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Four headshots of winnners of the 2024 Karches Prize - Shandon Amos, Christina Cabana, Ivan Pires, and Jason Yu.

Introducing the 2024 Karches Prize winners

January 24, 2025

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Peter Karches Mentorship Prize — Shandon Amos, Christina Cabana, Ivan Pires, and Jason Yu.

The Peter Karches Mentorship Prize is awarded annually to up to four Koch Institute postdocs, graduate students or research technicians who demonstrate exemplary mentorship of undergraduate researchers or high school students in their labs. The prize allows the Koch Institute community to celebrate and recognize the critical role that mentors play, both personally and professionally, in the early stages of a scientist’s career.

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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.  

Which Switch Is Which?

MIT Koch Institute

May 8, 2023

A new approach from the Yaffe Lab and published in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences identifies the specific protein kinases, or biochemical ‘switches,’ that control interactions with 14-3-3 proteins. This class of proteins controls cellular response to stress and DNA damage, as well as other key mechanisms that play critical roles in cancer development, progression and treatment response.

This work was supported in part by the Charles and Marjorie Holloway Foundation and a fellowship from the S. Leslie Misrock (1949) Frontier Research Fund for Cancer Nanotechnology.

Zooming in on Genome Structure

MIT News

May 8, 2023

Hansen Lab researchers have developed a technique that maps the genome’s 3D organization at a resolution 100 times higher than possible before. The new method reveals interactions between genes and the potentially distant regions of the genome that control their expression—brought together via loops in genetic material. By identifying the target genes of disease-associated regulatory regions, researchers could better understand and treat many diseases, including cancer. 

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

Promising Clinical Data for Cima Lab Pretzel

Endpoints News

May 1, 2023

Johnson and Johnson reported a complete response for 16 of 22 patients in their Phase II trial of a new approach for bladder cancer—the most expensive malignancy to treat over the lifetime of patients. The trial used TAR-200, an implantable pretzel-shaped device originally developed in the Cima Lab, to replace standard regimens with continuously administered gemcitabine in the bladder.

The Measuring Tape Heard Round the World

MIT News

May 1, 2023

Nancy Hopkins joined author and New York Times journalist Kate Zernike for a discussion of The Exceptions. The book tells the story of Hopkins' life and career, and of the 15 “exceptional” female scientists on the MIT faculty who joined Hopkins to document gender discrimination at MIT and fight for equality. Armed with a measuring tape, Hopkins began by quantifying the inequitable distribution of lab space among male and female faculty. Her findings would catalyze the  landmark 1999  report, "A Study on the Status of Women Faculty on Science at MIT," detailing the barriers standing in the way of women who want to pursue degrees and careers in science.

Elicio Doses First Patient

BioSpace

April 27, 2023

Elicio Therapeutics, which is developing the Irvine Lab’s lymph node targeting vaccine technology, has dosed its first patient of a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of a treatment of KRAS/NRAS mutated solid tumors in pancreatic and colorectal cancer patients. 

What’s Next for Alejandro Aguilera Castrejón

MIT Koch Institute

April 26, 2023

Catch up with Alejandro Aguilera Castrejón, an inaugural winner of the Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award in 2022. Aguilera talks about his plans for building on his doctoral work in embryogenesis and starting a new lab when he begins his new role as a group leader at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in March 2024.