25 March 2011
Last night Malaghan Institute scientists Dr Bridget Stocker and Janice Cheng spoke to Ruth Beran on Radio New Zealand's Our Changing World programme about their work in developing more effective glycolipid adjuvants for use in cancer immunotherapy.
Summary of the interview (copied from Our Changing World website):
"Adjuvants are compounds that stimulate the body's immune system to fight diseases such as viruses or cancers. They are an essential ingredient in vaccines, and with colleagues at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Bridget Stocker and PhD student Janice Cheng are developing better adjuvants for personalised cancer vaccines.
Bridget Stocker heads the Immunoglycomics Research Group and is particularly interested in the role carbohydrates play in the immune response. The adjuvants being developed are glycolipids, and by synthesising a green fluorescent version of the glycolipid, it is hoped to better understand how they work and thereby develop better vaccines.
On Tuesday 22 March, Bridget Stocker spoke in New Plymouth as part of the Marie Curie Lecture Series - a year-long national tour of talks by female New Zealand chemists in honour of Curie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry."
You can listen to Bridget's and Janice's interview by clicking here.
Click here to listen to a previous Our Changing World story on the development of personalised cancer vaccines at the Malaghan Institute, and here for a story on sorting cells.