Author: mantulin

Choucri, Drennan, Fisher, Gershenfeld, Li, and Rus are recognized for their efforts to advance science.

MIT News Office

November 24, 2020

Six MIT faculty members have been elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The new fellows are among a group of 489 AAAS members elected by their peers in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science.

A virtual induction ceremony for the new fellows will be held on Feb. 13, 2021. 

Nazli Choucri is a professor of political science, a senior faculty member at the Center of International Studies (CIS), and a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Data, Science, and Society (IDSS). She works in the areas of international relations, conflict and violence, and the international political economy, with a focus on cyberspace and the global environment. Her current research is on cyberpolitics in international relations, focusing on linking integrating cyberspace into the fabric of international relations.

Catherine Drennan is a professor in the departments of Biology and Chemistry. Her research group seeks to understand how nature harnesses and redirects the reactivity of enzyme metallocenters in order to perform challenging reactions. By combining X-ray crystallography with other biophysical methods, the researchers’ goal is to “visualize” molecular processes by obtaining snapshots of enzymes in action.

Peter Fisher is a professor in the Department of Physics and currently serves as department head. He carries out research in particle physics in the areas of dark matter detection and the development of new kinds of particle detectors. He is also interested in compact energy supplies and wireless energy transmission.

Neil Gershenfeld is the director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, which works to break down boundaries between the digital and physical worlds, from pioneering quantum computing to digital fabrication to the “internet of things.” He is the founder of a global network of over 1,000 fab labs, chairs the Fab Foundation, and leads the Fab Academy.

Ju Li is the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and a professor of materials science and engineering. He studies how atoms and electrons behave and interact, to inform the design new materials from the atomic level on up. His research areas include overcoming timescale challenges in atomistic simulations, energy storage and conversion, and materials in extreme environments and far from equilibrium.

Daniela Rus is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Her research interests include robotics, mobile computing, and data science. Rus is a Class of 2002 MacArthur Fellow, a fellow of ACM, AAAI and IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy for Arts and Science.

This year’s fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News and Notes section of Science on Nov. 27.

Professor and mentor for more than 20 years at MIT redefined scientists’ understanding of the biology of cell division and proliferation.

Bendta Schroeder | Koch Institute

October 30, 2020

Angelika Amon, professor of biology and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, died on Oct. 29 at age 53, following a two-and-a-half-year battle with ovarian cancer.

“Known for her piercing scientific insight and infectious enthusiasm for the deepest questions of science, Professor Amon built an extraordinary career – and in the process, a devoted community of colleagues, students and friends,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif wrote in a letter to the MIT community.

“Angelika was a force of nature and a highly valued member of our community,” reflects Tyler Jacks, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at MIT and director of the Koch Institute. “Her intellect and wit were equally sharp, and she brought unmatched passion to everything she did. Through her groundbreaking research, her mentorship of so many, her teaching, and a host of other contributions, Angelika has made an incredible impact on the world — one that will last long into the future.”

A pioneer in cell biology

From the earliest stages of her career, Amon made profound contributions to our understanding of the fundamental biology of the cell, deciphering the regulatory networks that govern cell division and proliferation in yeast, mice, and mammalian organoids, and shedding light on the causes of chromosome mis-segregation and its consequences for human diseases.

Human cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes, but as they divide they can make errors that lead to too many or too few chromosomes, resulting in aneuploidy. Amon’s meticulous and rigorous experiments, first in yeast and then in mammalian cells, helped to uncover the biological consequences of having too many chromosomes. Her studies determined that extra chromosomes significantly impact the composition of the cell, causing stress in important processes such as protein folding and metabolism, and leading to additional mistakes that could drive cancer. Although stress resulting from aneuploidy affects cells’ ability to survive and proliferate, cancer cells — which are nearly universally aneuploid — can grow uncontrollably. Amon showed that aneuploidy disrupts cells’ usual error-repair systems, allowing genetic mutations to quickly accumulate.

