Margaret Smith is a Chicago-based writer and editor with a passion for storytelling about her community. When not wordsmithing, she enjoys swimming in Lake Michigan, visiting museums and watching horror films.
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Research as a Team Sport
Photo by Max ThomsenResearch & Innovation
UP Oncolytics is one of more than a dozen companies operating out of Helix 51, Rosalind Franklin University’s bioscience incubator, where it is researching therapies for glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer.
“Our main project is collaborating on breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) research with Erin Howe, PhD (right; an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at RFU),” says Parvez Akhtar, PhD (left), chief scientific officer and co-founder of UP Oncolytics. “We have known Dr. Howe since day one when we moved into Helix 51, and our team needed somebody who specializes in that aspect of BCBM.”
The UP Oncolytics/RFU team is studying whether oncolytic viruses — a type of virus that destroys cancer cells — can be used in the treatment of BCBM, given their effective use in killing other types of brain-cancer cells.
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Published October 2, 2026
