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MIT Advocacy in Action at the AACR’s 2025 Hill Day

Koch Institute

May 29, 2025

MIT Koch Institute postdoc Meaghan McGeary traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for increased federal funding for cancer research as part of the annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Hill Day. Joining other early-career scientists in a mission to make more than 50 congressional visits in a single day, she shared her experiences with policymakers, emphasizing the importance of stable research funding.  

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Rhoda Zhang Wins 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition

MIT News

November 5, 2024

Graduate student Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang has won the 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition in both the Graduate and People's Choice categories. With advisors Robert Langer and Ana Jaklenec, Zhang and KI postdoc Xin Yang are developing metal-organic frameworks and other safe, sustainable nutrient stabilizing materials to address global micronutrient deficiencies. They are also launching MOFe™ Coffee, the first iron-fortified coffee.

ROS-y outlook for novel immune approach

MIT Koch Institute

November 5, 2024

Researchers in the Wittrup lab have developed an approach, published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, that uses reactive oxygen species-induced cancer cell death to help jumpstart anti-tumor immune responses and synergize with existing immunotherapies for improved treatment of many solid tumor types.     Reactive oxygen species are naturally occurring highly reactive chemical molecules formed from diatomic oxygen (O2), water, and hydrogen peroxide. These molecules act as biochemical switches that turn biological processes on and off, including certain cell death and immune functions.

Network news

MIT News

November 5, 2024

Using probabalistic networks, the Lauffenburger Lab built a computational method that will help make sense of the vast amounts of data generated by genomic, proteomic, and other research approaches. Deployed in a Cell Systems study to model tuberculosis vaccines, researchers are currently using the approach to examine the tumor's microenvironment and its response to different therapies.

Picture perfect

MIT News

November 1, 2024

Laura Kiessling and Edward Boyden have increased the power of expansion microscopy to the nanoscale, providing a cost-effective and accessible alternative to expensive super-resolution microscopes. The technique, featured in Nature Methods, is a single step, 20-fold expansion of tissue, rendering nanoscale features of cells—such as organelles or large proteins—visible with a conventional light microscope.
 

Dual defense against tumors

MIT News

October 28, 2024

Implantable microparticles engineered by Ana Jaklenec, Angela Belcher, and Robert Langer deliver phototherapy and chemotherapy simultaneously to fight aggressive tumors. Phototherapy, a newer therapy type, uses particles heated by a laser to target and destroy tumor cells while preserving surrounding tissue. In an ACS Nano study of mice, the team's microparticles completely eliminated tumors while reducing side effects from chemotherapy and significantly prolonging survival.

This research was funded in part by the Mazumdar-Shaw International Oncology Fellowship.
 

Matthew Vander Heiden elected to National Academy of Medicine
 

MIT News

October 22, 2024

Congratulations to Koch Institute Director Matthew Vander Heiden, for his election to the National Academy of Medicine! Professor Vander Heiden and his fellow 2024 inductees are being honored for their outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Recognized for his research on cancer metabolism, Vander Heiden—who is also a practicing oncologist—has uncovered critical insights into how cancer cells fuel their growth, leading to innovative therapies for cancer and other diseases. His work continues to shape cancer treatment strategies, making a profound impact on the future of medicine. This honor highlights his dedication to advancing health and science.

Under the radar

She Knows

October 14, 2024

While AI shows promise in breast cancer screening, studies reveal it falls short for Black women due to underrepresentation in training data. Without diverse datasets, AI struggles to detect malignancies accurately across racial groups. To improve health outcomes, data science researchers like Regina Barzilay are working to build more diverse datasets and develop approaches that ensure AI serves all racial and demographic groups equitably.

Compressed is more

Nature

October 10, 2024

The Shalek lab has been working to advance drug discovery and biological inquiry by using in vitro model systems that recapitulate disease biology with high fidelity. Because such systems often yield limited numbers of samples for analysis, the team has developed a compressed screening platform that pools tests of biochemical perturbations and then computationally deconvolutes results in the phenotypes of cells to reduce sample size, labor, and cost. 

Congratulations to alum Kaitlyn Sadtler!

Time Magazine

October 7, 2024

Congratulations to alum Kaitlyn Sadtler! She landed a spot on the TIME100 Next list, which recognizes emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. Sadtler worked in the Langer and Anderson labs focusing on how the modulation of immune response influenced tissue development.
 

A new mechanism for an old drug

MIT News

October 7, 2024

Since the 1950s, the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been commonly used to treat many cancers with the understanding that it works by damaging DNA and inhibiting the synthesis of its building blocks. A new study from the Yaffe Lab shows instead that, when used clinically for colon and other gastrointestinal cancers, the drug actually kills tumor cells by interfering with RNA synthesis important for making new ribosomes.  The findings, published in Cell Reports Medicine, helps explain how treatments that combine 5-FU with DNA-damaging chemotherapies could be modified to increase patient survival, and can also inform the design of better drug combinations for these cancers.