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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 31–40 of 683 stories

Putting liver cells on the clock

MIT News

September 8, 2025

The Bhatia Lab developed a platform where human-derived liver cells mimic in vitro the daily, cyclical variations seen in the body. The system, described in Science Advances, can be used to study the effects of circadian rhythms on drug metabolism, as well as the timing and size of immune responses to liver infections.

Machine learning helps nanoparticles make the grade

MIT News

September 8, 2025

The Traverso Lab developed a system that uses machine learning to accelerate the design of more efficient lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for delivery of RNA therapies. In a Nature Nanoparticles study, the researchers used the platform to identify effective LNP formulations for various cell types, including cells derived from colorectal cancer.     This research was funded in part by the GO Nano Marble Center at the Koch Institute.            

Alissandra Hillis wins 2025 Regeneron Prize

Regeneron

September 8, 2025

Congratulations to Vander Heiden Lab postdoc Alissandra Hillis on winning a 2025 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation (formerly the Westinghouse Prize).  In addition to her work on metabolism and cancer, Hillis has proposed a new approach to investigating endometriosis, a prevalent but understudied gynecological disorder with significant medical consequences.

Remembering David Baltimore

MIT Koch Institute

September 8, 2025

With sadness, the Koch Institute marks the passing of Professor David Baltimore. A founding faculty member and formative influence behind the MIT Center for Cancer Research, he was not only a ground-breaking researcher but also a compelling and thoughtful voice for science. 

His discovery of reverse transcriptase changed the prevailing scientific dogma, earned him a 1975 Nobel Prize, and directly enables work in life sciences and biomedical laboratories everywhere. His decades-long advocacy work impacted national policy debates on topics such as recombinant DNA research, the AIDS epidemic, and genome editing.

Turning a toxin into a tool

Phys.org

September 8, 2025

A team of MIT and Harvard researchers developed a novel method to enhance genome editing precision. In a PNAS study co-led by Ron Raines, Koch Institute member and professor of chemistry at MIT, and Amit Choudhary, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, used an anthrax-derived component to deliver anti-CRISPR proteins to effectively reduces off-target Cas9 activity and boost genome-editing specificity up to 40%.

Alexandria Jefferson wins HHMI Gilliam Fellowship

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

September 8, 2025

Congratulations to Alexandria Jefferson, advised by Tyler Jacks and Koch Institute affiliated fellow and Whitehead Fellow Tobiloba Oni, on being named to the 2025 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellows and Advisors cohort! The program provides funding, mentorship, and leadership training to graduate students and their advisors, fostering the next generation of diverse scientific leaders.

Making the list for AI

Time Magazine

September 8, 2025

Regina Barzilay—recently named to the TIME100 list for her work on machine learning AI models to predict disease—shares insights into the present and future of AI and medicine. At the MIT Sloan School's Ideas Made to Matter blog, Barzilay explains three ways AI is currently empowering clinicians, from speeding up the mundane task of note taking to assisting with the complexities of reading images and providing tailored patient guidance. In Nature Biotechnology, Barzilay and her co-authors outline strategies for developing AI models that are capable of opening up vast classes of so-called "undruggable" targets for the discovery of new cancer therapies.

Ironing out nutritional deficiencies with coffee

MIT News

August 13, 2025

The Jaklenec and Langer labs have discovered a way to fortify foods with iron and iodine using metal-organic frameworks. The study, which appears in Matter, shows that these small, crystalline particles could possibly combat global malnutrion by keeping nutrients stable during cooking and storage. Their research builds on work that earned one of the paper's lead authors, Xin Yang and Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang, 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition honors. 
 

Meet the 2025 Amon Award Winners

MIT Koch Institute

August 12, 2025

The Koch Institute at MIT is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award, Sourav Ghosh and Kotaro Tomuro. The prize was established in 2021 to recognize graduate students in the life sciences or biomedical research from institutions outside the United States who embody Dr. Amon’s infectious enthusiasm for discovery science.

Louis DeRidder receives Inventor Prize from NAI

National Academy of Inventors

August 10, 2025

Congratulations to Louis DeRidder on being recognized by the National Academy of Inventors with the Dr. Barry Bercu Biomedical University Inventor Prize! DeRidder wins the prize for for his work on CLAUDIA, developed as part of a Bridge Project team led by Robert Langer, Giovanni Traverso, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Doug Rubinson. This new closed-loop drug delivery system allows personalized and more accurate chemotherapy drug dosing.