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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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Liftoff for Dragonfly Trials

Dragonfly Therapeutics

December 8, 2022

Following on the announcement of Phase 2 advancement of their first NK-cell-based immunotherapy, KI startup company Dragonfly Therapeutics has dosed their first patient in the Phase 1/2 trial of another drug, DF9001. The sixth in an exciting pipeline of Dragonfly drugs to enter clinical trials, DF9001 is being tested alone and in combination with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors.

Handle With Care

MIT News

December 7, 2022

KI member Michael Birnbaum has been recognized by MIT’s Office of Graduate Education as “Committed to Caring" for his wide-reaching support for students and his departmental leadership. The current cohort of honorees also includes the late Angelika Amon.

Introducing the 2022-2023 Convergence Scholars

MIT Koch Institute

December 6, 2022

The Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine and the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine are pleased to announce the 2022-2023 class of Convergence Scholars. Founded in 2017, the Convergence Scholars Program is designed to foster the career development of aspiring independent scientists with diverse interests in research, technology, and STEM outreach. This year's scholars are: Elizabeth (Liz) Calle (Langer Lab), Andrea Casiraghi (Koehler Lab), Gil Covarrubias (Hammond Lab), Keith Eidell (Hemann Lab), Susanna Elledge (Bhatia Lab), Sophie Herbst (White Lab), B.J. Kim (Irvine Lab), Shalmalee Pandit (Belcher Lab), Malte Roerden (Spranger Lab), and Jacob Witten (Anderson Lab).

A Key Honor

American Institute of Chemical Engineers

December 2, 2022

At the 2022 American Institute of Chemical Engineers gala, Paula Hammond received the AIChE Foundation’s Doing a World of Good Medal. Established to recognize individuals who have advanced the societal contribution of engineers, the award honors Hammond’s leadership in creating a more equitable, diverse and inclusive engineering talent pool. 

Gene Screen Reveals Unseen

MIT News

November 15, 2022

Genome-wide screens can be performed in cell culture models, but fail to capture important information from cells' native contexts. Seeking to address this shortfall, Kristin Knouse has developed a new high throughput technique that uses CRISPR to perform genome-wide screens in living mice. Described in Cell Genomics, the approach is accessible, scalable, and adaptable to diverse applications. She demonstrated the approach in a study of cell fitness genes in the mouse liver, which revealed insights not evident in cell culture, involving cellular interactions with molecules in the surrounding environment or immune cells. Her team plans to apply the new screening technique to liver regeneration, and could also use it to study conditions such as fatty liver disease and cirrhosis, which both can lead to liver cancer. 

Some Kind of Wunderful

STAT News

November 14, 2022

Congratulations to Sharp Lab postdoc Dig Bijay Mahat on being named to STAT's 2022 class of Wunderkinds. Recognized for his work advocating for vaccine equity in his home country of Nepal, Jay continues to channel his KI experience toward fundamental research and new tools for navigating public health crises, including cancer and Covid-19.

Deep Dives and Genetic Drives

Whitehead Institute

November 7, 2022

A study published in Cell describes the pooled screening approach behind 2021 Image Awards winner "Nucleotide Pool." The researchers, including KI member Paul Blainey, use visual and computational analysis to identify irregularities in core biological processes such as cell growth, division, and proliferation, and match them to specific genetic disruptions.

Precise Protein Production

MIT News

November 1, 2022

The Lu Lab has developed a CRISPR-based approach to precisely program gene expression in mammalian cells. The method, described in Nature Communications, works with high consistency across different cell types and target genes, and could help fine-tune the production of proteins such as monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancer and other diseases. 

Koehler Outside the Lines

MIT News

October 28, 2022

Angela Koehler is not an engineer, yet her appointment is in the Department of Biological Engineering. Focused on so-called “undruggable” targets for cancer, Koehler’s training as a chemical biologist allows her to think creatively about how to find and deploy small molecules that intervene in transcriptional processes, including those that influence tumor formation and growth. Her approach has led to several promising drug candidates and spin-out companies.

Introducing the Amon Award Winners

MIT Koch Institute

October 25, 2022

Cheers to the inaugural winners of the Koch Institute’s Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award, Alejandro Aguilera Castrejon (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) and Melanie de Almeida (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Austria). The new award recognizes graduate students in the life sciences or biomedical research from institutions outside the U.S. who embody Dr. Amon’s infectious enthusiasm for discovery science.