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Integrated Cancer Biology Program

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MIT was awarded an NCI Integrative Cancer Biology Program (ICBP) grant in 2004, for the period September 2004 through February 2015. This grant catalyzed formation of a community of faculty, postdoctoral associates, graduate students, and undergraduate students having the common goal of developing and effectively applying systems biology approaches to fundamental problems in cancer biology and therapy. The MIT ICBP community comprises an interdisciplinary faculty from multiple departments in the MIT Schools of Science (mainly Biology and Chemistry) and Engineering (mainly Biological Engineering and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) as well as the HMS Department of Systems Biology. Students/postdocs are drawn from these departments along with the interdepartmental MIT Computational & Systems Biology graduate program. Most participating investigators are also members of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research (KI).

Objective 1 - Cancer Research: Advance the development and application of new systems biology approaches to cancer research in three significant scientific areas (mitogenesis, migration, and DNA damage/repair) and improve corresponding approaches for discovery and use of cancer therapies.

Objective 2 - Education: Train a new generation of young research leaders comfortable at the interdisciplinary interface between experimental molecular/cell biology and quantitative modeling in key areas of basic and applied cancer research.

Objective 3 - Collaboration and Outreach: Serve the general cancer biology community by acting as a collaborative partner that brings new ideas and methods to a wide community of investigators regardless of institutional affiliation.

The purpose of the NCI CCSB initiative is: "to stimulate the development and application of the integrative systems approaches and mathematical/computational modeling to cancer research... specifically in the areas of (a) cancer biology; (b) experimental therapeutics; (c) early interventions; and (d) cancer susceptibility." The efforts of our MIT ICBP/CCSB, now entitled the 'Tumor Cell Networks Center' (TCNC) , focus primarily on Area (a) cancer biology, with intersection into Area (b) experimental therapeutics. The TCNC comprises three multi-investigator research projects and cores in Computational Modeling and in Education/Outreach:

Project 1 - Mitogenesis Networks Project 2 - Migration Networks Project 3 - DNA Damage Networks Core 1 - Computational Modeling Core 2 - Education & Outreach

Principal Investigators

• Douglas Lauffenburger, Ph.D. Professor of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Biology; Head, Department of Biological Engineering; David H. Koch Institute
• Michael Yaffe, Ph.D., M.D. Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering; David H. Koch Institute

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The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) basic research center, one of the two NCI-designated centers in the Greater Boston area. The Koch Institute brings scientists and engineers together under one roof to accelerate the discovery and application of new ways to detect, monitor, treat, and prevent cancer. The Koch Institute's researchers include cancer biologists; chemists; materials science, chemical, electrical, and biological engineers; computer scientists; and others, all dedicated to bringing the most advanced science and technology to bear in the fight against cancer.

The Koch Institute draws its faculty from both the School of Science and the School of Engineering. While graduate students typically enroll in their respective departmental program, students in any MIT department may ask to do doctoral thesis research under the supervision of a Koch Institute faculty member. If accepted, they may be eligible for support as research assistants.

Opportunities for undergraduate research are available through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program . If an undergraduate student is interested in working in a particular lab, they may also contact the appropriate faculty member directly. In addition, the Koch Institute regularly presents seminars on cancer research and public events throughout the year.

For further information, contact Terry Clewley , senior human resources and administration manager, at 617-258-7448.

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Research Areas

Faculty expertise.

Showing 71 faculty members

Intramural faculty

Intramural faculty members have laboratories in the Koch Institute building.

Daniel Anderson

Professor Anderson develops devices, materials, and vaccines to create customizable living and gene therapies for cancer, diabetes, and other applications.

Angela Belcher

Professor Belcher seeks to understand and harness processes of nature to design materials and devices for cancer, energy, and the environment.

Sangeeta Bhatia

Director, Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine

Professor Bhatia integrates engineering, medicine, and biology to develop novel platforms for understanding, diagnosing, and treating cancer and other diseases.

Michael Birnbaum

Professor Birnbaum focuses on understanding and manipulating adaptive immune responses in cancer and infection.

Jianzhu Chen

Professor Chen seeks fundamental understandings of the immune system and their translation into immunotherapies for cancer and other diseases.

Michael Cima

Professor Cima develops materials, diagnostics, and treatments to improve human health, focusing on cancer, metabolic diseases, trauma, and urological disorders. 

Paula Hammond

Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering

Professor Hammond designs polymers, including controlled-release films and nanoparticles for drug and nucleic acid delivery in cancer and other diseases.

Michael Hemann

Professor Hemann uses high throughput genetics and tractable pre-clinical models to investigate basic mechanisms of cancer drug resistance.

Whitney Henry (July 2024)

Professor Henry studies how ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of cell death, can be leveraged to target highly metastatic and therapy-resistant cancer cells.

Susan Hockfield

A neuroscientist by training, Professor Hockfield is MIT President Emerita, and a longtime advocate for interdisciplinary research and convergence.

David Housman

Professor Housman studies the biological underpinnings of Huntington’s disease, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, to develop effective strategies for intervention.

Richard O. Hynes

Professor Hynes studies metastasis, the spread of tumor cells throughout the body, particularly the role of extracellular matrix, an important component of tumor microenvironment.    

Darrell Irvine

Associate Director, Koch Institute

Professor Irvine develops technologies that boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer in order to create safer, more effective immunotherapies.

