Biomedicine for the Convergent Soul; Higher Yield on Your Next Vax Return; E. coli of Duty

A new MIT report sounds the battle cry for increased collaboration and funding of integrative research bringing together physical and life sciences. Co-chaired by KI members Tyler Jacks, KI director and the David H. Koch Professor of Biology; Susan Hockfield, president emerita of MIT; and Phillip Sharp, Institute Professor, the report builds on a 2011 white paper and cites numerous examples of ground-breaking cross-disciplinary research. The report was formally presented at last month’s Convergence Forum at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (watch presentations). The winners of the Convergence Idea Challenge, a worldwide contest for emerging researchers to push (and blur) the boundaries of their field, were also announced.

KI engineers are taking vaccination to the next level. By packaging strands of messenger RNA inside nanoparticles, researchers can generate an effective, fast-acting immune response to a variety of diseases. Unlike current vaccines, these dendrimer polymers can be fabricated in a matter of weeks, offering a customizable line of defense against outbreaks and changing biological environments. Building on their success in such areas as Ebola and H1N1, the researchers hope to apply this technology toward the treatment of Zika, Lyme disease, and, as presented in the acclaimed Mission: Possible pitch this spring, cancer prevention. Read more

Co-first author and Anderson/Langer Lab postdoc Omar Khan spoke with The Naked Scientists about this technology on July 11; earlier in the month, the project was featured on Digital Trends. The work is now being supported in part by the Advanced Medical Research Foundation.

The fight against cancer needs all the foot soldiers it can get and the KI’s Bhatia Lab, in collaboration with UC San Diego’s Hasty Lab, has risen to the challenge. Their new recruits, genetically engineered E. coli bacteria, are carting toxic payloads into tumors and releasing them with remarkable efficiency. By capitalizing on the bacteria-friendly environment in which cancer cells thrive, the researchers are developing both diagnostic and treatment applications for these programmed bacteria, and broadening the definition of “foot soldiers” to include flagella as well. This work was supported in part by the S. Leslie Misrock (1949) Frontier Research Fund for Cancer Nanotechnology. Learn more on MIT News and Science Blog.

The Pew Charitable Trusts celebrate creative, young, curiosity-driven scientists poised to change the course of scientific discovery and human health. KI faculty member Ömer Yilmaz is among this year’s Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research, recognized for his promising approaches toward the treatment of intestinal cancers. Yilmaz is one of 37 scholars honored; Amon Lab alumna Gloria Brar, Jaenisch Lab alumnus Dirk Hockemeyer, and Ploegh Lab alumna Stephanie Dougan have been named as 2016 Pew Biomedical Scholars. Read more

The force is strong with chemotherapy, but not all cancers succumb to its power. Drug resistance is a growing concern in the clinic, especially when it comes to targeted therapies. Now, systems biologists are joining the movement to understand tumor behavior and develop better models of how cancer cells evolve and respond to treatment over the course of their lifetimes. The KI’s Meyer Lab, led by research fellow Aaron Meyer, has been using this approach to explore different resistance-promoting pathways and identify commonalities between them, while an ongoing collaboration between KI engineer and head of MIT's Department of Biological Engineering Douglas Lauffenburger and KI biologist Michael Hemann offers a more proactive approach to profiling tumors’ weaknesses and uncovering them for the shape shifters they really are. Like a force awakening, systems biology has the silent strength to remove the restraints on treatment options and leave cancer cells with their doors open. Read more

The verdict is in—combining life sciences and engineering accelerates laboratory research into the clinic. TARIS Biomedical recently announced a Phase 1b clinical trial of a treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The drug-device being tested comes directly out of technology developed in the KI’s Cima Lab. This is not the first clinical trial announcement stemming from the lab this year—in April, postdoc Oliver Jonas announced the upcoming launch (now underway) of a new clinical trial for breast cancer patients based on preclinical results from a microdevice that can be implanted into tumors, using a biopsy needle, to test the efficacy of multiple cancer therapeutics or combinations. Supported in part by the Koch Institute Frontier Fund, the improved, trial-ready device can now hold up to 100 different drugs or combinations as well as relay results in real-time.

At times, the technology and research approaches being developed in KI laboratories feel quite futuristic. Still, the resulting discoveries and innovations are both personal and pragmatic. KI faculty members Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, and Leonard Guarente were among those featured in The Boston Globe for their work on anti-aging devices, including sirtuin-boosting vitamins and wrinkle-defying polymers. Article author Robert Weisman also spoke separately with KI director Tyler Jacks, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology, about his vision for precision medicine in an earlier article, proving that when academics look to the clinic, it’s hard not to be optimistic!

What does cancer look like and how do we treat it? More than 500 visitors to the USA Science & Engineering Festival in April explored alginate beads and iPhone microscopes to answer these questions and learn about MIT’s ground-breaking cancer research program. Earlier in the month, KI researchers Rebecca Silberman (Amon Lab), Madeleine Oudin (Gerter Lab), and Jaime Cheah (High Throughput Screening Core) debuted a new cancer research mini-course at the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts’ STEM Expo. The day’s activities were well received by the scouts, and have been adapted to create a new offering in the KI’s ever-evolving student outreach program.

With all the inventions coming out of the Langer Laboratory, it is no wonder that the European Patent Organization named Robert Langer winner of the European Inventor Award 2016 (Non-European Countries category). The specific device for which he was recognized, implantable, wafer-like “bio plastics” that encapsulate therapeutic agents to inhibit the formation of blood vessels that feed tumors, is but one in a long line of advancements from the Langer Laboratory that can be implanted in the body or attached to the skin for long-term drug release. Last year’s ingestible sensor, developed in collaboration with gastroenterologist Giovanni Traverso, was one of 10 inventions honored by Popular Science with a 2016 Invention Award, and precedes the announcement by Traverso and Langer of a two-sided pill that attaches to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and slowly release its contents even as it repels food and liquids that could pull it away from the attachment site.

Another longstanding collaboration, with Omid Farokhzad of the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, has yielded a new type of nanoparticle that can deliver anti-obesity drugs directly to fat tissue. With obesity having overtaken smoking last year as the top preventable cause of cancer death in the United States, this technology has great potential for the future of cancer prevention.

From lab bench to office desk, the talents of the KI community have not gone unrecognized this spring. Congratulations to the following individuals for their recent awards: Langer/Anderson Labs postdocs Suman Bose (Top 40 under 40 Healthcare Innovators, Medtech Boston) and Michael Mitchell (Career Awards at the Science Interface, Burrough-Wellcome Fund); alumnus Armon Sharei (30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine); HQ pre-awards staff (Mary Ellen Acone, Elisabeth Choi, and Emma Malbon) and Sharp Lab manager Amanda Maffa (Infinite Mile awards, MIT); and executive director Anne Deconinck (Cannons Fighting Cancer, Boston Cannons). Cheers to all!