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Photo of Tyler Jacks standing in front of a wall of colorful scientific images in the Koch Institute lobby and smiling for the camera.

Tyler Jacks Receives ACS Medal of Honor

American Cancer Society

March 6, 2026

Congratulations to Koch Institute Founding Director Tyler Jacks, who has been selected to receive the 2026 American Cancer Society Medal of Honor. The organization’s highest honor, this award is given to individuals whose work has fundamentally advanced the fight against cancer. Jacks is recognized for his extraordinary scientific contributions to the field of cancer biology as well as his leadership in shaping new, more effective models for collaborative, patient-centered research at MIT, non-profit Break Through Cancer, and the national level. 

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Vander Heiden and Shaw Elected as AACR Fellows

American Association for Cancer Research

February 4, 2026

KI Director Matthew Vander Heiden has been elected to the 2026 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy. Membership honors scientists whose work has had a lasting global impact on cancer research, including Vander Heiden’s work in cancer metabolism.  Alice Shaw, MD, PhD, was also elected, for her work in targeted therapies and precision oncology. A Jacks Lab alumna, she also served as the Koch Institute's inaugural Charles W. (1955) and Jennifer C. Johnson Clinical Investigator.  

Ultrasound Goes Ultra Accessible 

MIT News

February 2, 2026

A portable, smartphone-sized 3D ultrasound sensor developed in the lab of KI alum Canan Dagdeviren could improve early breast cancer detection for high‑risk individuals. Clinical trials are evaluating its ability to detect tumors earlier than yearly mammograms in high-risk patients, and MIT entrepreneurship programs are helping a startup advance commercialization of this low-cost, miniaturized technology.

Gensaic on target: AI-powered delivery for smarter medicine

MIT News

January 30, 2026

Building on insights from her work as a graduate student adapting the Belcher Lab’s signature bacteriophage delivery platform, alum Uganda Tsedev has co‑launched Gensaic. The company’s AI‑powered platform helps guide design of precision protein “shuttles” that deliver therapeutic molecules to target tissues. This tissue‑selective approach could transform treatments for metabolic and other diseases while reducing side effects.

Crystal Blue Sensation

Science Translational Medicine

January 28, 2026

By developing slow release, crystal forms of drugs that block the CSF1R immune pathway and encapsulating them with insulin producing cells in alginate spheres, the Anderson/Langer group can reduce immune reactions that lead to biomedical implant failure and ensure stable, long-term glycemic control in models of diabetes. Early versions of this technology appear in the KI Image Awards Archive; a recent Science Translational Medicine study highlights contexts where the approach could be successful.  

Metabolic mixes modulate metastatic sites

Mass General Brigham

January 26, 2026

A Nature study from Matt Vander Heiden’s laboratory, in collaboration with MGB’s Rakesh Jain and Harvard’s George Church helps illuminate the factors determining where cancers can metastasize. In mice, the researchers quantified levels of metabolites in multiple tissues, investigating their relation to breast cancer cells’ ability to grow in different organs. They found a complex interplay of multiple nutrients in the local environment defines the sites of breast cancer metastases.This work was supported in part by The Bridge Project.

Remembering Richard Hynes

MIT Koch Institute

January 23, 2026

With great sadness, the Koch Institute marks the passing of Richard O. Hynes PhD ’71, whose discoveries reshaped modern understandings of how cells interact with each other and their environment, who died January 6, 2026 at age 81.

Unraveling Cancer's Safety Net

MIT Chemistry

January 14, 2026

Research from the labs of Francisco Sánchez-Rivera and Matthew Shoulders shows that tumors create an environment primed for certain dangerous mutations. The study draws on the Sanchez-Rivera group’s gene-editing tools and p53 expertise to show that elevated protein-folding networks buffer harmful TP53 variants, enabling tumor survival and growth, as well as drug resistance. 

From Nematode to Nobel

McGovern Institute

January 12, 2026

Why study worms? H. Robert Horvitz, David H. Koch (1962) Professor of Biology, with several notable former trainees and fellow Nobel laureates, makes the case in a recent PNAS paper. They highlight critical discoveries—spanning normal biology, gene regulation, and diseases including cancer—as well as research tools for imaging that have emerged from studies of a microscopic roundworm, and emphasize the community spirit and resource sharing that enabled and continue to enable this work.

Forest White Honored with Committed to Caring Award

MIT News

January 8, 2026

Congratulations to Forest White on receiving MIT’s Committed to Caring Award! This graduate student‑nominated honor recognizes faculty members whose mentorship fosters resilience, curiosity, and compassion, having a lasting impact on students’ academic and personal journeys. Forest joins 18 honorees exemplifying exceptional care and guidance in the MIT community.

Sean Luk: Addressing the urgent need for better immunotherapy  

MIT News

January 6, 2026

Motivated by her family’s cancer experiences, MIT senior Sean Luk engineers proteins in the Wittrup Lab to boost the immune system’s attack against tumors and improve cancer immunotherapies. “The complexity of the immune system really fascinated me, and it is incredible that we can build antibodies in a very logical way to address disease,” Luk says.