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Viktor Adalsteinsson

KI alum Viktor Adalsteinsson develops liquid biopsies to detect cancer

Slice of MIT

March 6, 2024

Cancer patients who undergo surgery are often left with a frightening question: Did the surgeons get all the cancerous cells? No one wants a recurrence of disease, but additional treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy have significant side effects. That’s why Viktor Adalsteinsson PhD ’15 has been developing tools to support better-informed treatment decisions: so-called “liquid biopsies” that can detect the presence of cancer from a simple blood test.

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Congratulations to our 2023 Karches Prize Winners

MIT Koch Institute

November 28, 2023

The annual Peter Karches Mentorship Prize recognizes the exemplary mentorship of up to four postdoctoral researchers, graduate students or technicians from across Koch Institute laboratories. This year’s recipients are Ryuhjin (Angela) Ahn, Mushriq Al-Jazrawe, Colin Fowler, and B.J. Kim. Congratulations to all!

Multi-Molecule Tracker

MIT News

November 28, 2023

Using fluorescent labels that switch on and off, the Boyden Lab has developed a method for simultaneously tracking several molecular interactions inside the cell. The technique, described in Cell, could help researchers better understand what happens inside cells, including in diseases such as cancer.

KI Faculty Members win Mark Foundation ASPIRE Award

The Mark Foundation

November 15, 2023

Cheers to the Koch Institute's four recipients of the 2023 Mark Foundation Aspire Award! Darrell Irvine and Dane Wittrup received an award for their project, “Induction of Tumor-Eradicating Systemic Immunity via Leukocyte-Targeted Cytokine Therapy.” Regina Barzilay and Tyler Jacks won an award in support their work to develop “AI-Driven Modeling of T Cell Receptors.”

Birnbaum Named Pew Innovation Fund Investigator

MIT News

November 14, 2023

Congratulations to Michael Birnbaum on being named a Pew Innovation Fund Investigator. Together with co-winner Dan Littman, he will investigate how microbes and antigens drive harmful immune responses in the gut in inflammatory bowel disease.

In Memoriam, Dr. Arthur Gelb, 1937-2023

MIT Koch Institute

November 14, 2023

With sadness, the KI marks the passing of long-time supporter Art Gelb, ScD ’61 (XVI), whose advocacy and philanthropy played key roles in the launch of the Bridge Project. The Bridge Project launched shortly after the opening of the Koch Institute and has continued to grow, enabling work by dozens of teams who are developing notable advances in cancer detection, monitoring, and treatment. We gratefully acknowledge Gelb’s vision, commitment, and generosity, and are honored to be part of his living legacy via the Bridge Project.

Introducing the 2023-2024 Convergence Scholars

MIT Koch Institute

November 13, 2023

The Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine and the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 class of Convergence Scholars. Founded in 2017, the Convergence Scholars Program (CSP) is designed to enhance the career development of aspiring independent scientists with diverse interests across academia, industry, science communication, and STEM outreach. This year's scholars are Jonuelle Acosta (Hemann Lab), Margaret Billingsley (Hammond Lab), Asheley Chapman (Irvine Lab), Allison Greaney (Langer Lab), Yizong Hu (Anderson Lab), Vardhman Kumar (Bhatia Lab), Corey Stevens (Belcher Lab), Elen Torres (Spranger Lab), and Bocheng Wu (Koehler Lab).

10 Years of the Bridge Project

MIT Koch Institute

November 10, 2023

In large part the brainchild of the late Art Gelb, ScD ’61, the Bridge Project was launched in 2012 with a simple idea uniquely suited to Greater Boston. Designed to leverage the collective expertise of MIT and Harvard, particularly its clinical cancer centers and teaching hospitals, the program’s goal is to enable collaborative research teams combining innovative science, tools and technologies with the translational expertise of clinical oncologists to solve challenging problems in cancer.  

Transformations in Cancer Care

Washington Post Live

October 30, 2023

Although cancer mortality rates have declined overall, roughly 2 million people will be diagnosed with cancer and 600,000 Americans will die from the disease this year. Robert Weinberg talks to Washington Post Live about the state of cancer research and how technological advancements are transforming cancer detection and treatment. 

Moving the Needle on Appendiceal Cancer

MIT Koch Institute

October 27, 2023

Co-hosted by MIT’s Laboratory for Financial Engineering and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the workshop “New Approaches to Accelerating Biomedical Innovation: Case Study on Appendiceal Cancer” brought together stakeholders across academia, industry, patient advocacy groups, and regulatory spaces to lay a foundation for accelerating the development of new treatments for cancer of the appendix—a disease with few effective treatments and a low survival rate.

Anchors Aweigh for Immunotherapy Translation

Business Wire

October 24, 2023

An approach engineered in the Irvine and Wittrup labs to anchor powerful immune medicines at the tumor site—thus avoiding challenges of both systemic and intratumoral delivery—is headed to trials. Ankyra Therapeutics, which the researchers co-founded, announced approval of its investigational new drug application by the US FDA and clinical trial application by Health Canada for its lead agent, ANK-101. Watch or read more to learn about the original research, supported in part by the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, the Hope Babette Tang (1983) Student Research Fund, the Kristin R. Pressman and Jessica J. Pourian (2013) Koch Institute Fund, the Charles S. Krakauer (1954) Fund, and a KI Quinquennial Cancer Research Fellowship.