Tyler Jacks

Co-Director, Ludwig Center at MIT

Professor Jacks investigates the events contributing to cancer evolution, and has engineered widely-used mouse models of human cancers.

Kristin Knouse

Professor Knouse builds tools to understand and modulate regeneration and thereby uncover new treatments for diverse diseases.

Angela Koehler

Associate Director Faculty Director,  MIT Deshpande Center

Professor Koehler’s lab applies chemical biology approaches to expand the ‘druggable’ proteome, emphasizing proteins that are dysregulated in cancer.

Robert Langer

Professor Langer develops drug delivery systems and tissue engineering systems for numerous applications, including cancer therapy, diabetes, and vaccines.

Jacqueline Lees

Associate Dean, MIT School of Science

Professor Lees investigates genes that influence cancer development and progression, with particular focus on regulators that control stem cell function.

J. Christopher Love

Professor Love develops single-cell analysis and biomanufacturing technologies to accelerate the discovery and production of vaccines, cancer therapeutics, and biomedicines. 

Scott Manalis

Professor Manalis develops novel instrumentation for cancer research.

Francisco J. Sánchez-Rivera

Professor Sánchez-Rivera aims to define and target processes by which genes and pathogenic mutations interact to cause diseases like cancer.

Ram Sasisekharan

Professor Sasisekharan studies how cell function is regulated by the extracellular environment, and develops antibody engineering tools for infectious disease and cancer.

Phillip Sharp

The Sharp Laboratory investigates transcription and RNA splicing to identify signatures for early cancer detection and novel therapeutic targets.

Yadira Soto-Feliciano

Professor Soto-Feliciano studies how chromatin regulates gene expression and how these molecular mechanisms are altered in cancer.

Stefani Spranger

Professor Spranger studies the mechanisms underlying interactions between cancer and the immune system.

Jessica Stark

Professor Stark seeks to understand and engineer the roles of cell-surface sugars in the immune system.

Matthew Vander Heiden

Director, Koch Institute 

Professor Vander Heiden studies how metabolism is altered in cancer and seeks to understand and identify metabolic targets for cancer therapy.

Forest White

Professor White uses systems biology and computational modeling to characterize signaling networks and the tumor-immune interface to identify therapeutic targets.

Dane Wittrup

Professor Wittrup develops protein engineering technologies for the discovery and improvement of cancer biopharmaceuticals and immunotherapies. 

Michael Yaffe

Director, MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine

Professor Yaffe studies signaling networks that control cellular stress responses, including DNA damage responses, inflammation, and cell cycle progression in cancer development and treatment. 

Ömer Yilmaz

Professor Yilmaz studies and models the effects of various diets in tissue regeneration, aging, and cancer initiation.

Extramural faculty

Extramural faculty members come from departments and centers across the MIT campus to share in the vision of the Koch Institute.

Regina Barzilay

Professor Barzilay works on machine learning models for cancer diagnostics and drug discovery.

Stephen Bell

Professor Bell probes the cellular machinery that replicates chromosomes, including how dysfunctions in this machinery contribute to cancer.

Paul Blainey

Professor Blainey integrates molecular, optical, microfluidic, and computational technologies to understand and engineer cellular activities related to cancer and other health challenges.

Edward Boyden

Professor Boyden develops tools to analyze and control biological systems with great precision, informing treatment and diagnosis of complex diseases.

Laurie Boyer

Professor Boyer investigates genetic mechanisms that drive heart development, regeneration, and chemotherapy-induced cardiac damage, to inform tissue repair and cancer treatment strategies.

Christopher Burge

Professor Burge combines experimental and computational approaches to understand RNA binding proteins and their role in cancer.

Eliezer Calo

Professor Calo studies how cells build ribosomes and how ribosomal dysfunction influences developmental disorders and cancer.

Lindsay Case

Professor Case seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms that lead to aberrant cell migration and signaling during cancer metastasis.

Brandon DeKosky

Professor DeKosky develops high-throughput systems to characterize adaptive immunity and accelerate drug and vaccine discovery against cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmunity.

Patrick Doyle

Professor Doyle uses soft matter concepts to develop microparticle drug formulations and bioassays for application in cancer and other diseases.

Elazer Edelman

Professor Edelman integrates vascular and cancer biology to improve understanding of endothelial-tumor interactions and essence of cancer regulation.

Katie Galloway

Professor Galloway use systems and synthetic biology to understand and engineer cell-fate transitions including cellular reprogramming and oncogenesis.

Linda Griffith

Professor Griffith develops biomaterials, scaffolds, and analytical techniques for regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and drug development for cancer and other diseases.

Leonard Guarente

Professor Guarente investigates the biological mechanisms of aging and their role in cancer metabolism, DNA repair, and the tumor microenvironment.

Anders Hansen

Professor Hansen studies 3D genome structure and function, with a particular focus on dysregulation of gene expression in cancer.

H. Robert Horvitz

Professor Horvitz analyzes the roles of genes in animal development and behavior, gaining insight into human diseases including cancer.

Rudolf Jaenisch

Professor Jaenisch uses pluripotent cells to study genetics and epigenetics of human diseases (Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, autism, cancer) and of SARS-CoV-2.

Jeremiah A. Johnson

Professor Johnson develops methods for synthesizing large molecules and uses these molecules for applications including cancer therapeutics and imaging.

