No, this is not science fiction. In clinical trials, patients with early phase chronic myelogenous leukemia are taking a pill that stops the disease in its tracks for at least 18 months. The pill contains a molecule that artfully intervenes in a cell-signaling process gone awry. And this remarkable result, scientists believe, is the first of many to come. So in the halls of biochemistry, pharmacology, medicine, radiation oncology, and other departments on campus, there is a sense of urgency, of dramas unfolding.
Ideas pinball around from lab to lab.
And everyone involved seems to run on adrenaline. Harden, for one, is the kind of guy who will leap up from his chair and flip the lights on and off as he s explaining a molecular switch. Not all of the details sink in, but the fascination does. Here is a bit of the story, as we understand it, so far. All rights reserved.