June Bulletin
Issue 57
Community Notices | News | Jobs | Funding | Events
Community Notices
June seminar
This month's Marble Center seminar is on Monday June 21st (11am-noon, via Zoom) with a research update by Dennis Shi of the Anderson Lab; the title of his talk is “Delivery of siRNA to peritoneal macrophages for cancer immunotherapy.” Following the research update, we will host a hot topic presentation on the state of evolution of drug delivery technologies by Luke Rhym of the Anderson Lab.
MIT E14 Fund
As a follow-up to our hot topic guest presentation on the E14 Fund, below is a list of resources from the Fund.
Fellowship info: https://www.e14fund.com/fellowship
Office hours with E14: https://calendly.com/e14fund/office-hours-marble-center
Additional resources: https://docsend.com/view/xqwqxw9nvw4d6anf
Annual reports due this month!
Annual reports for Marble Center projects will be due on June 18th (please note the new date!). Next academic year’s RFP will be issued early July. If you have any questions, please contact Tarek Fadel (tfadel@mit.edu).
In the News
Professor Sangeeta Bhatia’s salute from the MIT faculty
“It’s OK not to know,” Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia told graduates. “Just keep going. Trust yourself to figure it out and don’t let the uncertainty weigh you down.”
You can read the salute to the graduates by Dr. Bhatia SM ’93 PhD ’97, the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Engineering and Director of the Marble Center, for the Institute's 2021 Commencement held online on June 4, 2021.
The mRNA vaccine revolution is just beginning
(Excerpt from Wired Magazine) The scope of mRNA vaccines always went beyond any one disease. Like moving from a vacuum tube to a microchip, the technology promises to perform the same task as traditional vaccines, but exponentially faster, and for a fraction of the cost. “You can have an idea in the morning, and a vaccine prototype by evening. The speed is amazing,” says Daniel Anderson, Professor of Chemical Engineering and member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. Read more…
Dr. Eric Lander speaks to Nature during his first day as the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Eric Lander will be the first OSTP director to be a member of a U.S. president's cabinet. Credit: Al Drago/Reuters
(Nidhi Subbaraman, Nature News) Expectations are high for geneticist Eric Lander, who was sworn in as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on 2 June, after a months-long confirmation process. In a first for any US president, Joe Biden elevated the position of OSTP director to his cabinet, potentially granting Lander more access and influence than any science adviser before him. Read more…
Jobs
Scientist – Editas Medicine.
Editas Medicine is a transformative genome editing company with a mission to translate its genome editing technology into a novel class of human therapeutics that enable precise genetic modifications to treat a broad range of diseases. The Editing Technologies team optimizes current and new editing technology formats to provide gene editing solutions for current and future therapeutic programs and is looking to add highly talented and motivated candidates to help develop our lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform for advancing new therapies. The candidate will development lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation processes and produce LNP-encapsulated gene editing agents to support company's in vivo pre-clinical studies. In addition, the successful candidate will support the characterization assays for LNP batches. Read More…
Senior Scientist, Prime Medicine.
Prime Medicine is founded to bring the promise of gene editing to patients. We use Prime Editing, a next-generation technology that can “search and replace” to restore normal genetic function almost anywhere in the genome. Prime Medicine is seeking a motivated, creative, and experienced scientist with expertise in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation process development and production of LNP-encapsulated nucleic acid payloads to join our growing team supporting drug product formulation and delivery. The successful candidate will have significant experience with LNP formulation process development and characterization for use in pre-clinical studies. Read More…
Senior Scientist, Beam Therapeutics.
Beam Therapeutics is seeking a highly talented scientist with expertise in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery of nucleic acid drugs. The scientist will work on optimization of lead LNP formulations to enable safe and potent in vivo base editing. The ideal candidate should have good understanding of the composition and process parameters contributing to LNP biophysical property and in vivo performance and strategies to improve LNP safety, potency, and manufacturing. Read more…
Funding opportunities
| Funding Source | Grant ID | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| The Tina’s Wish Rising Star Grant | N/A | June 24, 2021 |
| Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) Impact award (pre-proposals) | W81XWH-21 | August 18, 2021 |
| NIH/NCI: Toward Translation of Nanotechnology Cancer Interventions | PAR-20-116 | November 18, 2021 |
