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Highlights from the Koch Institute Public GalleriesS

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The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT was founded in 2007 and opened at its current facility

on March 4, 2011. By combining the biology faculty of the former MIT Center for Cancer Research with cancer-

oriented engineers drawn from across the MIT School of Engineering, the Koch Institute continues a tradition

of scientific excellence while directly promoting innovative solutions for the improved detection, monitoring,

treatment, and prevention of cancer.

[ THE GALLERIES ]

PHILIP ALDEN RUSSELL (1914) EAST GALLERY WEST IMAGE GALLERY

Cancer Research Stories

The Art of Convergence

Signals High-Tech Neighborhood The Art of

Convergence

Eureka!

A Convergent Moment

A Human Endeavor

The Koch Institute Public Galleries were established to connect the community in Kendall Square and beyond

with the work of the Koch Institute. Within the Galleries, visitors can explore current research projects, examine

striking biomedical images, hear personal reflections on cancer and cancer research, and investigate the

historical, geographical, and scientific contexts out of which the Koch Institute emerged. Further information

about the work of the Koch Institute is available online at ki.mit.edu.

The Koch Institute is deeply grateful to Charles B. and Ann Johnson for their generous gifts establishing the Philip Alden Russell (1914) Gallery at the Koch Institute and providing ongoing support for exhibit revitalization.

A Human EndeavorCancer is personal. No statistic can convey the hardships that cancer patients and their families endure; no

publication can summarize the lifelong efforts of cancer researchers. This video installation explores diverse

personal perspectives on cancer and cancer research through an ongoing interview series.

“ Five and a half years in, my husband

still can’t say the word cancer. I own

it. Yes, I have cancer. And that’s okay.

It’s not great. I’d prefer not to. But at

the same time, life goes on.”

“ It was when I was in fifth grade that my teacher walked into the room and said, “Okay boys and girls, close your books. We’re going to talk about, ‘What is life?’” I remember after an hour of that discussion, of trying to figure out what the heck life was, I was just so astonished. I thought, ‘Gee, this is really cool.’ And I don’t think I ever stopped wondering about it from that moment on.”

“ We will make important discoveries.

We will develop new technologies.

But at the end of the day we will

impact patients’ lives. And for me,

it will be especially satisfying when

we’re able to connect very directly

from discoveries in our laboratories

to better outcomes for patients.”

“ I’ve had several phone calls from people

that I don’t even know that have been

staring at this cancer thing either like a

four year old child or a 25 year old child,

and they’ve had no good news at all. They

hear a little bit about what’s going on at

MIT, and they’ve called me and want to

hear some of the story because this is

some good news. We’re not going to solve

it this afternoon, but MIT’s resources with

science and engineering are really honing

in on this thing, and its seems to mean

quite a bit to a lot of people.”

“ If there’s any message I try to get across to people

when I meet them, it’s that things might not be

as bad as you might expect. We’re doing better.

We’re making progress. We have a much bet-

ter understanding of what causes cancer, and

not only general cancers but individual patients’

tumors. And now we have drugs that can target

some of those weak areas.”

[ VIDEO INSTALLATION ]

“ In the midst of my Ph.D. studies, my father was

actually diagnosed with prostate cancer. You just

think about cancer in the abstract as this beast

that you’re clawing against and trying to slay.

But when it becomes kind of a more personal

thing and a more personal concern, I think you

realize the impact that it has.”

A Convergent MomentIt is no coincidence that the Koch Institute’s cross-disciplinary approach to cancer has emerged first at MIT,

where both engineering and science have thrived since 1861. This exhibit reflects on the rich parallel histories

of these disciplines during MIT’s first 150 years. The timeline is unfinished; it closes with an opening, anticipa-

ting many more milestones to follow.

[ TIMELINE ]

The Koch Institute is in the heart of Kendall Square, a center of innovation and

commerce since the nineteenth century. Formerly a thriving home for

the manufacture of everything from rubber to chocolate and soap,

Kendall Square today hosts more than 150 high-tech companies,

including some of the most esteemed technology, biotech,

and pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Koch

Institute itself is sited in the former location of

the United-Carr Fastener Corporation,

a manufacturer of metal parts for

clothing and automobiles.

Cancer Research Stories

High-Tech Neighborhood

What do cancer researchers do? What tools do they use? What questions do they try to answer? This

exhibition samples five current stories of cancer research at the Koch Institute through a series of

interactive animations. Each story aligns with one of the Koch Institute’s research focus areas. Alongside

the animations, the material culture of 21st century cancer research is displayed through a selection of

objects from Koch Institute laboratories. These include specimens, devices, models, and other samples

of the work of a cancer researcher.

