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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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In-eight Ability

Genes and Development

April 8, 2021

Paradoxically, variation in the number of chromosomes each cell carries impedes the ability of normal cells to grow and proliferate—but not for cancer cells. By combining bench experiments with bioinformatic algorithms developed in the Barbara K. Ostrom 1978 Bioinformatics and Computing facility, Amon Lab researchers demonstrate how an extra copy of chromosome 8 in Ewing’s sarcoma helps rather than hinders cell survival and growth. In the study published in Genes and Development, researchers found that the EWS-FLI1 fusion oncogene, which drives 85% of Ewing’s sarcomas, results in replication stress and increased DNA damage. An extra copy of chromosome 8 alleviated the cellular stress caused by the oncogene by adding additional copies of RAD21, a gene implicated in DNA damage repair. The team’s findings offer new insight into the mechanisms behind tumorigenesis.

Hail Fellows, Well Met

American Association for Cancer Research

April 5, 2021

Nancy Hopkins and Aviv Regev were elected to the 2021 class of American Association for Cancer Research Fellows. Hopkins was honored for helping to establish zebrafish as an essential disease model—which has also earned her the International Zebrafish Conference's 2021 George Streisinger Award—as well as her research involving murine RNA tumor viruses. Regev was honored for her work developing computational approaches to understanding molecular circuits and developing technologies for high throughput, single-cell screening.

Congratulations to our 2020 Karches Prize Winners

MIT Koch Institute

April 1, 2021

The KI is proud to congratulate 2020's Peter Karches Mentorship Prize winners: Suman Bose, Crystal Chu, Dan Schmidt, and Molly Wilson. Each year, the prize recognizes the critical role mentorship plays in engaging the next generation of cancer researchers.

Koch Institute Names New Director

MIT News

March 31, 2021

Matthew Vander Heiden has been named the next director of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, effective April 1. An MIT professor of biology, a practicing oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a pioneer in the field of cancer cell metabolism, Vander Heiden was one of the first faculty members hired to join the Koch Institute after it was created. He has served as associate director since 2017, and is a member of the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine, the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. His work has been recognized by many awards, including the HHMI Faculty Scholar Award and an NCI Outstanding Investigator Award. Now, as he guides the Koch Institute into its second decade, he looks forward to taking advantage of new opportunities to make fundamental discoveries in the biology of cancer, as well as translating existing knowledge into better treatments for patients. Vander Heiden succeeds Tyler Jacks, who has served as director for more than 19 years, first for the MIT Center for Cancer Research and then for its successor, the Koch Institute.

Some Self-Assembly Required

MIT News

March 25, 2021

A new screening platform combines machine learning with high-throughput experimentation to identify self-assembling nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nanoparticles, usually made from lipids, polymers or both, can improve a drug’s pharmacokinetics. However, nanoparticle production can be complex and their drug payload small. In a study published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers from the Langer and Traverso Labs screened 2.1 million pairings of small molecule drugs and inactive drug ingredients, identifying 100 new nanoparticle formulations that are simple to create and shuttle larger drug cargoes. One of those nanoparticles, combining the cancer medicine sorafenib with glycyrrhizin (the primary flavoring of licorice), proved more effective than than sorafenib alone in both cell culture and a genetic mouse model of liver cancer.

Time to Face the Mucus

MIT News

March 19, 2021

Irvine Lab researchers are building an army of T cells ready to fight disease in the respiratory tract. The inhalable vaccines use the naturally occurring protein albumin to carry immune response-generating antigens into the mucosal lining of lungs and lymph nodes, where soldier T cells learn to recognize and fend off unwanted intruders. In a study published in Science Immunology and funded in part by the Bridge Project and the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, researchers observed a 25-fold increase in T cell response over traditional muscular injections. Ultimately, the team aims to develop vaccines that protect against both viruses and cancer, and combat metastasis by priming the mucosal lining in key organs to reject invading cancer cells. The technology has been licensed by Elicio Therapeutics, which will begin clinical testing of an albumin-binding vaccine later this year.

A Field Guide to Cancer Progression

Whitehead Institute

March 11, 2021

Tag along with the Whitehead Institute’s “Cells Over Time” series to explore key moments of cancer progression. First stop: Jaenisch Lab, where chimeras shed new light on the cellular origins of neuroblastoma. In collaboration with the Spranger Lab, the researchers investigate how newly formed cancer cells “trick” immune cells into not destroying them. Spranger Lab technologies are also being used in the Weinberg Lab to understand the changes that occur when breast cancer cells become metastatic and acclimate to far-flung homes. Of course, this whirlwind tour would not be complete without a visit to the Weissman Lab where researchers have adapted a lung cancer model developed by the Jacks Lab to analyze gene expression as tumors evolve. Together, these intrepid explorers are charting a way forward in cancer biology.

Scientific Modeling

Chemical & Engineering News

March 11, 2021

Paula Hammond guest edits C&EN’s 2021 Trailblazers issue, highlighting the achievements of Black chemists and engineers in their own voices. Amid the reflections on past and present research, accomplishment and inclusion, career origins and evolutions, don’t miss Hammond’s own profile, tracing her path from young nerd to nanomaterials pioneer.

Breaking Through Cancer: Collaborative translational research goes nationwide

MIT Koch Institute

March 11, 2021

Break Through Cancer announced its formal launch as a public foundation designed to find new solutions to the most intractable challenges in cancer. Led by Dr. Tyler Jacks, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology and Founding Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Break Through Cancer will fund and support collaborative research teams drawn from several of the country’s top cancer centers.

The Companies They Keep

MIT News

March 11, 2021

The Future Founders Initiative is off and running, making important strides to increase the number of woman-founded companies in biotech. Led by KI members Sangeeta Bhatia and Harvey Lodish, the initiative builds on Bhatia's recent work with Susan Hockfield and Nancy Hopkins around gender disparities in entrepreneurship, focusing on networking and community building.