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Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang holding the medal she won in the 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition

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.

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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. 
 

Hammond Honored by MIT Faculty

MIT News

May 17, 2023

Congratulations to KI member Paula Hammond for winning the 2023-24 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award! Hammond, an Institute Professor and head of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, is being recognized for her work designing novel polymers and nanomaterials for applications in cancer, medicine and energy, as well as for her service to both MIT and the national scientific community.

Yaffe Elected to American Surgical Association

MIT Koch Institute

May 16, 2023

Michael Yaffe, has been elected to the to the American Surgical Association (ASA) in recognition of his accomplishments in treating both injury and cancer. In addition to being the David H. Koch Professor of Science and Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at MIT, Yaffe is also an attending surgeon and intensivist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Founded in 1880, the ASA is the oldest and most prestigious surgical organization in the U.S., and counts the nations most prominent surgeons among its membership.

Victor Damptey Wins 2023 Fulbright Fellowship

MIT News

May 15, 2023

Congratulations to the Hammond Lab's Victor Damptey on being named one of 2023's Fulbright Fellows! Damptey will graduate in June with a major in biological engineering and a minor in Spanish. At the Chemical Institute of Sarrià in Barcelona, Spain, Damptey will test alternative conduits for cardiovascular grafting surgery. He gained a passion for conducting impactful research at the Hammond Lab, where he helped develop a drug delivery system for osteoarthritis. After his Fulbright year, Damptey will continue his studies in medical school while combining research and public service.

IntereSTING Cancer Vaccine Developments

MIT News

May 12, 2023

The Belcher and Hammond Labs recently engineered a therapeutic cancer vaccine that could potentially make immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies effective for more patients. By stimulating the STING pathway, the vaccine eliminated 70%-100% of solid tumors and prevented recurrence with minimal side effects in preclinical studies of mouse melanoma and colon cancer models. Notably, the vaccine also showed promise in overcoming an immunodeficiency affecting 20% of the human population. Researchers hope the vaccine, Advanced Healthcare Materials, will make ICB therapies more effective and more broadly, viable for patients with loss-of-function STING mutations.

This study was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program and the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine.

Prime Time for Mouse Models

MIT News

May 11, 2023

In a study by senior authors Tyler Jacks and Francisco Sánchez-Rivera, researchers developed a method for easily engineering specific cancer-linked mutations into mouse models. With a CRISPR-based prime editing system installed in the mouse genome, researchers can induce a tumor in a specific tissue, expressing a specific mutation, by injecting an activating protein together with an RNA editing guide. In a Nature Biotechnology study, the researchers created models of several different mutations of the cancer-causing gene Kras, in different organs. They believe this technique could also be used for nearly any other type of cancer mutation that has been identified.

This research was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program.