Donna was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 66 when she and her husband were visiting one of their daughters in Australia. When they returned to the U.S., they immediately came to MSK for care, where she learned she was eligible for an investigational vaccine trial, to prevent pancreatic cancer from returning after surgery. MSK hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon Dr. @Jeffrey_Drebin, physician-scientist @TheVinodLab, and medical oncologist @EileenMOReilly walked Donna through each step. “They described how they would take part of my tumor to make a personalized vaccine, and it sounded amazing,” Donna says. “My husband and I had a moment of concern about delaying chemotherapy, but all the doctors made me feel so comfortable that we took the leap of faith and said, ‘Go for it.’” Over the next few months, Donna received an immunotherapy drug and eight doses of the vaccine, followed by chemotherapy, and then a final vaccine dose. Today, Donna is 72 and recently celebrated her 50th anniversary with her husband in Sicily and spends as much time as she can with her daughters and six grandchildren. Learn more about this clinical trial, presented at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting: bit.ly/3QuIiaL #AACR26

Long term follow up of a phase 1 trial of an mRNA tumor vaccine shows that 7/8 patients with pancreatic cancer, who mounted an immune response to the vaccine, are still alive 6 years later. This is breathtaking data and shows the promise of mRNA vaccines. nbcnews.com/health/cancer/pa…

Over the last decade, computational oncologist Dr. @bengrbm has tried to shed light on the innate immune system and how it affects cancer cells as they evolve. One important aspect is a phenomenon called “viral mimicry,” caused by repetitive DNA sequences. Now Dr. Greenbaum’s lab, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, has developed a mathematical model to quantify viral mimicry based on methods from statistical physics, machine learning, and the dynamics of evolution. “A better understanding of what activates the innate immune system can help us figure out how to improve immunotherapies,” says Dr. Greenbaum. Learn more about this research: bit.ly/4h1BjPG

Yet more brilliance from @themis_brown - its been a joy to have a front-row seat watching her group essentially rewrite the textbook on early life immunity. Kudos to one of the best scientists and human beings that I am fortuate to know! science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

TIME's new cover: Meet this year's #TIME100Health, a community of leaders—scientists, doctors, advocates, educators, and policy-makers, among others—who are changing the health of the world. ti.me/43802LZ