Professor Kamm builds models of cancer and other tissues, seeking to understand how cells sense and respond to mechanical stimuli.

Amy Keating

Head of the Department of Biology

Professor Keating analyzes protein-protein interactions important for cell signaling and human health, including those implicated in cancer.

Laura Kiessling

Professor Kiessling elucidates the roles of carbohydrates in cells, aiming to develop treatments and diagnostics for various diseases, including cancer.

Eric Lander

Professor Lander, a geneticist, molecular biologist, and mathematician, is interested in every aspect of the human genome and its application to medicine.

Douglas Lauffenburger

Professor Lauffenburger uses experimental and computational tools to analyze cell dysregulation, developing new therapies for cancer, inflammatory pathologies, and the immune system.

The Lew lab studies mechanisms of cell polarity and cell cycle control as well as chemotropism and the cell biology of fungi development for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. 

Professor Page studies the genetic differences between males and females and the ramifications of these differences on cancer and other diseases.

Bradley Pentelute

Professor Pentelute modifies proteins to deliver biomolecules into cells and treat diseases such as cancer, and develops platforms for rapid protein synthesis.

Professor Raines uses the ideas and methods of chemistry to understand and control life processes, including cancer.

Alison Ringel

Professor Ringel seeks to understand the molecular adaptations that enable immune cells to function and survive within stressful environments found inside tumors.

Alex Shalek

Professor Shalek systematically examines how cells and their interactions drive tissue-level behaviors in human health and disease, including cancer.

Giovanni Traverso

Professor Traverso develops gastrointestinal-focused biomedical devices for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. 

Graham Walker

Professor Walker focuses on DNA repair, mutagenesis, and cellular responses to DNA damage in various contexts, including cancer and aging.

Robert Weinberg

Professor Weinberg studies the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of cancer stem cells, tumor development, and metastasis.

Professor Weiss programs cells to perform dedicated tasks for a range of environmental and biomedical applications, including cancer therapeutics.

Jonathan Weissman

Professor Weissman uses high-resolution lineage tracing combined with single cell analyses and CRISPR-based functional genomic tools to understand tumor evolution.

Richard Young

Professor Young studies the regulation of gene expression to understand how these controls go awry in cancer and other diseases.

Emeritus and former faculty

Recognizing tenured, intramural Koch Institute faculty members who have passed away or no longer have active laboratories.

Angelika Amon (1967-2020)

Cell biologist Angelika Amon studied molecular mechanisms governing chromosome segregation and the implications of chromosome mis-segregation for human diseases such as cancer.

Herman N. Eisen (1918-2014)

Immunologist Herman Eisen uncovered fundamental biological processes, in particular interactions between the immune system and cancer cells.

Frank B. Gertler

Biologist Frank B. Gertler explored the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor cell invasion and metastasis.

Nancy Hopkins

Geneticist Nancy Hopkins mapped RNA tumor virus genes in mouse models and developed zebrafish models to study early vertebrate development and cancer.  

Frank Solomon

Cell biologist Frank Solomon’s laboratory focused on intrinsic determinants of cell shape, using the techniques of biochemistry, genetics and cell and molecular biology.

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Eliezer Calo studies how cells build ribosomes and how dysfunction in ribosome biogenesis and function leads to tissue-specific developmental disorders and...

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Cancer biology phd program.

The GW Cancer Biology PhD program is designed to equip the next generation of researchers with the knowledge, research training and leadership skills necessary to foster progress in the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer. The PhD program provides research training in areas reflecting GW faculty expertise, which includes the study of cancer signaling and checkpoint inhibitors, cancer immunology and immunotherapy, and molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis and metastasis, cancer genomics and epigenetics and the tumor microenvironment.

The  GW Cancer Center (GWCC)  brings together cancer research, clinical cancer care, and cancer control/prevention and outreach initiatives at GW, and offers students a range of exciting research programs, seminars and retreats. Researcher labs are located on the 8th floor of the contemporary Science and Engineering Hall, in Ross Hall and other locations. An important focus for the Cancer Center is to address prominent health disparities in breast, cervical, colorectal, pancreatic, liver and prostate cancers faced by communities in the District of Columbia. Students have access to cutting-edge core facilities for flow cytometry, imaging, and computational biology as well as the  Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI) lab , and state-of-the art  GW Biorepository  resource of biospecimens and clinical data to facilitate research on HIV/AIDS and cancer.

The  GW Cancer Biology Training Program  (supported by NIH T32 CA247756) is a prestigious dual  basic/clinical mentorship  program guided by expert cancer researchers and clinician investigators designed to prepare the next generation of outstanding cancer research scientists. The two-year program for predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows includes courses and workshops as well as a discovery research project leading to an independent research career. Students apply for this program at the end of their first year, with their mentor and cancer-related research.

The PhD in Cancer Biology begins with the interdisciplinary coursework in molecular, cellular, and systems biology and research rotations offered through  GW’s Integrated Biomedical Sciences curriculum . In the second and third semester students add a comprehensive introduction to the conceptual and experimental underpinnings of cancer biology. Further electives, career development coursework in scientific writing, oral communication, and research ethics and laboratory rotations are provided. Following required laboratory rotations, students complete a. grant-style qualifier and then work with their research advisor and the Graduate Program Directors to complete remaining Cancer Biology degree requirements, including the research dissertation.

