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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.

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Showing 21–30 of 537 stories

KI Investigators Take Initiative in Biotech Competition

MIT News

January 24, 2024

The MIT Faculty Founder Initiative has announced 12 finalists for the 2023-24 MIT-Royalty Pharma Prize Competition, among them KI faculty member Jessica Stark, Charles W. (1995) and Jennifer C. Johnson Clinical Investigator Joelle Straehla, and KI alums Ritu Raman and Theresa Raimondo. The competition aims to support female faculty entrepreneurs in biotechnology and provide them with resources to help take their ideas to commercialization. This spring, finalists will pitch their ideas to a committee of faculty, biotech founders, and venture capitalists, who will select a grand prize winner to receive $250,000 in discretionary funds, as well as breakthrough science award and runner-up award winners, who will each receive $100,000.

Programmable mRNA Takes a First Strand

Wired

January 22, 2024

Strand Therapeutics, co-founded by Darrell Irvine, Ron Weiss, and Weiss Lab alum Jacob Becraft, is targeting tumors for immunotherapy by "programming" mRNA to allow  it to turn on only in specific cell types, at specific times, and in specific amounts. The approach aims to avoid the systemic toxic side effects that often accompany cancer therapies when they are delivered to off-target tissue. This spring, Strand will enroll patients in a clinical trial of using its cancer-hunting mRNA therapy to treat solid tumors. The trial will be the first time a programmable mRNA therapy is tested in people.

A Family Tree for Blood Cells

STAT News

January 22, 2024

The Weissman Lab developed a method, dubbed "ReDeeM,"  for tracing the ancestry of human blood cells and mapping a cell’s lineage to its current behaviors. Researchers hope that, by monitoring changes in human blood cells in real time, ReDeeM could one day be used to predict disease risk years before symptoms show up. The lab is applying the technique, described in Nature, to learn more about  blood cancers, autoimmune disorders, and the origins of certain types of blood cells.

Better blood tests for cancer

MIT News

January 18, 2024

Liquid biopsy technologies leverage DNA shed by normal and tumor cells to diagnose and monitor disease from a simple blood draw, allowing earlier detection of cancer or recurrence and providing genetic information to guide treatment. New priming agents developed by the Love and Bhatia labs, with collaborator Viktor Adalsteinsson, improve the tests’ sensitivity, information yield, and patient applicability. This work was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Casey and Family Foundation, the Bridge Project, and the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine.

Langer wins 2023 Dr. Paul Janssen Award

New York Academy of Sciences

January 8, 2024

Congratulations to Robert Langer on winning the 2023 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in recognition of his groundbreaking work in designing novel drug delivery systems that can release medications continuously, precisely, and at controlled rates over extended periods. Established in 2004, the Dr. Paul Janssen Award has honored scientists who have made a transformational contribution toward the improvement of human health. Langer's award will be celebrated with a half-day virtual symposium, "Pioneering Novel Drug Delivery Systems," on February 8.

Inhalable sensors for early lung cancer detection

MIT News

January 5, 2024

Inhalable nanosensors from the Bhatia Lab could enable earlier lung cancer detection. When the nanosensors encounter cancer-linked proteins in the lungs, they release a signal that can be detected in the urine with a paper test strip. The diagnostic, described in Science Advances, could make lung cancer screening more accessible in places where CT scans, the current gold standard for detecting lung cancer, are not widely available. This study was funded in part by Johnson & Johnson Lung Cancer Initiative. Additional related work was supported by Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine and the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via Upstage Lung Cancer.

Reducing Neuroinflammation via Nanoparticles

MIT News

December 15, 2023

Beyond cancer and vaccines, Langer’s lipid nanoparticles conquer new tissues. In a co-led study led with Li-Huei Tsai, a faculty member in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, researchers tested Langer's lipid nanoparticles in multiple mouse models and cultured human cells for their ability to deliver mRNA to the brain’s microglia immune cells and suppress expression of a protein linked to excessive inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease.

Angela Belcher delivers 2023 Dresselhaus Lecture

MIT News

December 13, 2023

Angela Belcher gave 2023 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture at MIT last November, using her signature props to demonstrate the wide variety of concepts and projects made possible by the intersection of biology and nanotechnology. Belcher introduced her audiences to her work with the M13 bacteriophage, which has enabled her to make advances in building batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells to carbon sequestration and storage, environmental remediation, catalysis, and medical diagnostics and imaging—including for ovarian cancer. “Part of the secret of life and the meaning of life is helping other people enjoy the passage of time,” said Belcher. “I think that we can all do that by working to solve some of the biggest issues on the planet, including helping to diagnose and treat ovarian cancer early so people have more time to spend with their family.” 

Boosting Immune Response to Vaccines

MIT News

December 12, 2023

Researchers in the Irvine and Hammond labs have developed a novel kind of vaccine adjuvant: a nanoparticle that can help to stimulate the immune system to generate a stronger response to a vaccine. These nanoparticles contain saponin, a compound derived from the bark of the Chilean soapbark tree, along with a molecule called MPLA, each of which helps to activate the immune system. The adjuvant has been incorporated into an experimental HIV vaccine that has shown promising results in animal studies, and this the first human volunteers will receive the vaccine as part of a phase 1 clinical trial run by the Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development at the Scripps Research Institute. 

Anderson and Jaklenec Elected to the NAI

MIT Koch Institute

December 12, 2023

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI)  announced the election of more than 160 people to their 2023 class of fellows, including two members of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Daniel Anderson and Ana Jaklenec. The highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors, election to the NAI recognizes individuals who have created or facilitated outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.