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Viktor Adalsteinsson

KI alum Viktor Adalsteinsson develops liquid biopsies to detect cancer

Slice of MIT

March 6, 2024

Cancer patients who undergo surgery are often left with a frightening question: Did the surgeons get all the cancerous cells? No one wants a recurrence of disease, but additional treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy have significant side effects. That’s why Viktor Adalsteinsson PhD ’15 has been developing tools to support better-informed treatment decisions: so-called “liquid biopsies” that can detect the presence of cancer from a simple blood test.

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Showing 71–80 of 537 stories

Kimberly Bennett Named HHMI Gilliam Fellow

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

July 27, 2023

Congratulations to KI grad student Kimberly Bennett, one of 50 new HHMI Gilliam Fellows recognized for their outstanding research and their commitment to making science more inclusive. As a Gilliam Fellow, Kimberly will be working with her advisors Paula Hammond and Joelle Straehla to improve the first generation, low-income graduate student experience at MIT.

GI Biosensors Track Inflammatory Markers

MIT News

July 26, 2023

The Traverso Lab made a wireless “pill” that tracks markers for gastrointestinal inflammation. A Nature study points to a variety of applications for the biosensor, including diagnosis and monitoring for notably inflammatory bowel disease, malnutrition, antibiotic resistance, neurodegenerative diseases, and poor response to chemotherapies and vaccines.

A new vision for ultrasound imaging

MIT News

July 25, 2023

Nicole Henning was awarded a  2023 MIT Excellence Award for her role in developing ultrasound-guided injection, a technique that can be harnessed to initiate disease for modeling purposes or administer drugs into deep tissues. Previously, delivering these to such hard-to-reach tissues inside the body required invasive surgeries that may affect the results of drug screenings or studies of disease processes. The key advancement of USGI is that it is a minimally invasive technique, combining ultrasound imaging to view the inside of the body to make precisely targeted injections into tissues, for instance into the lungs, liver, or pancreas.

Ready to Launch

Endpoints News

July 20, 2023

Congratulations to Sangeeta Bhatia on being named one of 20 women reshaping biopharma in 2023.  An Endpoints News special report highlights her standing as a serial entrepreneur, as well as her efforts to help other women in academia launch their own startups through creating the MIT Faculty Founders Initiative together with Susan Hockfield and Nancy Hopkins. “I’m really passionate now about teaching other women, academic entrepreneurs in our ecosystem, because we’ve learned that there are not enough of them,” says Bhatia.

It Takes Three to Tango

MIT News

July 17, 2023

A Molecular Cell study from the Young Lab shows that, along with DNA and protein, many transcription factors can also bind RNA. The researchers found that RNA binding keeps transcription factors near their DNA binding sites for longer, helping to fine-tune gene expression. This rethinking of how transcription factors work may lead to a better understanding of gene regulation, and may provide new targets for RNA-based therapeutics.

Angela Koehler Appointed Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center

MIT News

July 14, 2023

Angela Koehler, associate professor of biological engineering, intramural faculty member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, and an institute member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, has been named faculty director of the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, effective July 1. The MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation is an interdepartmental center that empowers MIT students and faculty to make a difference in the world by helping them bring new their innovative technologies from the lab to the marketplace in the form of breakthrough products and new companies. 

A Boost for CAR T Cell Therapy

MIT News

July 5, 2023

Irvine Lab researchers found that their CAR T vaccine strategy not only supercharges the engineered immune cells to overcome the suppressive environment of solid tumors, but also teaches naturally occurring immune cells to attack cancer cells beyond those the CAR T cells are designed to target. While the Cell study focuses on glioblastoma and melanoma in mice, the vaccine could be effective for other solid tumors. Elicio Therapeutics is developing this strategy for testing in patients.

Wellcome Recognition

MIT Koch Institute

June 12, 2023

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund named Joelle Straela, Charles W. (1955) and Jennifer C. Johnson Clinical Investigator, as a recipient of a 2023 Career Award for Medical Scientist, and future KI faculty member Jessica Stark will recieve a 2023 Career Award at the Scientific Interface. Cheers to both!

Brain Cancer Breakthrough

MIT Koch Institute

June 1, 2023

At a recent ASCO meeting, clinical researchers announced positive results from Phase 3 trials of a new therapy—which leverages research by Matthew Vander Heiden—for low-grade IDH-mutant glioma, a type of brain cancer. The first therapeutic breakthrough in this disease in more than 20 years, early use of the drug significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death

Yilmaz Dishes on Diet and Disease

MIT News

May 25, 2023

In a profile following his recent tenure, Omer Yilmaz discusses his ongoing studies of stemness, diet and fasting, as well as his clinical work as a pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Yilmaz, who is a member of the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, investigates the effects of different diets and environmental conditions on intestinal stem cells, and how those factors can increase the risk of cancer and other conditions. His group’s findings could inform new approaches to improve gastrointestinal health via dietary interventions or drugs that mimic the beneficial effects of certain diets.