The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

an accordion of endothelial cells stained in pink and green

Using MIT ingenuity to create knowledge, tools, and treatments to fight cancer

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Scientific Programs

As a National Cancer Institute-designated basic cancer research center organized along three program themes, we produce knowledge and tools to fight one of humanity's most persistent challenges. 

NCI Cancer Center: A Cancer Center Designated by the National Cancer Institute
Systems biology & engineering  
Immunology & immune engineering  
Molecular biology & physiology  

Research Focus Areas

From fundamental discoveries to engineering advances, we strategically pursue six areas of research that, across tumor types, are critical for rapid progress toward defeating cancer.

Detection & monitoring  
Metastasis  
Immunology & immunotherapy  
Nano-based drugs  
Precision medicine  
Computation & machine learning  

News

Remembering Susumu Tonegawa 

MIT News

July 15, 2026

The Koch Institute joins the MIT community in mourning Nobel Laureate Susumu Tonegawa, an alumnus of the MIT Center for Cancer Research (our predecessor) and founding director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Driven by curiosity about fundamental questions in biology, Tonegawa made groundbreaking discoveries in immunology and neuroscience. Awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for uncovering the genetic basis of antibody diversity, he later transformed our understanding of how memories are formed, stored, and recalled.

Caution for Keto Diets

MIT News

The Yilmaz lab found that ketogenic diets can promote tumor formation in the small intestine — an effect driven by how intestinal stem cells burn dietary fat, not by the ketone bodies these diets produce. 

Vander Heiden Named Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Discovery

American Association for Cancer Research

Matthew Vander Heiden has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Discovery, the American Association for Cancer Research's flagship journal and one of the world's leading cancer research publications.

More News 

At the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, scientists and engineers work together to solve some of the most difficult problems in cancer. We ask big questions in strategic areas, where the answers have big impacts on how we understand and treat cancer.