News

Viktor Adalsteinsson

KI alum Viktor Adalsteinsson develops liquid biopsies to detect cancer

Slice of MIT

March 6, 2024

Cancer patients who undergo surgery are often left with a frightening question: Did the surgeons get all the cancerous cells? No one wants a recurrence of disease, but additional treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy have significant side effects. That’s why Viktor Adalsteinsson PhD ’15 has been developing tools to support better-informed treatment decisions: so-called “liquid biopsies” that can detect the presence of cancer from a simple blood test.

Filter by

Filter by Title/Description

Filter by Topic

Filter by Year

Showing 31–40 of 537 stories

Best in Picture Show

Nature

December 11, 2023

Nature chose KI Image Award winner, “Tail as Old as Time,” as one of their best science images of 2023. Created by Jaclyn Fingerhut in the Yamashita Lab at the Whitehead Institute, the image tracks the incredible morphological changes that fruit fly germ cells undergo to produce some of the longest sperm in the animal kingdom, ~2mm.
 

Picking Up the Pace for the Cima Lab Pretzel

Johnson & Johnson

December 4, 2023

The FDA granted its Breakthrough Designation to expedite development and review of Johnson & Johnson’s TAR-200 implant. Originally developed in the Cima Lab to make treating bladder cancer safer, more effective and less costly, the device is currently in clinical trials to replace standard regimens with continuously administered gemcitabine in the bladder.

MIT’s Tiny Technologies Go to Washington

MIT Koch Institute

December 4, 2023

A team from the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine showed a Washington D.C. audience several examples of how nanotechnologies developed at the Koch Institute can transform the detection and treatment of cancer and other diseases. At "American Possibilities: A White House Demo Day,” principal research scientist Ana Jaklenec highlighted several groundbreaking technologies developed her group to improve vaccines and disease diagnostics and treatment. Jeremy Li, CEO and co-founder of Cision Vision and former Belcher Lab postdoc, presented a lymph node imaging device that has been named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023 and is currently being used in a dozen hospitals across the U.S.
 

The Sweet Side of Cell Biology

MIT News

December 1, 2023

As a field, glycoscience—the study of the carbohydrates and sugar-coated molecules found in every living organism—is in the midst of a renaissance that could reshape scientists' understanding of the building blocks of life and the drivers of disease. An MIT News explainer gives a taste of the sweet science pursued around campus, including  research into glycans’ critical roles in normal and cancer biology by KI investigators Laura Kiessling, Tobi Oni, and Jessica Stark.

Immune Action at a Distance

MIT News

November 30, 2023

The Traverso Lab developed a gel-based platform for injecting immune-stimulating drugs directly into tumors. Ideally, direct injection of these drugs into a tumor will provoke a system-wide immune response, while avoiding the serious toxic side effects of systemic administration. In practice, tumors are difficult to target with precision and the drugs tend to leak away from the tumor too quickly. The team worked with colleagues at Mass General Brigham to design a thermoresponsive gel that is visible with a CT scanner, solidifies after injection, and releases drugs at a controlled rate. An Advanced Healthcare Materials study showed that in combination with checkpoint blockade therapy, the platform caused both treated tumors and untreated tumors at other locations to regress in mouse models.

Congratulations to our 2023 Karches Prize Winners

MIT Koch Institute

November 28, 2023

The annual Peter Karches Mentorship Prize recognizes the exemplary mentorship of up to four postdoctoral researchers, graduate students or technicians from across Koch Institute laboratories. This year’s recipients are Ryuhjin (Angela) Ahn, Mushriq Al-Jazrawe, Colin Fowler, and B.J. Kim. Congratulations to all!

Multi-Molecule Tracker

MIT News

November 28, 2023

Using fluorescent labels that switch on and off, the Boyden Lab has developed a method for simultaneously tracking several molecular interactions inside the cell. The technique, described in Cell, could help researchers better understand what happens inside cells, including in diseases such as cancer.

KI Faculty Members win Mark Foundation ASPIRE Award

The Mark Foundation

November 15, 2023

Cheers to the Koch Institute's four recipients of the 2023 Mark Foundation Aspire Award! Darrell Irvine and Dane Wittrup received an award for their project, “Induction of Tumor-Eradicating Systemic Immunity via Leukocyte-Targeted Cytokine Therapy.” Regina Barzilay and Tyler Jacks won an award in support their work to develop “AI-Driven Modeling of T Cell Receptors.”

Birnbaum Named Pew Innovation Fund Investigator

MIT News

November 14, 2023

Congratulations to Michael Birnbaum on being named a Pew Innovation Fund Investigator. Together with co-winner Dan Littman, he will investigate how microbes and antigens drive harmful immune responses in the gut in inflammatory bowel disease.

In Memoriam, Dr. Arthur Gelb, 1937-2023

MIT Koch Institute

November 14, 2023

With sadness, the KI marks the passing of long-time supporter Art Gelb, ScD ’61 (XVI), whose advocacy and philanthropy played key roles in the launch of the Bridge Project. The Bridge Project launched shortly after the opening of the Koch Institute and has continued to grow, enabling work by dozens of teams who are developing notable advances in cancer detection, monitoring, and treatment. We gratefully acknowledge Gelb’s vision, commitment, and generosity, and are honored to be part of his living legacy via the Bridge Project.