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Black and white photo of a bearded man in very 70s apparel standing in front of a banner with "David Baltimore" and the mirror image text'

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.

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Showing 481–490 of 660 stories

Immunostimulatory Nanoparticles Improve Checkpoint Therapy

MIT News

June 1, 2020

The Bhatia Lab is developing a modular nanoparticle system to make immunotherapy more accessible and effective across a wider swath of cancer patients. Their tumor-targeting and membrane-penetrating peptides deliver small pieces of DNA to amplify the body’s immune response to tumors and boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors. By combining the particles with the checkpoint inhibitor antibody in mouse models of cancer, researchers were able to halt cancer progression and generate a systemic response against treated and untreated tumors. The work, published in PNAS, was supported in part by the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine.

AACR-uing Honors 

MIT Koch Institute

May 29, 2020

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) named Phillip A. Sharp as the recipient of the 17th AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research. The award recognizes Sharp's groundbreaking research into RNA splicing and gene expression, which shaped understandings of the genetic causes of cancer.

Fellow biologist Tyler Jacks was also honored for his pioneering work in cancer genetics. In recognition of his genetically engineered models for improving the detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer, Jacks will deliver the 2020 AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship at the 2021 AACR annual meeting.

Three KI Faculty Members Awarded Grants for COVID-19 Research

MIT Koch Institute

May 19, 2020

Angela Belcher and Jianzhu Chen were awarded grants from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness. Belcher's grant will support efforts to develop novel nanocarbon materials that filtrate and neutralize dangerous viruses and bacteria for PPE for medical professionals and civilians. Chen's grant will help fund the development of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens.

Brad Pentelute received a Fast Grant to develop safe and effective peptides for prophylactic treatment and rapid early therapeutic intervention against COVID-19 infection.

Safer Ventilator Sharing

Science Translational Medicine

May 18, 2020

Researchers led by KI postdoc Shriya Srinivasan developed a safer method for COVID-19 patients to share ventilators. The approach, described in Science Translational Medicine, enables ventilation that's customized to each patient. The team is looking for partners to help fund, supply, and deploy the system.

“I wish I was chilling.”

Boston Globe

May 12, 2020

The Boston Globe reports that physical isolation is no match for Bob Langer. From vaccine development to viral blood-brain barrier studies, the ever-prolific engineer is doing his part for coronavirus response efforts. Catch up with him (if you can) via recorded web chat or help your student at home channel their inner-Langer with some STEM inspiration.

Critical Analysis

MIT News

May 12, 2020

As head of a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and co-director of the acute care and ICU section at Boston Hope, Michael Yaffe offers his perspective as both cancer researcher and intensivist/trauma surgeon on the evolution of emergency care during this crisis and beyond. 

High-Capacity Viral Diagnostics

MIT News

April 29, 2020

A new CRISPR-based diagnostic platform simultaneously performs thousands of tests to detect viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. In a study published in Nature, researchers adapted microfluidic technology developed in the Blainey Lab and supported in part by the Bridge Project to create chips that can run thousands of tests flexibly configured across different numbers of samples and viruses.

Nothing to Sneeze At

Whitehead Institute

April 22, 2020

Sabatini Lab postdoc and pulmonologist Raghu Chivukula used cell culture and electron microscopy to unravel the mystery of a rare genetic mutation behind an unknown lung disease. His 2019 Image Awards winning image shows the “airway in a dish” that proved the foundational model for the eventual diagnosis.

Sussing Out Susceptibility

MIT News

April 22, 2020

A team including Alex Shalek, KI member and recently named Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award recipient, is using gene expression data to identify specific types of cells targeted by the coronavirus behind the COVID-19 pandemic. Their study’s results, published in Cell and reported on in The Boston Globe and the NIH Director’s Blog, could be used to guide future treatment of the disease.

This work was supported in part by the MIT Stem Cell Initiative. The team recently received an award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to study how cells in the airways of pediatric patients respond to SARS-CoV-2 and common respiratory viruses.

Faster, Cheaper, Scalable

MIT News

April 22, 2020

A small team of graduate researchers has returned to the Love Lab with a mission: generate and test preclinical materials to help develop an affordable, accessible COVID-19 vaccine for large-scale production on a lightning-speed timeline. Although there are efforts underway across the globe to manufacture vaccines in the hundreds of millions, billions of doses may be necessary. To address this gap, the researchers are deploying a strategy developed under a Grand Challenge for ultra-low cost vaccines and are now simultaneously testing their first candidate component for a vaccine and optimizing the manufacturing process. The concurrent approach allows the team to develop vaccine components with manufacturability in mind from the start and potentially compresses the timeline from benchtop to full-scale production.