Cancer Biology Courses:

CANC 8221: The Basic Science of Oncology CANC 8222: Molecular Oncology and Epigenetics CANC 8998: Advanced Reading and Research Seminar Course CANC 8999: Dissertation Research

Some Suggested Electives:

GENO 6237: Proteomics & Biomarkers CANC 8223: Cancer Immunology BIOC 6240: Next Gen Sequencing HSCI 6263: Biostatistics Clinical Translational Scientific Research (online)

Seminars/Journal Clubs:

The Cancer Biology seminar series held is held Thursday at 4 pm, and the monthly Tumor Board discussions held each Friday morning at 8 am. An annual Cancer Center Retreat is held in May. Faculty and trainees share interest groups (breast, prostate, ovarian cancer) as well as thematic meetings (Cancer Biology, Cancer Immunology, Cancer Engineering), to focus on common research interests.

Examples of Recent Cancer Biology PhD Dissertations:

Sulgi (John) Lee PhD. 2020, “Identification and Characterization of Tumor Specific Antigens in Pediatric Diffuse Midline Gliomas” Mentors: Javad Nazarian, Eric Villain. (Now Application Scientist at Namocell, Washington DC)

Eden Dejene, PhD 2020 “Regulation of Poly(A)-specific ribonuclease Activity by Reversible Lysine Acetylation”. Mentor: Edward Seto, Inducted into Bouchet Society, NCI supplement. (Now Associate Scientist, Abcam, United Kingdom)

Graduate Program Directors:

Norman Lee, PhD Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology GWU; Ross Hall 601 [email protected]

Yanfen Hu, PhD Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology GWU; Ross Hall 551-B [email protected]

How to apply  to the IBS and Cancer Biology PhD program.

For IBS Application Questions contact  Colleen Kennedy, IBS Program Manager  at  [email protected]

77 Massachusetts Avenue Building 68-120 Cambridge MA, 02139

617-258-6502 [email protected]

Website: Biology

Application Opens: October 1

Deadline: December 1 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Fee: $75.00

Terms of Enrollment

Fall Term (September)

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*The MEng Degree Program in Computer Science and Molecular Biology is available to MIT undergraduates only.

Interdisciplinary Programs

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Standardized Tests

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

• Minimum score required: 6.5
• Electronic scores send to: MIT Graduate Admissions

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• Minimum score required: 100 (iBT) 600 (PBT)
• Institute code: 3514
• Department code: 35

Cambridge English Qualification (C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency)

• Minimum score required: 185

Waivers may be available. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not required.

Areas of Research

• Biochemistry
• Bioengineering
• Bioinformatics/Computational Biology
• Biological Oceanography (WHOI)
• Cancer Biology
• Cell Biology
• Developmental Biology
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• Microbiology
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• Structural Biology and Biophysics

Financial Support

All doctoral graduate students receive:

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We encourage applicants and current students to apply for independent funding from outside organizations. Please see the Biology website for a list of outside fellowships for U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, and international students.

Application Requirements

• Online application
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Applicants should not send published papers, theses, writing samples or other supplemental material with their application.

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Chemical Biology and Metabolomics

Image Credit: Lucas Sullivan, Vander Heiden Lab

Research in Chemical Biology and Metabolomics at MIT aims to discover small molecules and chemical modifications of macromolecules that regulate metabolism, cell signaling, and homeostasis and to model aspects of cellular metabolism.

Sinisa Hrvatin

Scientists use computational modeling to design “ultrastable” materials.

These highly stable metal-organic frameworks could be useful for applications such as capturing greenhouse gases.

Materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have a rigid, cage-like structure that lends itself to a variety of applications, from gas storage to drug delivery. By changing the building blocks that go into the materials, or the way they are arranged, researchers can design MOFs suited to different uses.

Laura L. Kiessling

Uncovering how cells control their protein output.

Gene-Wei Li investigates the rules that cells use to maintain the correct ratio of the proteins they need to survive.

A typical bacterial genome contains more than 4,000 genes, which encode all of the proteins that the cells need to survive. How do cells know just how much of each protein they need for their everyday functions?

Connor W. Coley

The fluid that feeds tumor cells.

The substance that bathes tumors in the body is quite different from the medium used to grow cancer cells in the lab, biologists report. 

Mapping the brain at high resolution

New 3-D imaging technique can reveal, much more quickly than other methods, how neurons connect throughout the brain.

Engineering "capture compounds" to probe cell growth

Researchers develop a method to investigate how bacteria respond to starvation and to identify which proteins bind to the "magic spot" - ppGpp. 

Exploring Cancer metabolism

Matthew Vander Heiden seeks new cancer treatments that exploit tumor cells' abnormal metabolism

Biologists discover how pancreatic tumors lead to weight loss

Shortfall of digestive enzymes can lead to tissue breakdown in early stages of pancreatic cancer.

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Whitehead Institute is a world-renowned non-profit research institution dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research.

Catch up on exciting discoveries at Whitehead Institute.

Axolotls ( Ambystoma mexicanum ) are a critically endangered species of salamander. They are also highly regenerative. The latest story in our Unusual Labmates series explores these fascinating creatures, what Whitehead Institute researchers are hoping to discover by studying them, and why they are worth preserving in the wild. Click here to view the full multimedia story .

