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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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On the Surface of Silicone

MIT News

June 21, 2021

Langer Lab researchers analyzed the relationship between the surface architecture of silicone breast implants and adverse effects that include scarring, inflammation and, in rare cases, lymphoma. The team hopes their data, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, will help scientist and engineers design safer, more effective implants of any type.

A Foot in Both Worlds

MIT Koch Institute

June 18, 2021

The Koch Institute Clinical Investigator program offers physician-scientists a unique opportunity to participate in cutting-edge cancer research while continuing their medical practice, and provides Koch Institute researchers with a frontline view of challenges in cancer treatment. Past and present Clinical Investigators joined program director Michael Yaffe for a roundtable discussion about the relationship between laboratory benchwork and clinical translation and practice, and the influence of the Koch Institute community and research model on their careers. 

Branching Out from STEM

MIT News

June 10, 2021

Before launching into a career in medical research, Jacks Lab alum Natasha Joglekar ’21 shares how combining a major in computer science and biology with a minor in women’s and gender studies has helped her build new frameworks for understanding the world, patient needs, and the social determinants of health.

Ribon is Right on Target

Business Wire

June 4, 2021

Ribon Therapeutics, founded by former member Paul Chang based on his work at the KI, has reported positive data from the dose-escalation portion of its Phase 1 trial of a small molecule PARP7 inhibitor.  PARPs (poly ADP ribose polymerases) are enzymes that regulate essential cellular processes, including stress responses that enable cancer cells to survive and evade immune detection. In a trial of patients with various advanced solid tumors, Ribon’s candidate was well-tolerated, demonstrated target inhibition, and showed preliminary signs of antitumor activity, promising signs as the trial progresses to the next phase. Chang’s foundational research was supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund.

Celebrating Unsung Research Heroes

MIT Koch Institute

May 21, 2021

The Robert A. Swanson (1969) Biotechology Center lies at the heart of Koch Institute research. Supported in large part by philanthropy, these core facilities provide state-of-the-art technical resources and trusted scientific expertise to researchers at all levels, accelerating MIT’s robust cancer science and engineering projects to have the greatest possible impact on patients and cancer research. Over the course of this series of lightning talks and culminating panel discussion, experts in bioinformatics, high throughput sciences, and microscopy joined researchers from the Bhatia, Hammond, Koehler, and Yilmaz laboratories to profile their teamwork. The three highlighted projects—tracking the effect of circadian rhythms on drug metabolism, hijacking cellular recycling systems to break down challenging cancer targets, and longitudinal monitoring of organoids—exemplify the SBC’s collaborative nature and reflect on the unique environment of the Koch Institute. 

State of the Vaccination

American Association for the Advancement of Science

May 20, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted delivery of health services for adolescents, including HPV vaccination for cancer prevention. The Koch Institute and other NCI-designated cancer centers and organizations have issued a joint statement urging the nation’s health care systems, physicians, and families to get HPV vaccination back on track.

Congratulations and Welcome

MIT Koch Institute

May 12, 2021

Over the next year, the Koch Institute will welcome three new faculty members, all of whom will be appointed as assistant professors in the Department of Biology. Kristin Knouse, who will join the KI on July 1, uses novel genetic, molecular, and cellular tools to understand how tissues sense and respond to damage. Francisco J. Sánchez-Rivera arrives in early 2022 and will study genetic variation in the context of cancer using functional genomics, genome editing, single cell genomics, and mouse models. Yadira Soto-Feliciano will also join the KI in early 2022 and will study how protein complexes assemble on chromatin and how disruption of these molecular mechanisms lead to human diseases including cancer.

Hammond Named Institute Professor

MIT News

May 12, 2021

Paula Hammond has been named an Institute Professor—the highest distinction bestowed upon MIT faculty members—in honor of her pioneering work in nanotechnology, her excellence as a teacher and mentor, and her leadership on issues of equity and inclusion. When the appointment takes effect on July 1, she will be the third Institute Professor in residence in Building 76, along with Bob Langer and Phil Sharp.

Elimination Round

MIT News

May 12, 2021

Horvitz Lab researchers discovered a trigger for cell extrusion—a mechanism for eliminating unneeded cells—and suggest that the process might provide a natural defense against cancer. In a study appearing in Nature, researchers found that in the worm C. elegans many of the genes necessary for extrusion are involved in the cell division cycle. However, as extruded cells enter the cell division cycle, they are unable to replicate their DNA and consequently experience replication stress. Collaborators’ studies of mammalian cells revealed that replication stress similarly drives the extrusion of mammalian cells and that the well-known tumor suppressor protein p53 plays a role in the extrusion of cells undergoing DNA replication stress. Because cancerous and precancerous cells commonly experience replication stress, the findings indicate that extrusion may be a tumor suppression mechanism.

Soft Cell

MIT News

May 12, 2021

A team of researchers including Roger Kamm demonstrated that metastasizing cancer cells soften as they escape through a blood vessel wall and enter a new site. The study, appearing in the Journal of Biomechanics, may enable the development of new drugs that disrupt metastasis by interfering with cell softening.