MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

06/18/2026

That’s a wrap on the 2026 Koch Institute Annual Symposium, Diet & Metabolism in Cancer!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for a day of thought-provoking discussions and scientific exchange. We were honored to welcome leading researchers and clinicians sharing new insights into how nutrition and metabolism shape cancer development, treatment response, and patient outcomes.

A special thank-you to our speakers, attendees, organizers, and volunteers for making this year’s symposium a success.We’re especially grateful to our sponsors for their generous support, which makes events like this possible and advances the interdisciplinary work driving progress against cancer.

06/13/2026

There's still time to register for the 2026 Koch Institute Annual Symposium: Diet & Metabolism in Cancer, taking place this Thursday, June 18!

Don't miss Session 2 on diet-gut interactions in cancer, featuring Omer Yilmaz (MIT Koch Institute) on dietary control of stem cells in physiology and disease, and Wendy Garrett (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) on enhancing anti-tumor immunity through diet and microbiota for colon cancer.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diet-metabolism-in-cancer-tickets-1986438371643?aff=Social

06/12/2026

There's still time to register for the 2026 Koch Institute Annual Symposium: Diet & Metabolism in Cancer, taking place this Thursday, June 18!

Don't miss Session 1 on the influence of diet on health and cancer, featuring Walter Willett (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Mandar Muzumdar (Yale School of Medicine) on diet-induced cell stress and pancreatic cancer priming, and Matt Vander Heiden (MIT Koch Institute) on diet, systemic metabolism, and cancer progression.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/diet-metabolism-in-cancer-tickets-1986438371643?aff=Social

06/04/2026

Daniel Anderson, Robert Langer, and their former postdoc Omid Veiseh launched Duracyte, a biotechnology company that produces implantable “living drug factories” that replace repeated injections and infusions with continuous, self-adjusting dosing. Duracyte plans to begin clinical trials for recurrent ovarian cancer later this year.

https://mit-ki.org/4x9vZS4

05/29/2026

The Hansen Lab is tracking how chromatin — DNA and structural proteins — moves across timescales ranging from microseconds to hours.

In a study in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, researchers uncovered two movement patterns, one where very limited movement keeps only local regions in contact and another where distant regions slowly meet over minutes or hours. The results shed light on how chromatin movement helps genes interact with near or distant regulatory elements.

https://mit-ki.org/4dPqVJH

05/19/2026

Huge congratulations to Robert Langer — he’s been named the 2026 recipient of the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry! Established by the Welch Foundation to recognize chemical research that meaningfully benefits humankind, the Welch Award is one of the most prestigious honors in chemistry — carrying a $500,000 prize and a celebration ceremony each October in Houston.

Dr. Langer's pioneering work at the intersection of chemistry and medicine transformed how we think about controlled drug release and tissue engineering — discoveries that have directly shaped how patients are treated around the world. He has launched tens of companies, licensed his work to over 400 organizations globally, and mentored hundreds of students and postdoctoral fellows who now lead research of their own.

https://mit-ki.org/3RihKKl

05/13/2026

Registration is now open for the 2026 Koch Institute Annual Symposium!

On Thursday, June 18, leading experts in their fields will explore how nutritional and metabolic factors influence cancer development and therapy, as well as foster interdisciplinary discussions and highlight insights that can advance cancer prevention and treatment.

Register: https://mit-ki.org/4tv7Br9

05/07/2026

If you missed our April 29 event, Inside INLEXZO, the full recording is now available. Learn how INLEXZO™, a newly FDA-approved treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, was developed—from its origins in Professor Michael Cima’s lab to its translation into the clinic.In this conversation, Professor Cima and alumna Karen Daniel, PhD ’09, share the story behind the pretzel-shaped drug delivery platform and the path from prototype to patient impact.

Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEt8urfJPE8

05/05/2026

Congratulations to Jessica Stark for winning the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize!

The Prize, awarded by the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance, provides $750,000 in funding to support high-risk, high-reward ideas at a pivotal stage, helping bridge the gap between discovery and real-world impact.

Stark studies how glycans—sugars on the surface of cancer cells—shape immune recognition of tumors. Her work aims to define how these structures enable immune evasion and to develop new therapies that target them.

This support will allow her group to further investigate how cancer-cell glycans can be leveraged to create new opportunities for precision cancer immunotherapy.

https://pershingsquarephilanthropies.org/prize-winners/jessica-stark

05/01/2026