Aneuploidy is usually fatal, but in some instances extra copies of specific chromosomes can lead to conditions such as Down syndrome and developmental disorders including those known as Patau and Edwards syndromes. This led Amon to work to understand how these negative effects result in some of the health problems associated specifically with Down syndrome, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Her expertise in this area led her to be named co-director of the recently established Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT.

“Angelika’s intellect and research were as astonishing as her bravery and her spirit. Her lab’s fundamental work on aneuploidy was integral to our establishment of the center,” say Li-Huei Tsai, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience and co-director of the Alana Down Syndrome Center. “Her exploration of the myriad consequences of aneuploidy for human health was vitally important and will continue to guide scientific and medical research.”

Another major focus of research in the Amon lab has been on the relationship between how cells grow, divide, and age. Among other insights, this work has revealed that once cells reach a certain large size, they lose the ability to proliferate and are unable to reenter the cell cycle. Further, this growth contributes to senescence, an irreversible cell cycle arrest, and tissue aging. In related work, Amon has investigated the relationships between stem cell size, stem cell function, and tissue age. Her lab’s studies have found that in hematopoetic stem cells, small size is important to cells’ ability to function and proliferate — in fact, she posted recent findings on bioRxiv earlier this week — and have been examining the same questions in epithelial cells as well.

Amon lab experiments delved deep into the mechanics of the biology, trying to understand the mechanisms behind their observations. To support this work, she established research collaborations to leverage approaches and technologies developed by her colleagues at the Koch Institute, including sophisticated intestinal organoid and mouse models developed by the Yilmaz Laboratory, and a microfluidic device developed by the Manalis Laboratory for measuring physical characteristics of single cells.

The thrill of discovery

Born in 1967, Amon grew up in Vienna, Austria, in a family of five. Playing outside all day with her three younger siblings, she developed an early love of biology and animals. She could not remember a time when she was not interested in biology, initially wanting to become a zoologist. But in high school, she saw an old black-and-white film from the 1950s about chromosome segregation, and found the moment that the sister chromatids split apart breathtaking. She knew then that she wanted to study the inner workings of the cell and decided to focus on genetics at the University of Vienna in Austria.

After receiving her BS, Amon continued her doctoral work there under Professor Kim Nasmyth at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, earning her PhD in 1993. From the outset, she made important contributions to the field of cell cycle dynamics. Her work on yeast genetics in the Nasmyth laboratory led to major discoveries about how one stage of the cell cycle sets up for the next, revealing that cyclins, proteins that accumulate within cells as they enter mitosis, must be broken down before cells pass from mitosis to G1, a period of cell growth.

Towards the end of her doctorate, Amon became interested in fruitfly genetics and read the work of Ruth Lehmann, then a faculty member at MIT and a member of the Whitehead Institute. Impressed by the elegance of Lehmann’s genetic approach, she applied and was accepted to her lab. In 1994, Amon arrived in the United States, not knowing that it would become her permanent home or that she would eventually become a professor.

While Amon’s love affair with  fruitfly genetics would prove short, her promise was immediately apparent to Lehmann, now director of the Whitehead Institute. “I will never forget picking Angelika up from the airport when she was flying in from Vienna to join my lab. Despite the long trip, she was just so full of energy, ready to talk science,” says Lehmann. “She had read all the papers in the new field and cut through the results to hit equally on the main points.”

But as Amon frequently was fond of saying, “yeast will spoil you.” Lehmann explains that “because they grow so fast and there are so many tools, ‘your brain is the only limitation.’ I tried to convince her of the beauty and advantages of my slower-growing favorite organism. But in the end, yeast won and Angelika went on to establish a remarkable body of work, starting with her many contributions to how cells divide and more recently to discover a cellular aneuploidy program.”

In 1996, after Lehmann had left for New York University’s Skirball Institute, Amon was invited to become a Whitehead Fellow, a prestigious program that offers recent PhDs resources and mentorship to undertake their own investigations. Her work on the question of how yeast cells progress through the cell cycle and partition their chromosomes would be instrumental in establishing her as one of the world’s leading geneticists. While at Whitehead, her lab made key findings centered around the role of an enzyme called Cdc14 in prompting cells to exit mitosis, including that the enzyme is sequestered in a cellular compartment called the nucleolus and must be released before the cell can exit.

