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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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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.  

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.
 

Dual defense against tumors

MIT News

October 28, 2024

Implantable microparticles engineered by Ana Jaklenec, Angela Belcher, and Robert Langer deliver phototherapy and chemotherapy simultaneously to fight aggressive tumors. Phototherapy, a newer therapy type, uses particles heated by a laser to target and destroy tumor cells while preserving surrounding tissue. In an ACS Nano study of mice, the team's microparticles completely eliminated tumors while reducing side effects from chemotherapy and significantly prolonging survival.

This research was funded in part by the Mazumdar-Shaw International Oncology Fellowship.
 

Matthew Vander Heiden elected to National Academy of Medicine
 

MIT News

October 22, 2024

Congratulations to Koch Institute Director Matthew Vander Heiden, for his election to the National Academy of Medicine! Professor Vander Heiden and his fellow 2024 inductees are being honored for their outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Recognized for his research on cancer metabolism, Vander Heiden—who is also a practicing oncologist—has uncovered critical insights into how cancer cells fuel their growth, leading to innovative therapies for cancer and other diseases. His work continues to shape cancer treatment strategies, making a profound impact on the future of medicine. This honor highlights his dedication to advancing health and science.

Under the radar

She Knows

October 14, 2024

While AI shows promise in breast cancer screening, studies reveal it falls short for Black women due to underrepresentation in training data. Without diverse datasets, AI struggles to detect malignancies accurately across racial groups. To improve health outcomes, data science researchers like Regina Barzilay are working to build more diverse datasets and develop approaches that ensure AI serves all racial and demographic groups equitably.