News

Headshot of Angela Koehler

Koehler to lead MIT HEALS

MIT Office of the President

February 21, 2025

Congratulations to Angela Koehler on being named director of the MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative (MIT HEALS). MIT HEALS was established last year to bring together researchers from across the Institute to innovate new solutions to urgent challenges in health care. Koehler will be joined by two associate directors: Department of Biology professor Iain Cheeseman and Department of Biological Engineering professor Katharina Ribbeck.

Filter by

Filter by Title/Description

Filter by Topic

Filter by Year

Showing 441–450 of 600 stories

Biotechs Join the Fray with RNA

MIT News

March 26, 2020

MIT-affiliated companies are forging ahead with COVID-19 related efforts, including Moderna Therapeutics, co-founded by Robert Langer, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, co-founded by Phillip Sharp.

Moderna began human trials of its messenger RNA (mRNA) based COVID-19 vaccine just 65 days after the virus was first sequenced. mRNA holds the key to Moderna’s record-breaking turnaround, according to Daniel Anderson, as it allows for speedier identification of new sequences and development of vaccines compared to traditional vaccines based on viral proteins.

Alnylam’s partnership with Vir Biotechnology will now include developing therapeutics for coronavirus infections, including COVID-19. The collaboration will combine Alnylam’s recent advances in delivering its RNAi technology to the lungs with Vir’s infectious disease capabilities to identify and develop drug candidates.

Serving a Repurpose

MIT News

March 24, 2020

David H. Koch Professor of Science and intensivist/trauma surgeon Michael Yaffe began trials to repurpose a drug used to treat stroke and heart attack for patients with coronavirus. Tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, breaks up blood clots, which data from China and Italy indicate contributed to respiratory failure. Yaffe, who is helping to organize the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s COVID-19 treatment efforts, is testing tPA in critically ill COVID-19 patients on ventilators in Boston, New York, and Colorado hospitals.

A report published in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery suggests the approach has particular promise in cases where patients are not responding to maximum support with a ventilator or where ventilators are unavailable, potentially even preventing their need. He and his colleagues have published an initial case series with encouraging results, although larger studies are needed to determine how best to use this treatment.

Out of Many, One

MIT Koch Institute

March 24, 2020

Torque Therapeutics, which has been readying the Irvine Lab’s T-cell nanoparticle backpacks for market, has merged with Cogen Therapeutics, which has harnessed the expertise of the Birnbaum and Shalek Labs in developing a platform to identify all of an individual’s T-cell receptor and corresponding antigens. Newly-formed Repertoire Immune Medicines is armed with complementary analysis and targeting technologies—both of which received early support from the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program—and will deploy them for cancer immunotherapy.

Inventional WISDM

MIT News

March 24, 2020

KI postdoc Ritu Raman spoke with the MIT Innnovation Initiative about her STEM journey, MIT "hustlers," and her vision for the Women in Innovation and STEM Database at MIT. Originally designed to increase visibility of women in STEM, the newly relaunched platform also promotes collaboration and rapid innovation.

Enter Entrepreneurship

Chemical & Engineering News

March 20, 2020

“Nobody ever got anywhere by listening to no," says Chemical & Engineering News about their 2020 Trailblazers. Included on the list are Koch Institute member Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering and head of MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder, chairperson, and managing director of Biocon and longtime friend of the Koch Institute. Read their stories to discover how they catalyzed their academic pursuits into top-notch entrepreneurship.

2020 Visions

MIT Koch Institute

March 18, 2020

Although the halls are quiet, the Koch Institute Public Galleries still shine a hopeful light on Main Street. Ten newly installed images, representing everything from microbes to microfabrication, celebrate the discoveries and innovations of MIT’s life sciences research. With added perspectives from STAT, Popular Science, and Cell Picture Show, the tenth annual Image Awards exhibition awaits your view! 

Spring Into STEM with MIT BLOSSOMS

MIT BLOSSOMS

March 17, 2020

Greg Ekchian, Kate Koch, Yunpeng Liu, and Azucena "Susy" Ramos star in a new MIT BLOSSOMS video. By sharing their own diverse journeys into cancer research, the KI trainees challenge stereotypes about scientists and engineers and invite high school students to imagine their own paths into STEM careers.

A Bridge to Better Biopsies

Clinical Cancer Research

March 13, 2020

A team including KI member Christopher Love customized blood biopsies using genetic profiles of patients' tumors. A study published in Clinical Cancer Research and funded in part by the Bridge Project showed that the biopsies monitor up to hundreds of different mutations, potentially detecting cancer recurrence years ahead of traditional approaches.

Did you eat your Wheaties?

MIT 24 Hour Challenge

March 12, 2020

Greetings, cancer fighters! TODAY the Koch Institute is throwing down in MIT’s 24-Hour Challenge. At stake is critical, unrestricted support for research, trainees, and cutting-edge equipment to keep the KI on the frontline of progress against cancer. In this year’s challenge all gifts benefit the Koch Institute Director’s Fund, where gifts from 120 donors will unlock an anonymous challenge gift of an extra $10K.

But wait, there’s more! Gifts from an additional 30 donors will unlock another $15K from Steve Corman '58, SM ’61, who for years has led by example on challenging oneself to do more to fight cancer. That’s an extra $25,000 up for grabs to advance research and training. Today’s challenge is all about the KI community coming together to support innovative solutions for cancer. Learn more about how you can help clinch this challenge! 

Speaking Frankly

MIT Koch Institute

March 8, 2020

Cancer patients rarely get to meet the researchers behind their treatments, and cancer researchers rarely get to put a name or face to the people who benefit from their work. Yet, that’s precisely what happened when retiree Frank Lovell and postdoc Jesse Patterson chatted after the Koch Institute’s recent SOLUTIONS with/in/sight.

Frank was a participant in a clinical trial showcased that evening, for a prostate cancer combination therapy pairing the widely-used targeted therapy abiraterone with the Plk1 inhibitor onvansertib. The trial also represents a powerful synergy, starting with the Yaffe Lab and their Bridge Project clinical collaborators, and catalyzed by a chance connection with west coast biotech Trovagene. For patients like Frank, this combination is turning out to be far greater than the sum of its parts.