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Portraits of 2024 Amon Award winners

Meet the 2024 Amon Award Winners

MIT Koch Institute

September 3, 2024

The Koch Institute at MIT is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award, Anna Uzonyi and Lukas Teoman Henneberg. The prize was established in 2021 to recognize graduate students in the life sciences or biomedical research from institutions outside the United States who embody Dr. Amon’s infectious enthusiasm for discovery science. 



 

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Bhatia’s Paper-based Urine Test for Cancer, a Game Changer

MIT News

February 24, 2014

MIT engineers led by KI faculty member Sangeeta Bhatia have developed a simple, cheap, paper-strip urine test that can reveal the presence of cancer within minutes. The paper-based diagnostic, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can be performed on unprocessed samples without specialized equipment and can be modified to detect different types or stages of disease. This point-of-care, image-free test is a big leap forward in bringing cancer detection to settings with little medical infrastructure. In countries where more advanced diagnostics are available, it could provide an inexpensive alternative to imaging. The technology relies on nanoparticles that interact with tumor proteins called proteases, each of which releases hundreds of biomarkers detectable in a patient’s urine. In the original version of the technology, these biomarkers were detected using a highly specialized instrument called a mass spectrometer. Now, applying the same technology used in pregnancy tests, the researchers have adapted the particles so they can be analyzed on paper. The Bhatia Laboratory recently won a grant from MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation to develop a business plan for a startup to commercialize the technology and perform clinical trials to bring this diagnostic to patients. The research has been profiled in media outlets including The Boston Globe, The Huffington Post, Boston Magazine, The Times of India, and The Indian Express, and was funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Mazumdar-Shaw International Oncology Fellowship, the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the National Cancer Institute, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Irvine’s Albumin-targeted Vaccines Hitch a Ride to the Lymph Nodes to Boost Immunity

MIT News

February 16, 2014

Many vaccines, including those for influenza, polio, and measles, consist of a killed or disabled version of a virus. However, for certain diseases, this type of vaccine is ineffective, or just too risky. An alternative, safer approach is a vaccine made of small fragments of proteins produced by a disease-causing virus or bacterium. This has worked for some diseases, but in many cases these vaccines don’t provoke a strong enough response. Now a team of engineers from the Irvine Lab has developed a new way to deliver such vaccines directly to the lymph nodes, where huge populations of immune cells reside: These vaccines hitch a ride to the lymph nodes by latching on to the protein albumin, found in the bloodstream. In tests with mice, such vaccines produced very strong immune responses.

Hemann & Chen Combine Forces against Resistant Tumors

MIT News

January 30, 2014

KI faculty members Michael Hemann, the Eisen and Chang Career Development Associate Professor of Biology, and Jianzhu Chen, the Ivan R. Cottrell Professor of Immunology, have discovered a new treatment for drug-resistant tumors using a combination of existing drugs. In a study published in Cell, the KI team showed that the simultaneous administration of an antibody drug called alemtuzumab (which is FDA-approved for some cancers and in clinical trials for some forms of lymphoma) and cyclophosphamide (a drug that is often given to cancer patients) makes tumor cells more vulnerable to the antibody treatment. Cyclophosphamide stimulates the immune response in bone marrow, eliminating the reservoir of cancer cells that can produce new tumors after treatment and avoiding tumor recurrence. The researchers also reported good results by combining cyclophosphamide with rituximab, another antibody drug used to treat lymphoma and leukemia. They now plan to test cyclophosphamide with other types of antibody drugs for breast and prostate tumors. This research was funded by the MIT Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program through the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, the German Research Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute. First author and former KI postdoc Christian Pallasch plans to begin testing the alemtuzumab-cyclophosphamide treatment in lymphoma patients.

Langer Receives Breakthrough Prize

MIT News

January 15, 2014

David H. Koch Institute Professor Robert Langer has been awarded the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his revolutionary work on the development of technologies for the controlled release of drugs and of other materials for biomedical applications.The prize, now in its second year, recognizes excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life. Koch Institute members Robert Weinberg and Eric Lander each received one of the inaugural prizes in 2013.