“I was one of those blessed to share with her a ‘eureka moment,’ as she would call it,” says Rosella Visintin, a postdoc in Amon’s lab at the time of the discovery and now an assistant professor at the European School of Molecular Medicine in Milan. “She had so many. Most of us are lucky to get just one, and I was one of the lucky ones. I’ll never forget her smile and scream — neither will the entire Whitehead Institute — when she saw for the first time Cdc14 localization: ‘You did it, you did it, you figured it out!’ Passion, excitement, joy — everything was in that scream.”

In 1999, Amon’s work as a Whitehead Fellow earned her a faculty position in the MIT Department of Biology and the MIT Center for Cancer Research, the predecessor to the Koch Institute. A full professor since 2007, she also became the Kathleen and Curtis Marble Professor in Cancer Research, associate director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at MIT, a member of the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology at MIT, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Her pathbreaking research was recognized by several awards and honors, including the 2003 National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award, the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, the 2008 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Award in Molecular Biology, and the 2013 Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine. In 2019, she won the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, and was named to the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s annual list of Great Immigrants, Great Americans. This year, she was given the Human Frontier Science Program Nakasone Award. She was also a member of the NAS and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Lighting the way forward

Amon’s perseverance, deep curiosity, and enthusiasm for discovery served her well in her roles as teacher, mentor, and colleague. She has worked with many labs across the world and developed a deep network of scientific collaboration and friendships. She was a sought-after speaker for seminars and the many conferences she attended. In over 20 years as a professor at MIT, she has mentored more than 80 postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates, and received the School of Science’s undergraduate teaching prize.

“Angelika was an amazing, energetic, passionate, and creative scientist, an outstanding mentor to many, and an excellent teacher,” says Alan Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology and head of MIT’s Department of Biology. “Her impact and legacy will live on and be perpetuated by all those she touched.”

“Angelika existed in a league of her own,” explains Kristin Knouse, one of Amon’s former graduate students and a current Whitehead Fellow. “She had the energy and excitement of someone who picked up a pipette for the first time, but the brilliance and wisdom of someone who had been doing it for decades. Her infectious energy and brilliant mind were matched by a boundless heart and tenacious grit. She could glance at any data and immediately deliver a sharp insight that would never have crossed any other mind. Her positive attributes were infectious, and any interaction with her, no matter how transient, assuredly left you feeling better about yourself and your science.”

Taking great delight in helping young scientists find their own “eureka moments,” Amon was a fearless advocate for science and the rights of women and minorities and inspired others to fight as well. She was not afraid to speak out in support of the research and causes she believed strongly in. She was a role model for young female scientists and spent countless hours mentoring and guiding them in a male-dominated field. While she graciously accepted awards for women in science, including the Vanderbilt Prize and the Women in Cell Biology Senior Award, she questioned the value of prizes focused on women as women, rather than on their scientific contributions.

“Angelika Amon was an inspiring leader,” notes Lehmann, “not only by her trailblazing science but also by her fearlessness to call out sexism and other -isms in our community. Her captivating laugh and unwavering mentorship and guidance will be missed by students and faculty alike. MIT and the science community have lost an exemplary leader, mentor, friend, and mensch.”

Amon’s wide-ranging curiosity led her to consider new ideas beyond her own field. In recent years, she has developed a love for dinosaurs and fossils, and often mentioned that she would like to study terraforming, which she considered essential for a human success to life on other planets.

“It was always amazing to talk with Angelika about science, because her interests were so deep and so broad, her intellect so sharp, and her enthusiasm so infectious,” remembers Vivian Siegel, a lecturer in the Department of Biology and friend since Amon’s postdoctoral days. “Beyond her own work in the lab, she was fascinated by so many things, including dinosaurs — dreaming of taking her daughters on a dig — lichen, and even life on Mars.”

“Angelika was brilliant; she illuminated science and scientists,” says Frank Solomon, professor of biology and member of the Koch Institute. “And she was intense; she warmed the people around her, and expanded what it means to be a friend.”

