September Bulletin
Issue 96
Community Notices
Next Marble Center seminar: Monday September 30th
Next Marble Center seminar is on Monday September 30 (3-4pm) at the KI Luria Auditorium with a research talk by Qingyang Henry Zhao of the Birnbaum and Wittrup labs on Engineering Lentiviral Particles for Therapeutic Gene Delivery to Primary Human Antigen-Specific T Cells.
Following his talk, we will have a hot topic guest presentation by Sparta Biodiscovery (spartabiodiscovery.com) hosted by Dr. Abigail Lytton-Jean, Scientific Director of the KI Nanotechnology Materials Lab.
Upcoming Faculty Talks
Drs. Dan Anderson and Sangeeta Bhatia to speak at the upcoming IDT Synthetic Biology Leadership Seminar
The event's focus will be Advances in synthetic biology and biological engineering for the development of novel therapies. The seminar will take place Friday, September, 13th, 2024 (8:30am-noon) at MassBio (700 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA). Major themes explored will include, but are not limited to, biosensors and biocircuits, translational genomics, and therapeutic protein engineering.
Dr. Bob Langer to speak at the annual Endpoint News gala dinner
Drs. Angela Belcher, Sangeeta Bhatia, Bob Langer and Moungi Bawendi to speak at the 2024 MIT.nano summit’s nanomedicine session on October 23rd
The Nano Summit on October 23, 2024, serves as the flagship conference for MIT.nano, showcasing groundbreaking advancements in nanoscience and nanotechnology. This year's summit will delve into the transformative impact of nanoscience as it relates to microscopy, materials science, AI and machine learning, hard technology, human health, and more. The summit is ideal for researchers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and students interested in the latest developments in cutting-edge research, emerging technologies, and real-world applications. The nanomedicine session will be co-organized with the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, and will take place from 1-2pm Eastern.
News
President Kornbluth welcomes the Class of 2028
(Kathy Wren | MIT News) Addressing MIT’s newest students and their families yesterday, President Sally Kornbluth and several alumni faculty offered some tips about how to thrive at the Institute. “You belong here,” Kornbluth and others assured the audience, while emphasizing the many ways that the 1,102 members of the Class of 2028 are connected and interdependent.
Addressing incoming students and their families, President Sally Kornbluth acknowledged that the MIT experience can be intense. “But if you sometimes get frustrated or feel stuck,” she said, “please know: We all do! And you don’t have to go it alone.” Credits: Image: Jake Belcher
“All of us together are responsible for the character of our community,” Kornbluth said.
The President’s Convocation took place under a tent on Kresge lawn, on a warm, sunny morning. Kornbluth introduced several of MIT’s senior leaders — Provost Cynthia Barnhart, Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education Dan Hastings, Vice Chancellor for Student Life Suzy Nelson — and then offered some guidance of her own. […]
Paula Hammond ’84, PhD ’93, Institute Professor and vice provost for faculty, recalled that before arriving at MIT, she was excited to join a community of people pursuing their interests in STEM with “true nerdy exuberance.” But, upon arriving, she was intimidated by some of the experiences of her peers. “I was sure I was an admissions mistake,” she said. However, she found her footing by connecting with other students and learning from them.
Institute Professor Paula Hammond ’84, PhD ’93 celebrated the many perspectives of the Class of 2028. “You are all meant to be here. You’re all brilliant in a spectacularly diverse set of ways,” she said. Image: Jake Belcher
“You are all meant to be here. You’re all brilliant in a spectacularly diverse set of ways,” she said. “It’s exactly those differences that make MIT a place of excellence and a true foundry of learning and shared knowledge. Without the many perspectives that each of you are bringing here today we don’t learn about new ways to address old problems or how to adjust our lens to see new problems.” Read more…
Cision Vision, a Marble Center spin off from the Belcher Lab, receives ARPA-H grant to develop novel technologies in cancer surgery
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), proposed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and formed in 2022 after Congress earmarked $1 billion in funding for its first three years, has announced its latest round of awards focused on medical device technology to treat solid tumors.
A few weeks ago, the president and first lady announced up to $150 million in ARPA-H awards to “allow surgeons to provide more successful tumor-removal surgeries for people facing cancer,” according to a White House briefing. “These awards will support researchers from eight teams across the country who are pursuing innovative ideas as part of ARPA-H’s Precision Surgical Interventions (PSI) program.”
Cision Vision, with a total award of up to $22.3 million, will put its grant to work by using shortwave infrared and hyperspectral images to help surgeons visualize vessels, nerves, and lymphatic structures. Reportedly going beyond the customary red, green, and blue, hyperspectral imaging is enhanced by AI algorithms, allowing the team to distinguish between tissue types without administering dyes. Read more…
NanoInFocus Imaging Contest
In celebration of National Nanotechnology Day and National Chemistry Week, three scientific organizations are holding a joint image contest. The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), on behalf of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), the NSF-funded UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UCSD MRSEC), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) are giving people the opportunity to explore and showcase the beauty of the nanoscale and learn the value of working at fundamental length scales. Submit your image today!
Jobs
Research Associate, Protein Engineering and Expression. Matrisome Bio is a founder-led, stealth-mode venture-backed biotech company focused on improving the lives of patients with chronic diseases such as cancer and fibrosis. Our transformative platform enables the development of novel therapeutic approaches by leveraging the properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). With an initial focus on oncology, we aim to change the paradigm of targeted therapies across chronic diseases. Matrisome Bio’s founding team and scientific advisors represent leaders in academia, industry, and biotech entrepreneurship. If you are interested in changing the landscape of cancer therapy and working in a dynamic, highly motivated, and diverse team, come join us.
Scientist, Boston Scientific. The Center for Biological Innovation (CBI) in Marlborough, MA, is a BSC Center of Excellence that utilizes in vitro and ex vivo approaches, such as biochemical, cell-based, microbial, and tissue-based assays to support the design, development and commercialization of BSC products. The successful Scientist I candidate should have appropriate scientific experience to provide the technical support required for conducting and reporting of in vitro biomedical research studies. Please contact Tarek Fadel (tfadel@mit.edu) to learn more.
Postdoctoral researcher , Stanford University. The highly motivated candidates should be passionate about the development and implementation of machine learning in clinical surgical settings and its implications on healthcare policy. This position offers a unique opportunity to first contribute to federally funded research on the advancement of real-time visualization of critical anatomical structures using hyperspectral optical imaging technology. The candidate will also work within the team to identify and contribute to other new research opportunities. The candidate must be able to work in a highly inter-disciplinary team of physicians, AI-scientists, and bioengineers. Specific responsibilities might include but are not limited to collection and processing of intraoperative imaging data, imaging instrument prototyping and problem-solving, patient-level clinical data collection and selecting and applying a variety of computational models towards novel clinical medical / surgical research domains. Please contact Tarek Fadel (tfadel@mit.edu) to learn more.
Funding opportunities
| Funding Source | MIT Koch Institute Bridge Project RFA | September 16, 2024 | Melanoma Research Alliance 2024-2025 RFP | September 27, 2024 |
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