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Golden particles join a DNA strand.

Precision gene editing

MIT News

September 17, 2025

Robert Langer, Phillip Sharp, and research scientist Vikash Chauhan developed an engineered prime editing system, reported in Nature, that reduces unintended DNA changes by up to 60-fold. The new gene editor could make it easier to explore cell biology questions, such as how populations of cancer cells evolve, as well as develop gene therapy treatments for cancer and other diseases.

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Showing 11–20 of 680 stories

Pumped to Beat Drug Resistance

Nature Communications

October 20, 2025

Anthracyclines are powerful chemotherapy drugs, but cancer cells can resist them by building efflux pumps—proteins that act like molecular “bouncers,” kicking drugs out of the cell. The Hemann, Yilmaz and Lippard labs have designed a “dual warhead” that retains anthracyclines’ cancer-killing power while circumventing efflux by adding features of platinum-based chemotherapies. A Nature Communications study demonstrates that the drug conjugate extended survival in mouse models of metastatic colon cancer and suggests new opportunities to combat chemoresistance and augment existing chemotherapeutics. This work was partly funded by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Casey and Family Foundation Cancer Research Fund and the Michael (1957) and Inara Erdei Fund.

Gut Reaction: Cysteine Supports Gut Healing

MIT News

October 20, 2025

A new Yilmaz lab study published in Nature suggests a diet rich in the amino acid cysteine may promote regeneration of the intestinal lining, turning on an immune signaling pathway that helps stem cells regrow intestinal tissue. The research offers insights into normal tissue biology and new ways to help heal tissue damage from radiation or chemotherapy treatment.

This work was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund, the Bridge Project, and the MIT Stem Cell Initiative.  

Engineering better care in the Traverso Lab

MIT Technology Review

October 13, 2025

MIT Technology Review shines a spotlight on the cutting-edge work taking place in Giovanni Traverso’s lab. From ingestible biosensor pills to capsules that can replace insulin shots, Traverso is focused on improving patients’ lives.   “At the core of what we do is really thinking about the patient, the person, and how we can help make their life better,” Traverso says.  

Dial M for Modulation

MIT News

October 13, 2025

The Galloway Lab has developed DIAL, a platform that lets researchers fine-tune the expression of synthetic genes even after they have been delivered to the target cells. The research, published in Nature Biotechnology, allows for uniform, stable control of gene expression and could be used to precisely tailor gene therapies to individual patients or cell populations.

The Magic of Engineering

ACS Nanomedicine

October 8, 2025

Robert Langer chats with ACS Nanomedicine about his “imperative to push medicine into new frontiers,” touching on moments when the translation of lab discoveries into technological innovations is accelerated. He also shares a few tricks of the trade for maintaining a successful lab—and reveals that he may have a few literal tricks up his sleeve (see 21:50).  

A Better, Faster, Cheaper CAR

MIT News

October 8, 2025

The Chen Lab is developing CAR NK-cells, a cancer immunotherapy approach already in clinical trials that offers notable benefits over approved CAR T-cell treatments. Their newly published study, which appears in Nature Communications, identifies genetic modifications that can make CAR NK-cells more effective, less prone to rejection or side effects, and simpler to produce.  The streamlined, one-step engineering innovation could enable development of off-the-shelf therapies that can be given to patients at diagnosis, several weeks sooner than traditionally engineered CAR NK- or CAR T-cells. The Chen lab and their clinical collaborators hope to run a patient trial of this new approach.

This research was funded in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program through the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund and the Elisa Rah (2004, 2006) Memorial Fund

Out of This World: Breast Cancer Detection Goes to Space 

Good Good Good News

October 8, 2025

Cima Lab alum Canan Dagdeviren launched a breast-cancer–detecting bra into space aboard Blue Origin's all-female crew in April 2025. This wearable ultrasound patch enables early detection of breast cancer. In microgravity, “10 years of tumor growth can occur in 10 days,” allowing scientists to fast-track breakthroughs in early detection back on Earth.  

Sanghyun Park Selected as 2025 Collegiate Inventors Competition Finalist

National Inventors Hall of Fame

September 29, 2025

Congratulations to Traverso Lab PhD student Sanghyun Park on being selected as a finalist in the 2025 Collegiate Inventors Competition! This competition is organized by the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 

Park was nominated for his project Self-Aggregating Long-Acting Injectable Microcrystals (SLIM) —a formulation designed to enable long-lasting injectable therapies by forming drug microcrystals that self-aggregate after injection. This innovative work was also recognized with a 2024 KI Image Award.

Watch the video of his research      

From Dormant to Dangerous

MIT News

September 18, 2025

New Weinberg lab research, published in PNAS, reveals how cancer cells reawaken from dormancy. They showed this mechanism is sparked by inflammation in surrounding tissue, then driven by M2 macrophages that secrete EGFR ligands signaling dormant cancer cells to rapidly multiply. Moreover, cells develop ‘awakening memory,’ no longer requiring inflammatory signals to stay active. Understanding these mechanisms could enable more effective strategies against metastatic cancer. This work was supported in part by the MIT Stem Cell Initiative.

Biogen Expansion Signals Optimism for Kendall Square

MIT News

September 18, 2025

Biogen, co-founded in 1978 by the Koch Institute's Phillip Sharp and Harvard's Wally Gilbert, broke ground on its new Kendall Square headquarters in September. The 580,000-square-foot complex, expected to open in 2028, reflects optimism for Cambridge’s future as a global biotech hub and a continued engine for innovation.