congrats to recent grad Stephen Ruiz and colleagues on our lab’s paper describing a new cancer target, and a new nanotherapeutic strategy to use it to treat patients! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

EU augments opportunities for scientists around the world to launch or re-launch their careers in Europe.

The current administration’s narrative that Harvard (and all universities) feel “entitled” to federal dollars misleads the public. Nor are these funds a “privilege” 1/n

Young, Pottinger Op-Ed: Funding for R&D Isn’t a Gift to Academia. It's Vital to U.S. Security. - Senator Young The following column by Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Matthew Pottinger, Former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States, was published in The Washington Post on March 24, 2025. By Sena...

Important message. Also important to remember that federal funding for science isn’t “given” to university laboratories - it is awarded based on highly competitive process, profs spend months/years on proposals that are reviewed by experts, most are rejected.

www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

🧪 ICYMI: $25,000 bridge funding for terminated NSF grants.

Major props for to the Spencer, Sloan, W. T. Grant, and Kapor Foundations for their swift action, even though we (and they) know this is a band-aid fix.

Due May 30. Applications are brief: a 2-3 page memo of 6-month plans & other docs.

Oh and we still have a scientist role open at our Encapsys location in Wisconsin doing encapsulation chemistry! #chemsky #chemjobs

A graphic for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), showing a historical portrait of Marie Skłodowska-Curie overlaid with an image of four young researchers walking down a hallway. The European Commission logo is in the top left. Text reads: "Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – €404.3 million to support postdoctoral researchers”

Choose Science. Choose Europe.

A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open.

With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond.

Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

Leading from within...

The NSF Is Being Dismantled — With Broad Implications For The American Economy The economic consequences of cuts to the National Science Foundation and restricting scientific inquiry on this scale could be far-reaching.

“The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — hardly a partisan institution — finds that nondefense government R&D yields long-run economic returns of 150% to 300% …“Our findings therefore point to a misallocation of public capital, and substantial underinvestment in nondefense R&D.”

The pact of the federal govt with universities was not a handout. It was a strategic decision to boost US leadership in technology, defense, and health. And it paid dividends. In tech, internet, in cancer drugs (for example), No other sector has invested in high risk high reward ideas like US govt.

Opinion | The Science I Would Be Doing if I Weren’t in ICE Detention

gift link

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

Ok, time to help us fill the map!

www.standupforscience.net/summer-fight...

Microflyering — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

www.standupforscience.net/microflyering

You can find flyers here!

At the end of this summer, the future of U.S. science and research will be decided.

From weather alerts to cancer breakthroughs, science shapes every part of our lives.
We need everyone in this fight.

The Summer Fight for Science starts now. Are you in?

The fight starts here: bit.ly/4ddiuqU

In the words of @cdelawalla.bsky.social - It's time to Get In, Dorks!

And if you're in CO and want help, DM me, let's stand up for science! This is not unachievable if we stand together.