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Astrellas and KI researchers stand together in Astrellas Looby

MIT welcomes Astellas to the BioConvergence Cancer Alliance 

May 15, 2026

The Koch Institute announced that Astellas Pharma has joined the BioConvergence Cancer Alliance. As a member of the alliance, Astellas will closely engage with a thriving research community at the Koch Institute and flagship initiatives, as well as explore opportunities for formal scientific collaborations with faculty members at the Institute.

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Showing 41–50 of 734 stories

Sean Luk: Addressing the urgent need for better immunotherapy  

MIT News

January 6, 2026

Motivated by her family’s cancer experiences, MIT senior Sean Luk engineers proteins in the Wittrup Lab to boost the immune system’s attack against tumors and improve cancer immunotherapies. “The complexity of the immune system really fascinated me, and it is incredible that we can build antibodies in a very logical way to address disease,” Luk says.

Predicting Peptides with CleaveNet

MIT News

January 6, 2026

Bhatia Lab researchers have developed CleaveNet, a novel AI system described in Nature Communications, to design peptides that could be cleaved efficiently and specifically by proteases of interest, such as enzymes overactive in cancer. 

Upgraded Model

Nature Biotechnology

December 29, 2025

To help mouse models of disease better resemble human genetics, the Sánchez-Rivera group has developed H2M, a computational pipeline to predict mouse genetic variants that mirror the sequence and functional effects of human variants. H2M also performs mouse-to-human and other types of variant mapping for precision genome-editing tools. Published in Nature Biotechnology, the researchers share their database, libraries, and web tool online.

How does high fat diet drive tumors?

MIT News

December 22, 2025

A new Cell study from the Shalek and Yilmaz labs suggests liver cells exposed to too much fat—via high fat diet—revert to an immature state that is more susceptible to cancer-causing mutations. Partly supported by the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, the researchers showed that chronic metabolic stress causes individual liver cells to prioritize their own survival over activities important for the tissue and organ as a whole; they also uncovered specific molecular mechanisms by which this occurs.

Sweet Sabotage: Disarming Cancer’s Sugary Defense

MIT News

December 16, 2025

Stark Lab researchers have developed a protein therapeutic that disables an immune “brake” engaged by cancer cells via cell surface sugars called glycans. A study published in Nature Biotechnology shows their multifunctional molecules, called AbLecs, can block glycan-mediated immune suppression and boost anti-cancer immune responses across multiple cancers. Combining a tumor-targeting antibody with a lectin, or glycan-binding receptor, AbLecs are now in translational development at Valora Therapeutics, co-founded by Stark.

A Shot at Simpler Antibody Treatments

MIT News

December 11, 2025

Antibody treatments for cancer and other diseases are typically delivered intravenously, requiring hours-long hospital visits for each dose. The Doyle Lab’s new approach, reported in Advanced Materials, packs highly concentrated antibodies into solid microparticles that dissolve quickly after injection, fitting full doses in a standard syringe. This makes treatment faster, easier, and more accessible for patients who have difficulty getting to a hospital. 

The Koch Institute's Top Research Stories of 2025

MIT Koch Institute

December 11, 2025

As the year draws to a close, we’re excited to spotlight some of the most innovative and impactful research from the Koch Institute this year. 

Weinberg on Cancer, Cabins, and Community

CancerWorld

December 9, 2025

From describing his career launch as “a series of accidents” to revealing The Hallmarks of Cancer began as a conversation on the side of a volcano, Bob Weinberg shares lesser-known anecdotes from his career as an indisputably formative pioneer of cancer research in a CancerWorld feature. Having formally closed his lab at the end of 2025, the founding faculty member of MIT’s Center for Cancer Research reflects on more than 50 years of science, quiet leadership, and life.  

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Visits MIT

MIT News

December 8, 2025

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya joined Rep. Jake Auchincloss at MIT for a wide‑ranging discussion on NIH’s "unified strategy" for reviewing grant applications, the importance of idea generation and rigorous testing, and support for early‑career scientists amid changes in grant review processes.

Connecting biophysical measurements and gene expression to understand tumor heterogeneity

Science Advances

December 5, 2025

Many tumors comprise a heterogeneous mix of cell types, each of which can play various roles in cancer progression and treatment response and may serve as diagnostic or therapeutic targets. The contributions of different cells can be difficult to uncover using conventional molecular analyses, histology, or immunophenotyping. In a study published in Science Advances the Manalis lab shows they can use their single cell analysis platform to link cells’ biophysical properties—in this case, buoyant mass and stiffness—to gene expression to identify clinically relevant cell types within mantle cell lymphoma cells.