Amon is survived by her husband Johannes Weis, and her daughters Theresa and Clara Weis, and her three siblings and their families.

A search committee chaired by Institute Professor Phillip Sharp will work to identify a new director for the MIT’s pioneering cancer research center.

Bendta Schroeder | Koch Institute

October 26, 2020

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center, has announced that Tyler Jacks will step down from his role as director, pending selection of his successor.

“An exceptionally creative scientist and a leader of great vision, Tyler also has a rare gift for launching and managing large, complex organizations, attracting exceptional talent and inspiring philanthropic support,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “We are profoundly grateful for all the ways he has served MIT, including most recently his leadership on the Research Ramp Up Lightning Committee, which made it possible for MIT’s research enterprise to resume in safe ways after the initial Covid shutdown. I offer warmest admiration and best wishes as Tyler steps down from leading the Koch and returns full time to the excitement of the lab.”

Jacks, the David H. Koch Professor of Biology, has served as director for more than 19 years, first for the MIT Center for Cancer Research (CCR) and then for its successor, the Koch Institute. The CCR was founded by Nobel laureate Salvador Luria in 1974, shortly after the federal government declared “war on cancer,” with the mission of unravelling the molecular core of cancer. Jacks became the center’s fourth director in 2001, following Luria, Nobel laureate and Institute Professor Phillip Sharp, and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research Richard Hynes.

Aided by the championship of then-MIT President Susan Hockfield and a gift of $100 million from MIT alumnus David H. Koch ’62, SM ’63, Jacks oversaw the evolution of the Center for Cancer Research into the Koch Institute in 2007 as well as the construction of a new home in Building 76, completed in 2010. The Koch Institute expands the mission of its predecessor by bringing life scientists and engineers together to advance understanding of the basic biology of cancer, and to develop new tools to better diagnose, monitor, and treat the disease.

Under the direction of Jacks, the institute has become an engine of collaborative cancer research at MIT. “Tyler’s vision and execution of a convergent cancer research program has propelled the Koch Institute to the forefront of discovery,” notes Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research.

Bolstered by the Koch Institute’s associate directors Jacqueline Lees, Matthew Vander Heiden, Darrell Irvine, and Dane Wittrup, Jacks oversaw four successful renewals of the coveted NCI-designated cancer center stature, with the last two renewals garnering perfect scores. In 2015, Jacks was the recipient of the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, the highest honor the MIT faculty can bestow upon one of its members, for his leadership in cancer research and for his role in establishing the Koch Institute.

“Tyler Jacks turned the compelling idea to accelerate progress against cancer by bringing together fundamental biology, engineering know-how, and clinical expertise, into the intensively collaborative environment that is now the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research,” says Hockfield. “His extraordinary leadership has amplified the original idea into a paradigm-changing approach to cancer, which now serves as a model for research centers around the world.”

To support cross-disciplinary research in high-impact areas and expedite translation from the bench to the clinic, Jacks and his colleagues shepherded the creation of numerous centers and programs, among them the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology, the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine, the Swanson Biotechnology Center, the Lustgarten Lab for Pancreatic Cancer Research, and the MIT Stem Cell Initiative. In addition, Jacks has co-led the Bridge Project, a collaboration between the Koch Institute and Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center that brings bioengineers, cancer scientists, and clinical oncologists together to solve some of the most challenging problems in cancer research. Jacks has raised nearly $375 million in support of these efforts, as well as the building of the Koch Institute facility, the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program, and other activities.

Jacks first became interested in cancer as a Harvard University undergraduate while attending a lecture by Robert Weinberg, the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research and member of the Whitehead Institute, who is himself a pioneer in cancer genetics. After earning his PhD at the University of California at San Francisco under the direction of Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, Jacks joined Weinberg’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow. He joined the MIT faculty in 1992 with appointments in the Center for Cancer Research and the Department of Biology.