Remembering Whitehead Institute friend Emily V. Wade Awards + Announcements April 03, 2024

Whitehead Institute celebrates contributions of three distinguished Board members Awards + Announcements April 10, 2024

The Whitehead Innovation Initiative is established to advance the use of artificial intelligence in biomedical research Awards + Announcements April 08, 2024

AudioHelicase Special: How foundational research takes medicines from lab to shelf Drug Discovery March 25, 2024

Whitehead Institute specializes in foundational research — solving deep scientific mysteries that unlock the mechanisms underlying many diseases, leading to new approaches in medicine.

Foundational research — as opposed to applied research — is research conducted not to solve a specific problem, but to satisfy a driving curiosity about the unknown. Seemingly simple queries, such as ‘How do cells divide?’ or ‘How can plants control how their genes are expressed?’ can pave the way for more applied research in therapeutics, cancer biology and genetics, and open up vast new fields of study that reshape the way we understand biology.

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Through basic research, Robert Weinberg discovered the first gene known to cause cancer in humans. 

Robert Weinberg

Ruth Lehmann

Ruth Lehmann has made key discoveries on the biogenesis of piRNAs and their potential role in maintaining germ cell genomic integrity while allowing for genetic variation.

Since its beginnings in 1982, Whitehead Institute has explored the core questions that underlie our basic understanding of biology. And while our mission remains the same, much has changed in the intervening decades; new research tools allow our scientists to look deeper and design better experiments than ever before. The more we understand about how biological systems work, the better we can design informed and effective therapies and treatments to meet the challenges of modern society.

Brit d’Arbeloff and David Page (both seated) with Page lab postdoctoral fellow Adrianna San Roman (left) and Sahin Naqvi (rear), then a Page lab graduate student and now a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.

Research in David Page’s lab explores how sex chromosomes affect women’s health and diseases.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute are world-renowned for their contributions to cancer biology, genomics and more, and the impact of our publications positions us as the top research institution in the world for molecular biology and genetics. The Institute's location in Kendall Square creates an exciting and collaborative scientific environment where our scientists often team up with researchers at Harvard, the Koch Institute, and MIT on cross-disciplinary studies. Whitehead Institute also prioritizes giving back to the community, hosting summer programs, lecture series, and other events for scientists and aspiring scientists.

Whitehead Institute’s faculty has received awards from the Genetic Society of America, and National Academy of Medicine, and more, and several PIs are members of the National Academy of Sciences. Seven faculty members are investigators for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and four over the past 38 years have won the National Medal of Science.

Whitehead’s public programs, for example the Expedition Bio program for middle school students, merge curiosity with real world science through hands-on activities, laboratory modules and discussions with researchers.

Unusual Labmates is a series that explores some of the more unusual models used for research at Whitehead Institute. From rare plants to luminescent beetles to regenerative starfish and worms, these organisms and their unusual traits provide insights into the underlying biology and incredible diversity of living things.

Gain a broader perspective on environmental research, epigenetics, COVID-19 and more through these collections of multimedia stories. 

Whitehead Institute is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists, especially postdocs. Get to know a few of these remarkable scientists through these profiles. 

Whitehead Institute researchers are making important insights into the biology of the brain, from how it develops to what goes awry in neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Our researchers seek to understand the activity of and interactions between the many molecules that make up the complex world of the cell. They investigate how the molecules and specialized structures inside of our cells work in concert with each other, in a precisely choreographed dance, to ensure that biological processes happen when and how they should.

Cancer is a disease, or set of diseases, in which abnormal cells in the body experience uncontrolled growth. Cancer biology is complex, with many potential factors contributing to a given cancer’s development and outcome. Researchers at Whitehead Institute are investigating the fundamental biology of cancer cells and have helped drive steady advances in biomedicine’s understanding of cancer, contributing to innovative strategies in both diagnosis and therapy.

Our researchers are investigating important questions about how organisms develop —How does one generation beget the next? How does a single cell give rise to a complex organism?—and, with the help of new tools and innovative approaches, revealing answers that give us a better understanding of the fundamental aspects of life.

Whitehead Institute researchers are shedding light on the intricacies of plant biology in order to provide insights into plant development that could contribute to improved crop yield and global food security; discover plant-derived medicines and other valuable natural products; and improve our fundamental understanding of biological processes, including gene regulation and protein folding.

Our researchers are working to understand the biology underlying infectious diseases and the microbes and viruses behind them, using innovative genetic approaches and  new tools and methods.

Whitehead Institute has been a trailblazer in the fields of genomics and genetics since it became the single largest contributor to the Human Genome Project —and the Institute continues to be a world leader in genetics and genomics research.

Whitehead Institute’s core facilities set it apart. The cores, staffed by experts and providing state-of-the-art instrumentation and tools, allow our scientists to pursue more ambitious investigations.

Located in the biotech and biomedical research hub of Kendall Square, the Whitehead Institute campus features five floors of laboratory space, as well as state-of-the-art facilities for genomics, computing, microscopy and more.

Whitehead Institute's scientists hail from around the world, bringing a multitude of perspectives and ideas. Although our faculty is smaller than many of our peer institutions, the Institute’s contributions to bioscience have long been second to none, and our scientists, administration, and support staff work together to push the boundaries of biology forward.

Whitehead Institute’s collaborative culture encourages researchers at every level to share new ideas and benefit from the experience of their colleagues. Gatherings such as weekly coffee hours and annual scientific retreats facilitate this exchange. The Institute is also active in the Boston-Cambridge community, hosting educational programs for local teachers and students. 