Ludwig Center Receives $90M for Cancer Research Endowment at MIT

MIT News

January 6, 2014

The Ludwig Center at MIT is one of six centers to receive a total of $540 million in new financial support from Ludwig Cancer Research on behalf of its founder, the late American shipping magnate Daniel K. Ludwig.  The new gift adds to the endowments established in 2006 to create the Ludwig Centers at each institution, and is one of the largest in MIT's history.

Headed by Koch Institute member and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at MIT Robert Weinberg, the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology at MIT is focused on understanding and disrupting the metastatic spread of cancer. Ludwig funds currently support six faculty members, all of whom are located at the KI, along with several fellowships for students and postdoctoral researchers.

“We are extremely grateful to receive this gift in support of cancer research,” said Tyler Jacks, a Daniel K. Ludwig Scholar at the Ludwig Center at MIT and director of the Koch Institute, “and we are committed to using these funds to make a meaningful impact on the important problem of metastasis." The Ludwig gift adds considerable strength and long-term sustainability to MIT's interdisciplinary approach to cancer research, and has been profiled in media outlets including MIT News, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Yaffe Finds New Target for Cancer Combination Treatment

MIT News

November 14, 2013

Mutation of the p53 gene occurs in about half of all cancer patients, and tumors with the mutation continue growing even after intense chemotherapy. Previously, the lab of Michael Yaffe, David H. Koch Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, discovered that blocking a gene called MK2 can overcome the effects of the p53 mutation and make these tumors more vulnerable to chemotherapy in vitro. In a new study published in Cell Reports, Yaffe lab researchers collaborated with KI Director Tyler Jacks to create mice with MK2 genes that can be turned on and off and test the process in vivo. They found that in p53-deficient tumor-bearing mice with MK2 turned off, tumors shrank successfully upon treatment with the DNA-damaging therapeutic cisplatin, whereas tumors in mice with unblocked MK2 genes continued growing. This study suggests potential for new cancer treatments combining MK2 inhibitors with DNA-damaging drugs. Drugs that inhibit MK2 are in the works for other diseases such as arthritis, but this is the first time they are being considered for cancer therapy. The research was primarily funded by a TRANSCEND grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The study was profiled in MIT Technology Review.

Hammond Knocks Breast Cancer Down, Then Out

MIT News

October 21, 2013

To help overcome chemotherapy resistance, David H. Koch Professor in Engineering Paula Hammond and her team have created targeted, multi-layer nanoparticles that codeliver the cancer drug doxorubicin, alongside RNA that can shut off a gene that cancer cells use to escape the drug. This strategy disables tumors' defenses and makes them much more vulnerable to chemotherapy. Using these nanoparticles, the researchers were able to shrink agressive triple-negative breast tumors in mice, as reported in the journal ACS Nano. The team is now testing the therapy in a more complex model of the cancer, and they are also working on adapting it to treat ovarian and lung cancers. The research was funded by a TRANSCEND grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the National Cancer Institute. The study has been profiled in media outlets including MIT News, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, Chemical and Engineering News, Science Daily, and Computer World.

$3 Million Prizes Awarded to Two KI Members

The New York Times

February 20, 2013

Robert Weinberg, founding member of the Whitehead Institute, and Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute, were both awarded the new Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. They were among eleven scientists to receive the world’s richest academic prize for medicine and biology. The prize was awarded by four internet giants for outstanding achievements in science.  Both Weinberg  and Lander are also members of the KI.

National Medal of Technology and Innovation Awarded to Robert Langer

MIT News

December 24, 2012

Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor, is one of eleven innovators nationwide to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Dr. Langer, who has received over 210 major awards to date, is one of only a handful of Americans to have won both it and the National Medal of Science. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation recognizes those who have made lasting contributions to America’s competitiveness and quality of life and have helped strengthen the nation’s technological workforce.

Staggered Drug Delivery Shows Promise in Treating Aggressive Breast Cancer

MIT News

May 11, 2012

KI member Michael Yaffe and his laboratory team report finding, in the May 11 issue of Cell, that staggering the doses of two common cancer drugs dramatically boosts their ability to kill a particularly malignant type of breast cancer cells. Yaffe has been studying the complex cell signaling pathways of cancer cells and the ability of dysfunctional pathways to promote uncontrolled cell growth. He is now working with researchers at Dana Farber Cancer Institute to plan clinical trials of the novel approach.