Researches looking to create vaccines to help prevent and treat cancers are seeing some promising results
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For researchers looking to create a vaccination against certain types of cancer, some early tests are offering hope. Doctors across the country, including here in Pennsylvania, are looking at how vaccinations could help people with early stage cancers and those at a high risk.
Dr. Olivera Finn is an immunologist and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. She’s been researching cancer vaccines since 1993 and says many advancements have been made since her early research. Now, Finn says there are a variety of technologies she and other researchers can use to develop vaccines and test their efficacy.
“We start with something that is absolutely the safest, but it may not be the most effective,” explains Finn. “For example, in addition to a very mild vaccine that we are now giving, we can give a much stronger vaccine with a much stronger composition to induce a much stronger immune response.”
Finn says while much research is focused on therapeutic vaccines, preventing further development in people who have cancer, she’s interested in creating an “intercepting” vaccine, one that prevents cancer in those who may be predisposed to the disease.
Jewish Family and Community Services is using federal grant to run citizenship services
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The Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh is one of three organizations in the commonwealth that received a federal grant to support Citizenship Instruction and Naturalization Application Services.
“We have a legal immigration department and we specialize in helping folks with immigration law issues. And, technically, you don't need a lawyer… But it can be a source of comfort for people who are nervous or for people that, again, struggle with English not being their first language,” says Jamie Englert, the director of immigration legal services at JFCS.
The organization received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Englert says JFCS intends to use the grant to serve more than 220 applicants with representation in the citizenship process and more than 200 students in citizenship instruction over the next two years.
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