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MIT Advocacy in Action at the AACR’s 2025 Hill Day

Koch Institute

May 29, 2025

MIT Koch Institute postdoc Meaghan McGeary traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for increased federal funding for cancer research as part of the annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Hill Day. Joining other early-career scientists in a mission to make more than 50 congressional visits in a single day, she shared her experiences with policymakers, emphasizing the importance of stable research funding.  

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Dragonfly and Gilead Partnership Takes Flight

Fierce Biotech

May 2, 2022

Immunotherapy startup Dragonfly, co-founded by KI member Tyler Jacks, announced a strategic research collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Gilead to advance their natural killer cell engager-based immunotherapies for cancer and inflammatory diseases. The partnership opens up broader pipelines for cancer drug development and approvals, and accelerates opportunities for patient impact and major distribution.

AAAS the World Turns

MIT News

April 28, 2022

Congratulations to KI members Regina Barzilay and Ron Raines for their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Honored in the “Class 1” cohort of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, they join 19 other current KI members as part of one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.

MIT Koch Institute Receives $6M to Intercept and Cure Deadly Cancers

MIT Koch Institute

April 11, 2022

KI researchers will receive $6 million in grants from Break Through Cancer, a foundation supporting collaborative, multi-disciplinary research teams from leading US cancer centers. The grants support projects aiming to intercept cancer at early stages and find treatments for some of the deadliest cancers, including pancreatic and ovarian cancer, and glioblastoma.

The Molecular Makings of Metastasis

Whitehead Institute

April 11, 2022

Examining breast cancer cells in various hybrid states across the epithelial-mesenchymal spectrum, the Weinberg Lab is screening for genes and molecules that influence a cell's plasticity. Their findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, will help clarify the mechanisms that drive metastasis and could inform the development of related therapies.  

One Tool to Screen Them All

MIT News

April 8, 2022

The Birnbaum Lab developed a new method for screening huge libraries of antigens and immune cells at the same time, allowing researchers to identify specific interactions between immune cells and their target antigens among myriad possible pairings. The team modified lentiviruses so that they can only enter immune cells if the viral antigen “key” fits a receptor “lock” on the cell’s surface, mirroring the interplay of immune cells and antigens in the body. Because lentiviruses integrate their DNA into their host cells, specific immune cell pairings can be identified by sequencing the genome of a cell sample. The tool, described in Nature Methods, could help researchers make sense of complex immune recognition in diseases such as HIV, COVID, and cancer, and accelerate the development of more effective vaccines and immunotherapies.

The work was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program through the Michael (1957) and Inara Erdei Fund and the Casey and Family Foundation Cancer Research Fund.

Diversifying Innovation

The Boston Globe

April 6, 2022

The Boston Globe profiles the efforts of Sangeeta Bhatia, Susan Hockfield, and Nancy Hopkins to ensure that women have access to the information, resources, and connections needed to start companies. Through their Future Founders Initiative, the trio aims to recenter opportunities for women of color in the Kendall Square innovation ecosystem.

Survey Says

Scientific Reports

March 31, 2022

Collateral sensitivity is when cells’ vulnerability to a particular drug coincides with resistance to another. Hemann and Lauffenbuger Lab researchers conducted a comprehensive survey of collateral sensitivities associated with different combination chemotherapy regimens for cancer. Their findings, published in Scientific Reports, reveal that such responses are uncommon and heterogeneous, suggesting the existence of multiple different states of resistance.

This work was funded in part by the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine and the Ludwig Center at MIT.

Decoding Cellular Composition

Nature Biomedical Engineering

March 21, 2022

A Nature Biomedical Engineering paper from the Shalek, Langer and Yilmaz Labs demonstrates a breakthrough screening approach for uncovering molecules that control the cellular composition of barrier tissues. Using intestinal organoids, they discovered a tissue-modifying molecule that targets intestinal stem cells and signals the creation of new Paneth cells, a rare but important antimicrobial producing cell that is known to be depleted in several diseases. Their findings could inform understanding of normal tissue function and therapeutic intervention.

Parts of this work have been supported by the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund, and the Bridge Project.

Test Solutions

MIT News

March 18, 2022

Sharp Lab postdoc Digbijay Mahat arrived at MIT with one objective: become an expert in cancer research and diagnostics to help improve healthcare in Nepal. But when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, he put his goal on pause to help Nepal access resources needed to roll out widespread COVID testing and vaccines. Now, as these efforts are taking hold, Mahat continues to advocate for local solutions to cancer disparities in his home country.

Rising to the Occasion

MIT News

March 16, 2022

Love Lab researchers, in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, SpyBiotech, and the Serum Institute of India, have engineered yeast cells to produce a protein subunit vaccine that elicits a strong immune response against SARS-CoV2. Composed of spike protein fragments, the vaccine offers a safe, inexpensive, easy-to-store alternative to RNA vaccines, particularly well suited to low- and middle-income countries. The work was published in Science Advances.