[ EXHIBITION ] [ MAP ]

CANCER NANOMEDICINE

DETECTION AND MONITORING

METASTASIS

PRECISION CANCER MEDICINE

CANCER IMMUNOLOGY

EXPOSED BRICK: BUILDING A CASE FOR IMMUNE CLEARANCE OF ANEUPLOID CELLSLauren Zasadil, Angelika Amon Koch Institute at MIT

HITTING THE SWEET SPOT: CAPTURING THE PANCREAS IN A PROTEIN Abel B. Cortinas, Kevin B. Daniel, Victor Cruz, Robert Grant, Daniel G. AndersonKoch Institute at MIT

The Art of Convergence

It’s the Case of the Missing (and Extra) Chromosomes! Aneuploidy, the result of chromosome missegregation during cell division, is a hallmark of cancer and a potential target for therapeutic intervention. However, new evidence suggests that immune cells may already be working to eliminate unwanted aneuploid cells from the body prior to cancer onset. Like detec-tives, Amon Lab researchers scour tissue samples from mouse models of aneuploidy, searching for clues—such as inflamma-tion—that will reveal immune system activity. Each of these 363 images could help build their case…and uncover new allies in the fight against cancer.

Certain types of diabetes can be managed through injection of insulin, a protein hormone that regulates how the body processes sugar, but such treatment requires careful dosing and constant monitoring of glucose levels in the blood. To help relieve these burdens, the Anderson Lab is developing “smart” insulin that can automatically sense changes in blood sugar levels and turn itself on or off to meet the body’s need. This image offers structural insights into the engineered insulins by overlaying crystalized glucose-responsive insulin protein (cubes) with diffraction pattern data (dots) collected from shooting x-rays at the crystals.

[ WINNERS OF THE 2018 KOCH INSTITUTE IMAGE AWARDS ]

Scientific data come in many flavors and types, but a special place is reserved for images. Micrographs,

MRI scans, and other biomedical images serve as windows through which experts and non-scientists alike

can glimpse otherwise invisible biological worlds. The advancement of imaging technologies through

science—and of science through imaging—exemplifies the progress that can be made at the interface

of biology and engineering.

The annual Koch Institute Image Awards were established to recognize and publicly display these

extraordinary visuals. From more than 140 submissions to the 2018 contest, ten winning images were

selected by a panel of expert judges to appear in the Galleries.

2018 SELECTION PANEL

Alissa AmbroseSenior Photo Editor, STATnews

Janis Fraser, PhD ’76 (VII) Principal, Fish & Richardson, P.C.

James S. GoodwinPrincipal, Half Moon, LLC

Dan Hart Senior Developer, WGBH

Anne E. HavingaEstrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Michael Hemann, PhDAssociate Professor of Biology, MIT

Sabbi Lall, PhDEditor, Cell Reports, Cell Press

Bethany Millard Executive Producer, Phosphorus Productions

Chair, MIT Corporation Partners Program

Mary Schneider Enriquez, PhDHoughton Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums

Sabrina B. Taner, PhDWellcome Image Awards, Wellcome Trust

INTO THE FOLD: USING ORIGAMI TO BEAT METASTASIZED CANCERAikaterini Mantzavinou, Lina A. Colucci, Michael J. CimaKoch Institute at MIT

SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS: SNAPSHOT OF A GROWING TUMORLeah Caplan, Jatin Roper, Inbal Avraham-Davidi, Sebastian Santos, Ömer Yilmaz, Aviv RegevBroad Institute and Koch Institute at MIT

A LA NODE: NANOPARTICLE VACCINES JUMPSTART THE IMMUNE SYSTEM Jason Y.H. Chang, Tyson Moyer, Darrell IrvineKoch Institute at MIT

MORE THAN SKIN DEEP: TAKING CONTROL OF INJURY RESPONSEKaitlyn Sadtler, Corina MacIsaac, Robert Langer, Daniel G. Anderson Koch Institute at MIT

Many advanced cancer patients have tumors growing through-out their abdomen. They need treatment that combines surgery and chemotherapy to kill as many cancer cells as possible while minimizing damage to their body. The Cima Lab has created a thin biomaterial sheet that releases chemotherapy at a low dose over weeks. The ancient Japanese art of origami—in this case, the famous Miura V-pleat, also used in maps and satellites—is applied to fold the sheet and place it inside the patient’s abdo-men through a tiny incision. Once inside, it expands to expose as big an area as possible to the drug.

Combining computer vision with single-cell genome sequenc-ing allows researchers to better understand how cells function and interact within the context of their surrounding environ-ment. In this image, colon cancer cells (green) from a model developed by the Yilmaz Lab have been sequenced and fluores-cently marked by the Regev Lab. Yellow tags identify stem-like qualities while red show active proliferation. Together, they present a snapshot of a tumor’s dynamic properties. The team uses this information to determine which biological factors contribute to tumor growth and cancer progression.

