July Bulletin

Written By Tarek Fadel
 

Issue 94

Community Notices

No Marble Center seminars for July and August; next seminar, September 30th.

Next Marble Center seminar is on Monday September 30 at the KI Luria Auditorium. Please note the new seminar times for Fall 2024 will be 3-4-pm. Additional details about the seminar will be shared soon.

The Birnbaum lab joins the Marble Center

Dr. Michael Birnbaum, Grover M. Hermann Professor in Health Sciences and Technology, has joined the Marble Center faculty on a 3 year-term. The Birnbaum lab focuses on understanding and manipulating ‘natural’ adaptive immune responses in the context of cancer and infection by using a variety of strategies and techniques including protein biochemistry, protein engineering, sequencing, and bioinformatics. As part of the Marble Center, we’re excited to further opportunities for collaboration with his group!

Dr. Michael Birnbaum, Grover M. Hermann Professor in Health Sciences and Technology, and member of the MIT Koch Institute.

Congratulations to Dr. Gio Traverso on receiving tenure!

Giovanni Traverso serves as the Karl Van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professor, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, and a gastroenterologist in the Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School. His work focuses on the next generation of drug delivery systems that enable safe, efficient delivery of therapeutics. He also develops novel diagnostic tests and biomedical devices to support early detection of disease and drug administration.

REMINDER: Marble Center RFP deadline, July 26th

Reminder that deadline for this year’s Marble Center Request for Proposal (RFP) to Marble Center member labs is Friday July 26th, 5pm. For any questions about the RFP, please contact your Marble Center lab rep or Tarek Fadel (tfadel@mit.edu).

News

Leaning into the immune system’s complexity

“T-cells are so diverse in terms of what they recognize and what they do,” Michael Birnbaum says. (Photo: Adam Glanzman)

(Anne Trafton | MIT News) At any given time, millions of T cells circulate throughout the human body, looking for potential invaders. Each of those T cells sports a different T cell receptor, which is specialized to recognize a foreign antigen. To make it easier to understand how that army of T cells recognizes their targets, MIT Associate Professor Michael Birnbaum has developed tools that can be used to study huge numbers of these interactions at the same time.

Deciphering those interactions could eventually help researchers find new ways to reprogram T cells to target specific antigens, such as mutations found in a cancer patient’s tumor. “T-cells are so diverse in terms of what they recognize and what they do, and there's been incredible progress in understanding this on an example-by-example basis. Now, we want to be able to understand the entirety of this process with some of the same level of sophistication that we understand the individual pieces. And we think that once we have that understanding, then we can be much better at manipulating it to positively affect disease,” Birnbaum says. Read more…

A polymer coating (green) stabilizes the micronutrients and protects them from heat degradation — a common side effect in cooking. The starch (purple) on the outside makes the particle more “flowable,” facilitating its incorporation into foodstuffs such as flour or bouillon cubes. Upon digestion, the particles break down, allowing the stable nutrients to be absorbed into the body. (Credit: RUOJIE ZHANG, SHAHAD ALSIARI, DAVID MANKUS, MARGARET BISHER, ABIGAIL LYTTON- JEAN, ROBERT LANGER, ANA JAKLENEC, KOCH INSTITUTE AT MIT)

Scientists use nanotech to combat malnutrition and poor medical record keeping

(Marissa L. Rottinghaus | ASBMB Today) Drs. Ana Jaklenec and Bob Langer teamed up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work on a strategy to fight malnutrition, which affects more than 735 million people worldwide. They developed a microparticle that can encapsulate micronutrients, or vitamins and minerals, which can be incorporated into staple foods such as flour, thus preventing nutrient decay during storage. Food and drug storage strategies have long supported health and nutrition, but primarily in the background, especially in affluent nations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the importance of drug storage and delivery into the spotlight, as the COVID-19 vaccine required subfreezing conditions to remain stable. Freezer shortages plagued the U.S., and rural and low-income hospitals could not afford these appliances. Read more…

National Nanotechnology Initiative Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy: 2024 Update

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), on behalf of the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the Committee on Technology, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), is requesting comments on the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy: 2024 Update (hereinafter “2024 Update”). Federal agencies participating in NSET's Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group developed the draft 2024 Update and seek comments by the EHS research community and the public, as a final stage of public input that will inform the final strategy.

The years of research under the vision of the 2011 NNI Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy  (1) has significantly advanced the scientific understanding of EHS issues related to engineered nanomaterials. However, critical gaps in knowledge remain. There are unmet and new needs in nanotechnology-related EHS (nanoEHS) issues that require collaborative action, which will ultimately help solve pressing global challenges, while protecting human and environmental health.

The 2024 update of the NNI EHS research strategy represents the U.S. Government's commitment to steer future research advancements in nanotechnology, aligning with the needs of the economy and society. The document is organized into two major sections: Part A, which outlines progress toward the 2011 EHS research strategy goals, and Part B, which addresses the scope of the research strategy going forward, expands on the unmet needs from Part A, and adds specific actions to support the new needs and challenges identified in the update. Read more…

Biotech co-founded by Drs. Bob Langer and Gio Traverso is testing a new approach to developing obesity treatments

(Allison DeAngelis | STAT News) A new company founded by a group of biotech veterans, including Bob Langer, came out of stealth mode Tuesday with plans to create pills for everything from obesity to rare diseases. The company, Syntis Bio, is based on a technology developed by Langer and MIT professor Giovanni Traverso that can coat the stomach and potentially other organ surfaces, changing the way that drugs are absorbed or, in the case of obesity, which hormones are triggered. The pair co-founded Syntis in 2022 with Rahul Dhanda, who is also the startup’s CEO. Read more…

Jobs

Director, Research Development, Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs, Boston University . Boston University's Office of Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA) seeks a Director of Research Development to lead a team providing full-service, centralized proposal development. With a focus on ensuring a supportive and competitive training environment for research and scholarship at BU, PDPA offers programs, resources and services for doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, and their faculty mentors. Reporting to the Assistant Provost and Assistant Vice President, the Director of Research Development will provide strategic direction and leadership to a team of professionals providing full-service proposal development, at the central University level, for complex, multi-million dollar interdisciplinary and/or training grant proposals submitted by faculty teams across multiple departments. Research development services include disseminating competitive intelligence on funding programs, facilitating PI team building and ideation, writing and editing proposal sections, identifying, and securing external resources and leading external or red team review of proposals. The Director is also responsible for responding to relevant funding opportunities, supporting the federal and foundation relations teams overseeing the limited submission processes and community funding opportunities. The Director will organize strategic workshops and events that enable faculty and researchers to submit high-quality, competitive proposals in alignment with best practices. Read more…

Postdoctoral Opportunity, Rakesh Jain Lab-MGH Steele Laboratories. The Jain Lab  in the Steele Laboratories of Tumor Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School invites applications for Postdoctoral Research Fellow positions. Multiple positions are available in tumor microenvironment, vascular biology, matrix biology, immunology, molecular/cellular biology, metabolism, intravital microscopy and biomedical engineering. Ideal candidates should have a strong academic background, peer-reviewed publications, strong English language proficiency and writing skills. Candidates with a strong background in single-cell- sequencing, bioinformatics, Python, and R statistical computing are also encouraged to apply. A PhD or MD/PhD is required. To apply, please send your CV, a career statement, a summary of your most significant research accomplishments (300 words) and the contact information of three references to: Steele Labs Recruiting jobs@steele.mgh.harvard.edu

Funding opportunities

Events

 
Tarek Fadel https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtarekfadel/
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