In Greek mythology, the first woman Pandora, driven by curiosity, opens a box given to her husband Epimetheus by Zeus, king of the gods. She ends up setting loose all sorts of miseries on the world, becoming the source of humanity’s unhappiness.
Christmas is still more than two months away, but it was the season of giving few weeks ago – the Nobel Prizes, to be more specific. This year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison of the MD Anderson Cancer Center and Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation”. Their discovery, made in the 90s, was the keystone for further work by other scientists, who built upon Allison and Honjo’s work to make cancer immunotherapy a viable treatment option today.
Curious about how cancer immunotherapy works? Then read on!
The traditional bastions of scientific research have normally been found in the West, in places such as the United States and Europe. But now the tides are shifting. Asian research is quickly catching up to its Western counterpart. Countries such as China and South Korea are distinguishing themselves through a booming research sector, in addition to their flourishing economies.