Inside lymph nodes lie germinal centers, tiny biological facto-ries where antibody-producing B cells generate a coordinated immune response against infectious diseases. The Irvine Lab develops nanoparticle vaccines that target specific cell types to jumpstart this process. This image was taken to see if the nanoparticles (blue) would home in on follicular dendritic cells (orange), which orchestrate B cell proliferation and antibody production in germinal centers. While this particular vaccine takes aim at HIV, targeted delivery of nanoparticles within the lymph nodes could combat many other diseases as well, including cancer.

How do you know when your experiment works? Seen here are five structures in the large intestine, colored by “Movat’s Pentachrome.” This five-color staining protocol makes multiple features visible within a single view, offering a reference for other tissue samples in the experiment.

The Anderson and Langer Labs are developing new biomateri-als to aid in tissue repair, focusing on the skin. After treating an injury, researchers stain the tissue and compare their results to the control, confirming that their technology promotes all the necessary components for regeneration.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: LARGE TINY STRUCTURES WHERE NEW MEMORIES FORMRodrigo Garcia, Feng-Ju (Eddie) Weng, Yingxi LinMcGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

HEADS OR TAILS: MEASURING CHANGES IN METASTATIC BEHAVIORDavid Benjamin, Richard HynesKoch Institute at MIT

EVERY ROSETTE HAS ITS THORN: MAINTAINING STABILITY IN A MUTABLE WORLD Clare Harding, Sebastian LouridoWhitehead Institute

ORDER FROM CHAOS: THE MAKING OF AN ORGANAllen Tseng, Ron WeissDepartment of Biological Engineering and Koch Institute at MIT

Memories are made and processed in the hippocampus. However, only one specific connection within it governs the encoding of new memories. Uniquely large axons (green) carry-ing the new information synapse onto complex, one-of-a-kind spines on these dendrites (red). The Lin Lab studies Npas4, a gene that regulates not only the strength and size of these con-nections (green and red), but also the proteins (blue) located at these synapses. Examining the relationship between struc-ture and function as these neurons interact at the cellular and molecular level, researchers can get a better picture of how memories are made.

Metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads throughout the body, is more than random chance. Cancer cells can activate specific genes to aid in this dissemination. The Hynes Lab is using transparent zebrafish embryos to determine how the oncogene YAP changes the behavior of tumor cells (green) as they move through blood vessels (red). After injection, control cells become trapped in narrow vessels in the tail and are taken out of circu-lation. Cells that over-express YAP, however, are able to move through these vessels and disseminate more widely, often settling in the brain, a common metastatic site. These findings will help explain how cancer spreads to distant organs.

The flower-like rosettes show Toxoplasma gondii parasites mul-tiplying inside a single human cell (shown in red). The daughter cells (visible inside their mothers at the bottom of the image) will eventually grow, causing the parasites to destroy their host, before seeking out new cells to invade. Outlined in white is GAPM1a, a protein that maintains the shape and stability of these organism. Without it, the parasites collapse, rendering them unable to rep-licate and produce new daughter cells. The Lourido Lab studies such proteins to answer fundamental questions in cell biology. Their results suggest that stability and structure are what new generations need to survive, thrive, or even bloom.

This image captures a moment of transition—the self-assembly of differentiating stem cells into distinct layers. These cells have been programmed to become organoids—miniature, labora-tory-grown approximations of real organs—that resemble the liver. The cells in red develop into hepatocytes, blood vessels, and other cell types. Those in green will transform into neu-rons. The Weiss Lab is figuring out how to best control these processes. They hope to use the organoids to better under-stand human development, to discover and test new medicines, and, some day, to provide new options for patients in need of organ transplants.

KOCH INSTITUTE PUBLIC GALLERIES 500 Main Street, Cambridge, MA

[INFO]web ki-galleries.mit.edu

email kigalleries mit.edu

[HOURS]8am–6pm, Mon–Thu

8am–4pm, Fri

Admission is free

[OTHER VISITOR ATTRACTIONS AT MIT]MIT Museum

MIT List Visual Arts Center and public art tour

Maihaugan Gallery, MIT Libraries

MIT Media Lab

Ray and Maria Stata Center

Corridor Lab in Strobe Alley, MIT Edgerton Center

cover artInto the Fold Aikaterini Mantzavinou, Lina A. Colucci, Michael J. Cima (Cima Lab, Koch Institute at MIT)

gallery design Biber Architects and P

entagram / videography AM

PS – M

IT / design Hecht/H

orton Partners