Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence
for Translational Diagnostics (CCNE-TD)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Resources

Scientific Environment at MIT: The scientific environment at the Koch Institute at MIT is one of constant co-operation and collaboration. The Koch Institute (formerly the Center for Cancer Research) was founded in 1974 and continues to be a premier institution for cancer research in this country. Many of our colleagues are world experts in cancer research and their input into our research will be a tremendous asset.  This includes interaction with world leaders in using the mouse to model human cancer.  Along with our constant contact to successful colleagues, we have access to outstanding core facilities, such as applied therapeutics and imaging facilities at the Koch Institute. These facilities enable us to effectively accomplish the experiments proposed in this grant.  We also have daily access to seminars and meetings due to not only our close relationship to other departments within MIT as well as close proximity to other academic Institutions.  The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT is located across the street from the Koch Institute and provides members of the laboratory with additional access to core facilities for genomic and metabolomics analysis as well as seminars and meetings that facilitate interaction with other laboratories and clinicians interested in cancer and/or metabolic regulation located in Boston.

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center, is a state-of-the-art cancer research facility as well as the hub of cancer research on the MIT campus. Completed in 2010, the Koch Institute building allows for the physical co-localization of faculty members from the Department of Biology (formerly in the MIT Center for Cancer Research) with faculty members drawn from a variety of departments in the MIT School of Engineering. The Koch Institute faculty also includes many members located in other research buildings at MIT, including the Whitehead and Broad Institutes. 

The Koch Institute brings together biologists and chemists along with biological, chemical, mechanical, and materials science engineers, computer scientists, clinicians and others, to bring fresh perspectives and an interdisciplinary approach to advancing the fight against cancer. This multi-faceted group of investigators is at the core of the Koch Institute’s mission to develop new insights into cancer, as well as new tools and technologies to better treat, diagnose and prevent the disease.

Our goal is to make the Koch Institute the gold standard in interdisciplinary cancer-focused research. We are continually expanding our highly effective relationship network, which involves other academic and clinical oncology centers, industrial partners and cancer-focused individuals and foundations. Firmly rooted in the MIT community, we share its educational mission and are deeply committed to training the next generation of cancer researchers. Trainees make up a significant portion of our research force, and make invaluable contributions to the shaping of our institutional culture.

Our faculty members have earned the most prestigious national and international science honors:

  • Five current and former faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize
  • Nine current and former faculty members have been awarded the National Medals of Science or Technology and Innovation
  • Six current faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering
  • 17 current faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences
  • 14 current faculty members have been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
  • Ten current faculty members are Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators

Peterson (1957) Nanotechnology Materials Core Facility

The Peterson (1957) Nanotechnology Materials Core Facility was established by Thomas F. Peterson, Jr. (1957) to assist investigators in research relating to nanomaterials.

We have a broad range of equipment and expertise to work with nanomaterials for the purposes of both characterization and imaging.   Core imaging capabilities include a high performance field emission transmission electron microscope equipped for STEM, EELS, EDS and cryo-imaging, cryo-sample preparation, a freeze fracture system, and an atomic force microscope.  Instrumentation for material characterization includes high throughput particle sizing, HPLC and dedicated nucleic acid HPLC, dynamic mechanical analysis, and rheometry. These tools enable the investigator to evaluate and characterize nanomaterials synthesized in their research.

Access is available to all members of the MIT community, to the extent permitted by available capacity. Priority access is given to KI members and NCI-funded research projects in recognition of funding support. Depending on available capacity, access may be available to non-MIT users (details available on request from the Core Leader, Abigail Lytton-Jean).

The Nanotechnology Materials Core is supported in part by funding provided to the Koch Institute from a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All equipment and services are available for use by the investigators at no direct cost to the sponsor, except where specified in the budget.