Welcome 2023-24 Cancer Biology PhD Program Class

Class 2023 phd lab coat ceremony september 2023.

The online application for Autumn 2023-24 is now open

Program news.

Weintraub Graduate Student Award

Congratulations to King Hung (and PI Howard Chang). To receive the 2023 Weintraub Award! 

Biosciences PhD students began their careers at Stanford School of Medicine with crisp new lab coats, advice on graduate school success and warm words about the value of discovery.

First-year graduate students in the biosciences donned lab coats provided by the Stanford Medicine Alumni Association at a ceremony marking the beginning of their studies.

December 10, 2020

NASA  announced  the members of the  Artemis  team of astronauts, who will participate in missions on and around the moon. Three Stanford alumni – NICOLE MANN, MS ’01; KATE RUBINS, PhD ’06; and JESSICA WATKINS, BS ’10 – are among the 18 astronauts chosen to be part of the “Artemis Team.”

According to the press release from NASA, the Artemis program will “land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human lunar presence by the end of the decade.”

https://news.stanford.edu/thedish/2020/12/10/three-stanford-alums-among-nasa-artemis-astronauts-heading-to-the-moon/

June 1, 2020

Student Award Excellence in Teaching Award

Fiorella Grandi , Cancer Biology student in  Nidhi Bhutani Lab, has been selected for the 2019-20 Stanford Biosciences  Excellence in Teaching Award . This award recognizes a student whose teaching distinguishes them as valued contributors to the School of Medicine and Biosciences community.

Student Award Excellence in Service to Graduate Students

Brooks Benard , Cancer Biology student in  Ravi Majeti Lab, has been selected for the 2019-20 Stanford Biosciences  Excellence in Service to Graduate Students . This award recognizes students who devote a large amount of time trying to improve the quality of the Stanford graduate student experience.

Class 2019 PhD Lab Coat Ceremony

Sept 23, 2019

June 16, 2019

Julie Ko,  Cancer Biology student in  Julien Sage Lab,  has been selected for the 2018-19 Stanford Biosciences  Excellence in Service to Graduate Students . This award recognizes students who devote a large amount of time trying to improve the quality of the Stanford graduate student experience.

Student Award Excellence in Teaching 

Michael Dubreuil,  Cancer Biology student in  Michael Bassik Lab,  has been selected for the 2018-19 Stanford Biosciences  Excellence in Teaching Award . This award recognizes a student whose teaching distinguishes them as valued contributors to the School of Medicine and Biosciences community.

New Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute

Oct 1, 2018

Steven Artandi , MD, PhD, professor of medicine and of biochemistry at the School of Medicine.

Keynote Speaker at the Cancer Biology Conference, September 15 James Allison, PhD, 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

James Allison , PhD, chair of  Immunology  and executive director of the  immunotherapy platform  at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.  

Class 2018 PhD Lab Coat Ceremony

Sept 24, 2018

June 14, 2018

Student Award for Excellence in Teaching  

Caitlin Roake , Cancer Biology and MSTP student in Steven Artandi lab, has been selected for the 2017-18 Stanford Biosciences Excellence in Teaching Award . This award recognizes a student whose teaching distinguishes them as valued contributors to the School of Medicine and Biosciences community.

Irene Li , Cancer Biology student in  Sylvia Plevritis Lab, has been selected for the 2017-18  2017-18 Stanford Biosciences  Excellence in Service to Graduate Students . This award recognizes students who devote a large amount of time trying to improve the quality of the Stanford graduate student experience.

May 23, 2018

Howard Chang is announced as Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator

Howard Chang , MD, PhD, professor of dermatology, is one of the new  Howard Hughes Medical Institute  investigators.

Class 2017 PhD Lab Coat Ceremony

Sept 25, 2017

Oct 18, 2017

Howard Chang elected to National Academy of Medicine

Howard Chang , MD, PhD, professor of dermatology, has been elected members of the  National Academy of Medicine .

Oct 13, 2017

2017 STAT Wunderkind

Alumnus Daniel E. Webster, Ph.D., recognized as a “2017 STAT Wunderkind”.  He was in Dr. Paul Khavari Lab and is currently a Damon Runyon Fellow at the National Cancer Institute working with Dr. Louis Staudt on B cell lymphoma genomics. 

The Landers, Doudnas, and Bradners of the world grab plenty of headlines. So we set out to find the next generation of scientific superstars. Over the past several months, a team of STAT editors and reporters pored through nearly 300 nominations from across North America. We didn’t set an age limit; we were on the hunt for the most impressive doctors and researchers on the cusp of launching their careers but not yet fully independent. Most were postdocs, fellows, and biopharma employees working with more senior scientists. All are blazing new trails as they attempt to answer some of the biggest questions in medicine. Meet the 2017 STAT Wunderkinds.

Oct 9, 2017

Study uncovers mutation that supercharges tumor-suppressor

Laura Attardi , PhD, Professor, Departments of Radiation Oncology and of Genetics, and her collegues have found a mutation in the p53 tumor-suppressor protein that turns it into a "super" suppressor.

