Abstract
Modern medicine has become increasingly integral within everyday society, creating a direct connection between medical scientists and the general public. How can that connection be employed to both serve and disservice society?
It is estimated that 1 in 8 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Currently, standard of care treatments carry significant physical burdens to the patient. Despite demonstrating extensive promise as a noninvasive and effective treatment of liquid cancers, chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy has faced immense barriers in the milieu of solid tumor cancers, including breast cancer. Through the use of thermal focused ultrasound, we have demonstrated the potential to overcome some of these key barriers in a triple negative breast cancer model while remaining non-invasive, non-ionizing, and highly targeted. Fundamentally, this work presents the novel and successful creation of an in vitro assay capable of interrogating this combinatorial across a wide range of malignancies, laying the preliminary groundwork for a revolutionary enhancement of solid tumor cancer therapy.
It is widely accepted that the COVID-19 vaccinations eroded many Americans’ trust in medical and scientific authority. What is less understood, however, are the specific sociotechnical mechanisms responsible for this outcome. Through the analysis of studies and commentaries, it was discerned that governmental organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and media institutions were the most impactful of the many contributive factors. In understanding these key actors, their intersections, and how they interact with the general public, this essential trust can begin to be restored, and society can be better suited for health crises of the future.
