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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 11–20 of 588 stories

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.

Compressed is more

Nature

October 10, 2024

The Shalek lab has been working to advance drug discovery and biological inquiry by using in vitro model systems that recapitulate disease biology with high fidelity. Because such systems often yield limited numbers of samples for analysis, the team has developed a compressed screening platform that pools tests of biochemical perturbations and then computationally deconvolutes results in the phenotypes of cells to reduce sample size, labor, and cost. 

Congratulations to alum Kaitlyn Sadtler!

Time Magazine

October 7, 2024

Congratulations to alum Kaitlyn Sadtler! She landed a spot on the TIME100 Next list, which recognizes emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. Sadtler worked in the Langer and Anderson labs focusing on how the modulation of immune response influenced tissue development.
 

A new mechanism for an old drug

MIT News

October 7, 2024

Since the 1950s, the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been commonly used to treat many cancers with the understanding that it works by damaging DNA and inhibiting the synthesis of its building blocks. A new study from the Yaffe Lab shows instead that, when used clinically for colon and other gastrointestinal cancers, the drug actually kills tumor cells by interfering with RNA synthesis important for making new ribosomes.  The findings, published in Cell Reports Medicine, helps explain how treatments that combine 5-FU with DNA-damaging chemotherapies could be modified to increase patient survival, and can also inform the design of better drug combinations for these cancers. 

Padmini Pillai appointed as White House Fellow

The White House

October 7, 2024

Congratulations to Padmini Pillai! She’s been appointed to the prestigious 2024-2025 White House Fellows Program, where she will apply her immunoengineering expertise to key initiatives. Padmini is bridging the gap between discoveries in immunology and advances in biomaterial design to treat human disease. Watch the video to hear more about her project to force tumor cells to self-destruct using mRNA nanotherapy.