Jacks is widely considered a leader in the development of engineered mouse models of human cancers, and has pioneered the use of gene-targeting technology to construct mouse models and to study cancer-associated genes in mice. Strains of mice developed in his lab are used by researchers around the world, as well as by neighboring labs within the Koch Institute. Because these models closely resemble human forms of the disease, they have allowed researchers to track how tumors progress and to test new ways to detect and treat cancer. In more recent research, Jacks has been using mouse models to investigate how immune and tumor cells interact during cancer development and how tumors successfully evade immune recognition. This research is expected to lead to new immune-based therapies for human cancer.

Outside his research and MIT leadership, Jacks co-chaired the Blue Ribbon Panel for the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative, chaired the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute, and is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Jacks serves on the Board of Directors of Amgen and Thermo Fisher Scientific. He is also a co-founder of T2 Biosystems and Dragonfly Therapeutics, serves as an advisor to several other companies, and is a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.

Sharp will lead the search for the next director of the Koch Institute, with guidance from noted leaders in MIT’s cancer research community, including Hockfield and Hynes, as well as Angela M. Belcher, head of the Department of Biological Engineering and Jason Mason Crafts Professor; Paula T. Hammond, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and David H. Koch Professor of Engineering; Amy Keating, professor of biology; Robert S. Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor; and David M. Sabatini, Professor of Biology and member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

“Jacks is a renowned scientist whose personal research has changed the prevention and treatment of cancer,” says Sharp. “His contributions to the creation of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and his leadership as its inaugural director have also transformed cancer research at MIT and nationally. By integrating engineers and cancer biologists into a community that shares knowledge and skills, and collaborates with clinical scientists and the private sector, this convergent institute represents the future of biological research in the MIT style.”

After Jacks steps down, he will continue his research in the areas of cancer genetics and immune-oncology and his teaching, while also stewarding the Bridge Project into its second decade.

“It has been a privilege for me to serve as director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research and the Koch Institute for the past two decades and to work alongside many of the brightest minds in cancer research,” says Jacks. “The Koch Institute is a powerhouse of research and innovation, and I look forward to the next generation of leadership in this very special place.”

Molecular biologist and professor emerita advocates for more inclusive science and advises how to get there.

Raleigh McElvery | Department of Biology

September 30, 2020

Over the course of her exceptional career, Amgen Professor of Biology Emerita Nancy Hopkins has overturned assumptions and defied expectations at the lab bench and beyond. After arriving at MIT in 1973, she set to work mapping RNA tumor virus genes, before switching her focus and pioneering zebrafish as a model system to probe vertebrate development and cancer.

Her experiences in male-dominated fields and institutions led her to catalyze an investigation that evolved into the groundbreaking 1999 public report on the status of women at MIT. These findings spurred nine universities, including MIT, to establish an ongoing effort to improve gender equity. A recent documentary, “Picture a Scientist,” chronicles this watershed report and spotlights researchers like Hopkins who champion underrepresented voices. She sat down to discuss what has changed for women in academia in the last two decades — and what hasn’t.

Q: How has the situation for women in science evolved since the landmark 1999 report?

A: It’s hard today to remember just how radical the 1999 report was at the time. I read it now and think, ‘What was so radical about that?’

The report documented that women joined the faculty believing that only greater family responsibilities might impede their success relative to male colleagues. But, as they progressed through tenure, many were marginalized and undervalued. Data showed this resulted in women having fewer institutional resources and rewards for their research, and in their exclusion from important professional opportunities. When the study began, only 8% of the science faculty were women.

Former MIT Dean of Science Robert Birgeneau addressed inequities on a case-by-case basis, adjusting salaries, space, and resources. He recruited women aggressively, quickly increasing the number of women School of Science faculty by 50%.

When the report became public, the overwhelming public reaction made clear that it described problems that were epidemic among women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Former MIT President Chuck Vest and Provost Bob Brown addressed gender bias for all of MIT and “institutionalized” solutions. They established committees in the five MIT schools to ensure that inequities were promptly addressed and hiring policies were fair; rewrote family leave policies with input from women faculty; built day care facilities on campus; and recruited women faculty to high-level administrative positions.