Apr 10, 2017

Monounsaturated fats help roundworms live longer

Anne Brunet and her team were surprised to find that pudgy roundworms that accumulated more monounsaturated fat in their bodies had longer life spans than thinner worms. ( Gregg Segal)

Apr 6, 2017

Stanford Medicine researchers named Outstanding Investigators by the National Cancer Institute

The  National Cancer Institute  has named professor of dermatology  HOWARD CHANG , MD, and professor of oncology  RONALD LEVY , MD, as recipients of the institute’s Outstanding Investigator Awards for 2016.

Jan 5, 2017

Forbes 30 Under 30: Science

Congratulations to Michelle Atallah (and her PIs Ed Engleman and Parag Mallick) for being selected in the top "30 under 30" by Forbes.

Science judge  Cigall Kadoch was a Cancer Biology graduate student in Gerald Crabtree lab.

Dec 4, 2016

Roeland Nusse wins $3 million Breakthrough Prize

Roeland Nusse , PhD, the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor in Cancer Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was honored this evening with a 2017  Breakthrough Prize  in life sciences.

Video: Roeland Nusse, 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences

Class 2016 PhD Lab Coat Ceremony

Sept 28, 2016

Sept 21, 2016

One Billion Base Pairs Sequenced on the Space Station

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles prior to loading it in the biomolecule sequencer. When Rubins’ expedition began, zero base pairs of DNA had been sequenced in space. Within just a few weeks,  she and the Biomolecule Sequencer team had sequenced  their  one billionth base of DNA on the orbiting laboratory .

June 30, 2016

The crew for the next mission to the International Space Station includes Kate Rubins, a NASA astronaut who left a faculty position at MIT to join the space program in 2009. Kate Rubins was a Cancer Biology graduate student at Stanford, where she studied the host response to smallpox and Ebola infection with Pat Brown and David Relman. She then left for MIT as a Whitehead fellow, where she continued that work, including field studies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the attached interview with Scientific American, she will be trying to sequence DNA on the ISS. The mission launches on July 6 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan: 

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-to-air-next-international-space-station-crew-launch

June 13, 2016

2016 Stanford Biosciences  “Excellence in Mentoring and Service Award”

Amato Giaccia , PhD, the Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor and a professor of radiation oncology, received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Service. This award recognizes faculty who make distinguished contributions toward enhancing the quality of training and the educational experience for biosciences graduate students.

Cancer Biology Program

• PhD Program
• Student Resources
• Participating Faculty

Directors of Cancer Biology Program

Laura Attardi

Departments of Radiation Oncology and Genetics

Julien Sage

Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics

2022 NSF Awards: Cancer Biology Program

Nsf recipients:.

Celeste Diaz

Rachel Gleyzer

Cancer Biology Program Retreat 2023

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Tackling cancer at the nanoscale

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When Paula Hammond first arrived on MIT’s campus as a first-year student in the early 1980s, she wasn’t sure if she belonged. In fact, as she told an MIT audience yesterday, she felt like “an imposter.”

However, that feeling didn’t last long, as Hammond began to find support among her fellow students and MIT’s faculty. “Community was really important for me, to feel that I belonged, to feel that I had a place here, and I found people who were willing to embrace me and support me,” she said.

Hammond, a world-renowned chemical engineer who has spent most of her academic career at MIT, made her remarks during the 2023-24 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award lecture.

Established in 1971 to honor MIT’s 10th president, James Killian, the Killian Award recognizes extraordinary professional achievements by an MIT faculty member. Hammond was chosen for this year’s award “not only for her tremendous professional achievements and contributions, but also for her genuine warmth and humanity, her thoughtfulness and effective leadership, and her empathy and ethics,” according to the award citation.

“Professor Hammond is a pioneer in nanotechnology research. With a program that extends from basic science to translational research in medicine and energy, she has introduced new approaches for the design and development of complex drug delivery systems for cancer treatment and noninvasive imaging,” said Mary Fuller, chair of MIT’s faculty and a professor of literature, who presented the award. “As her colleagues, we are delighted to celebrate her career today.”

In January, Hammond began serving as MIT’s vice provost for faculty. Before that, she chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering for eight years, and she was named an Institute Professor in 2021.

A versatile technique

Hammond, who grew up in Detroit, credits her parents with instilling a love of science. Her father was one of very few Black PhDs in biochemistry at the time, while her mother earned a master’s degree in nursing from Howard University and founded the nursing school at Wayne County Community College. “That provided a huge amount of opportunity for women in the area of Detroit, including women of color,” Hammond noted.

After earning her bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1984, Hammond worked as an engineer before returning to the Institute as a graduate student, earning her PhD in 1993. After a two-year postdoc at Harvard University, she returned to join the MIT faculty in 1995.

At the heart of Hammond’s research is a technique she developed to create thin films that can essentially “shrink-wrap” nanoparticles. By tuning the chemical composition of these films, the particles can be customized to deliver drugs or nucleic acids and to target specific cells in the body, including cancer cells.

To make these films, Hammond begins by layering positively charged polymers onto a negatively charged surface. Then, more layers can be added, alternating positively and negatively charged polymers. Each of these layers may contain drugs or other useful molecules, such as DNA or RNA. Some of these films contain hundreds of layers, others just one, making them useful for a wide range of applications.

“What’s nice about the layer-by-layer process is I can choose a group of degradable polymers that are nicely biocompatible, and I can alternate them with our drug materials. This means that I can build up thin film layers that contain different drugs at different points within the film,” Hammond said. “Then, when the film degrades, it can release those drugs in reverse order. This is enabling us to create complex, multidrug films, using a simple water-based technique.”

