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Artifacts from a half century of cancer research

MIT Koch Institute

November 21, 2024

Throughout 2024, the Koch Institute has celebrated 50 years of MIT’s cancer research program and the individuals who have shaped its journey. In honor of this milestone anniversary year, the Koch Institute celebrated the opening of a new exhibition: Object Lessons: Celebrating 50 Years of Cancer Research at MIT in 10 Items. Object Lessons invites the public to explore significant artifacts—from one of the earliest PCR machines, developed in the lab of Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz, to Greta, a groundbreaking zebrafish from the lab of Professor Nancy Hopkins—in the half century of discoveries and advancements that have positioned MIT at the forefront of the fight against cancer.  

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Showing 1–10 of 585 stories

Bridging Science and Human Impact

MIT News

December 23, 2024

Giovanni Traverso, featured on MIT News, reflects on his early passion for molecular genetics and how it shaped his interdisciplinary career focused on improving human health. Leading the Laboratory for Translational Engineering, Giovanni's team is pioneering biomedical technologies that aim to help people.      

Pumped for Progress  

MIT News

December 5, 2024

Traditional gastric balloons used for weight loss often lose effectiveness as the body adapts to their presence. Giovanni tackled this challenge by creating a wearable pump that adjusts the balloon’s size, allowing it to expand before meals to curb appetite, and deflate afterward. This study, published in Device, reduced daily food intake by 60% in animals.  

Artifacts from a half century of cancer research

MIT Koch Institute

November 21, 2024

Throughout 2024, the Koch Institute has celebrated 50 years of MIT’s cancer research program and the individuals who have shaped its journey. In honor of this milestone anniversary year, the Koch Institute celebrated the opening of a new exhibition: Object Lessons: Celebrating 50 Years of Cancer Research at MIT in 10 Items. Object Lessons invites the public to explore significant artifacts—from one of the earliest PCR machines, developed in the lab of Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz, to Greta, a groundbreaking zebrafish from the lab of Professor Nancy Hopkins—in the half century of discoveries and advancements that have positioned MIT at the forefront of the fight against cancer.  

Jetting Toward Needle-Free Therapies  

MIT News

November 20, 2024

Inspired by squids, Giovanni and his team have created a jet-propelled capsule that delivers large-molecule drugs, such as insulin and RNA, directly into the GI tract without the need for needles. This study, published in Nature, shows that the device is as effective as injections. It offers a promising alternative to conventional drug delivery methods, particularly for diabetes and other conditions requiring regular injections.  

Introducing the 2024-2025 Convergence Scholars

MIT Koch Institute

November 20, 2024

The Koch Institute is pleased to announce the 2024-2025 class of Convergence Scholars. Founded in 2017, the program is designed to enhance the career development of aspiring independent scientists with diverse interests across academia, industry, science communication, and STEM outreach. This year's scholars are Amy Lee (Langer/Jaklenec Lab), Jose Ortiz (Yilmaz Lab), Meaghan McGeary (Jacks Lab), Ranjan Mishra (Weinberg Lab), Yuang Chen (Anderson Lab), and Zhengpeng (Jason) Wan (Kamm Lab).

Lumicell lights the way to better patient outcomes

MIT News

November 19, 2024

Residual cancer cells can lead to costly and invasive additional treatments, drive disease relapse and progression, and worsen patient quality of life and survival. Lumicell has developed a cost effective, real-time imaging system for eliminating even single residual cancer cells during surgery and will greatly improve patient outcomes. Piloted with seed funding from the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program, the technology was FDA-approved earlier this year.

Rhoda Zhang Wins 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition

MIT News

November 5, 2024

Graduate student Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang has won the 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition in both the Graduate and People's Choice categories. With advisors Robert Langer and Ana Jaklenec, Zhang and KI postdoc Xin Yang are developing metal-organic frameworks and other safe, sustainable nutrient stabilizing materials to address global micronutrient deficiencies. They are also launching MOFe™ Coffee, the first iron-fortified coffee.

ROS-y outlook for novel immune approach

MIT Koch Institute

November 5, 2024

Researchers in the Wittrup lab have developed an approach, published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, that uses reactive oxygen species-induced cancer cell death to help jumpstart anti-tumor immune responses and synergize with existing immunotherapies for improved treatment of many solid tumor types.     Reactive oxygen species are naturally occurring highly reactive chemical molecules formed from diatomic oxygen (O2), water, and hydrogen peroxide. These molecules act as biochemical switches that turn biological processes on and off, including certain cell death and immune functions.

Network news

MIT News

November 5, 2024

Using probabalistic networks, the Lauffenburger Lab built a computational method that will help make sense of the vast amounts of data generated by genomic, proteomic, and other research approaches. Deployed in a Cell Systems study to model tuberculosis vaccines, researchers are currently using the approach to examine the tumor's microenvironment and its response to different therapies.

Picture perfect

MIT News

November 1, 2024

Laura Kiessling and Edward Boyden have increased the power of expansion microscopy to the nanoscale, providing a cost-effective and accessible alternative to expensive super-resolution microscopes. The technique, featured in Nature Methods, is a single step, 20-fold expansion of tissue, rendering nanoscale features of cells—such as organelles or large proteins—visible with a conventional light microscope.