Hammond described how these layer-by-layer films can be used to promote bone growth, in an application that could help people born with congenital bone defects or people who experience traumatic injuries.

For that use, her lab has created films with layers of two proteins. One of these, BMP-2, is a protein that interacts with adult stem cells and induces them to differentiate into bone cells, generating new bone. The second is a growth factor called VEGF, which stimulates the growth of new blood vessels that help bone to regenerate. These layers are applied to a very thin tissue scaffold that can be implanted at the injury site.

Hammond and her students designed the coating so that once implanted, it would release VEGF early, over a week or so, and continue releasing BMP-2 for up to 40 days. In a study of mice, they found that this tissue scaffold stimulated the growth of new bone that was nearly indistinguishable from natural bone.

Targeting cancer

As a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Hammond has also developed layer-by-layer coatings that can improve the performance of nanoparticles used for cancer drug delivery, such as liposomes or nanoparticles made from a polymer called PLGA.

“We have a broad range of drug carriers that we can wrap this way. I think of them like a gobstopper, where there are all those different layers of candy and they dissolve one at a time,” Hammond said.

Using this approach, Hammond has created particles that can deliver a one-two punch to cancer cells. First, the particles release a dose of a nucleic acid such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), which can turn off a cancerous gene, or microRNA, which can activate tumor suppressor genes. Then, the particles release a chemotherapy drug such as cisplatin, to which the cells are now more vulnerable.

The particles also include a negatively charged outer “stealth layer” that protects them from being broken down in the bloodstream before they can reach their targets. This outer layer can also be modified to help the particles get taken up by cancer cells, by incorporating molecules that bind to proteins that are abundant on tumor cells.

In more recent work, Hammond has begun developing nanoparticles that can target ovarian cancer and help prevent recurrence of the disease after chemotherapy. In about 70 percent of ovarian cancer patients, the first round of treatment is highly effective, but tumors recur in about 85 percent of those cases, and these new tumors are usually highly drug resistant.

By altering the type of coating applied to drug-delivering nanoparticles, Hammond has found that the particles can be designed to either get inside tumor cells or stick to their surfaces. Using particles that stick to the cells, she has designed a treatment that could help to jumpstart a patient’s immune response to any recurrent tumor cells.

“With ovarian cancer, very few immune cells exist in that space, and because they don’t have a lot of immune cells present, it’s very difficult to rev up an immune response,” she said. “However, if we can deliver a molecule to neighboring cells, those few that are present, and get them revved up, then we might be able to do something.”

To that end, she designed nanoparticles that deliver IL-12, a cytokine that stimulates nearby T cells to spring into action and begin attacking tumor cells. In a study of mice, she found that this treatment induced a long-term memory T-cell response that prevented recurrence of ovarian cancer.

Hammond closed her lecture by describing the impact that the Institute has had on her throughout her career.

“It’s been a transformative experience,” she said. “I really think of this place as special because it brings people together and enables us to do things together that we couldn’t do alone. And it is that support we get from our friends, our colleagues, and our students that really makes things possible.”

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Corinne Abate-Shen, PhD receives grant from the National Cancer Institute

Corinne Abate-Shen, PhD, and Alexandros Papachristodoulou, PhD, Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics: $272,484 over two years from the National Cancer Institute for "Investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in high-risk prostate cancer."

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The Future of Biology 2024 Conference

April 20, 2024 @ harvard science center, registration is now open register  here.

About the Conference

Hosted by MIT BioMakers and Harvard OpenBio in partnership with student-led organizations around the world, the Future of Biology Conference provides a platform for students to engage with one another and advance their knowledge of biology through keynote addresses, panel discussion, collaborative workshops, and transformative mentorship opportunities. Through this experience, we hope to inspire a community of young scientists and help develop meaningful connections across the world. Join us as we embark on this journey to empower the future of biology! To maximize accessibility and outreach, this conference will be held in-person with a virtual component, with an audience of primarily undergraduate and graduate participants from around the world.

Event Schedule

9:00AM – 9:30AM  Registration @ SC Central Atrium

9:30AM – 10:15AM   Keynote #1 @SC Hall C George Church, PhD

10:30AM – 11:30AM   Workshop Session@SC 10x

11:30AM – 12:00PM   Lunch Break @ SC Cabot Cafe

12:15PM – 1:00PM  Keynote #2 @SC Hall C

1:15PM – 2:00PM   Stream 1 @SC Hall C Panel

1:15PM – 2:00PM   Stream 2 @SC 10xWorkshop Session 2   

2:15PM – 3:15PM   Poster Session @ SC Central Atrium

3:30PM – 5:00PM  Networking Session @ SC Central Atrium + Cabot Cafe

Keynote Speakers

George Church, Ph.D.

Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Reshma Shetty

Co-Founder, Chief Operations Officer, Ginkgo Bioworks

Panel Speakers

Andrew Berry, Ph.D.

Harvard University Integrative Biology Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Ritu Raman, Ph.D.

MIT Brit (1961) and Alex (1949) d’Arbeloff Career Development Professor in Engineering Design

Omar Abudayyeh, Ph.D.

McGovern Institute Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PI at the AbuGoot Lab

Jonathan Gootenberg, Ph.D.