Today, we realize that the MIT report elucidated two underappreciated forms of bias: “institutional bias” resulting from a system designed for a man with a wife at home; and “unconscious or implicit gender bias.” Voluminous research by psychologists has documented the latter, showing that identical work is undervalued if people believe it was done by a woman. Refusal to acknowledge unconscious gender bias today is akin to denying the world is round.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from the “Picture a Scientist” film?

A: I hope people will better understand why women are underrepresented in science, and women of color particularly so. The film does a terrific job of portraying the range of destructive behaviors that collectively explain the question, “Why so few?” The movie also focuses on the courage it takes for young women scientists to expose these problems.

I hope people will agree that, despite all the progress for women in my generation, as the bombshell report from the National Academy of Sciences documented in 2018, sexual harassment and gender discrimination persist and still require constant attention. It remains a challenge to identify, attract, and retain the best STEM talent. And, as the movie points out, it’s critical to do so.

The producers have received an unprecedented number of requests to show the documentary in institutes, universities, and companies, confirming that underrepresentation remains a widespread and pressing issue.

Q: Where do we go from here? How can academia better support underrepresented groups in science moving forward?

A: People often say you have to “change the culture,” but what does that really mean? You have to do what MIT did: look at the data; make corrections, including policy changes if necessary; continue to track the data to see if the policies work; and repeat as needed. Second, as the National Academies report points out, you must reward administrators who create a diverse workplace. Top talent is distributed among diverse groups. You can only be the best by being diverse.

But how do you change the behavior of individual faculty? Years ago, President Vest told me, “Nancy, anything I can measure I can fix, but I don’t know how to fix marginalization.” His comment was prescient. We’re pretty good at fixing things we can measure. But not at retraining our own unconscious biases: preference for working with people who look just like us; and unexamined, biased assumptions about people different from us. But psychologists tell us all we have to do is ‘change the world and our biases will change along with it.’  Furthermore, they now have methods to measure change in our biases.

I championed this cause because I believe being a scientist is the greatest job there is. I want anyone with this passion to be able to be a scientist. I’m grateful I got to see change first hand. I just wish the change was faster, so young women like Jane Willenbring and Raychelle Burks in the movie can just be scientists.

Prize recognizes contributions to biomedical research made by immigrant scientists.

Raleigh McElvery | Sandi Miller | Department of Biology | Department of Physics

September 25, 2020

Associate professor of physics and biology Ibrahim Cissé, professor of biology and Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann, and Andria and Paul Heafy Whitehead Fellow Silvi Rouskin have been awarded 2021 Vilcek Prizes. The Vilcek Foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, who emigrated from the former Czechoslovakia. Their prizes honor the outstanding contributions of immigrants in the sciences and the arts. Prizewinners will be honored in an April ceremony.

“The 2021 awards celebrate the diversity of immigrant contributions to biomedical research, to filmmaking, and to society,” Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel said in a press release. “In recognizing foreign-born scientists and dynamic leaders in the arts and in public service, we seek to expand the public dialogue about the intellectual value and artistic diversity that immigration provides the United States.”

Ibrahim Cissé

A faculty member in the departments of Physics and Biology, Ibrahim Cissé received the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for using super-resolution biological imaging to directly visualize the dynamic nature of gene expression in living cells.

Born in Niger, Cissé assumed he would be a lawyer like his father, but he soon became inspired by the science he saw in American films. His high school did not have a laboratory, so he completed high school two years early, enrolled in an English as a Second Language program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and enrolled in Durham Technical Community College before transferring to North Carolina Central University, a historically Black college that was notable for its undergraduate science and mathematics research programs.

Following graduation, he spent a summer at Princeton University working in condensed matter physics. There, Cissé was confronted by physics professor Paul Chaikin with a question about elliptical geometry and particle density, using M&M’s candies. Cissé’s creative problem-solving enabled him and his fellow researchers to develop experiments for observing and quantifying their results, and they coauthored a paper that was published in Science magazine.

For graduate studies, he was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and earned a PhD under the supervision of single-molecule biophysicist Taekjip Ha, who was leading research in high-resolution, single-biomolecule imaging technology. Cissé’s interest in using physics to understand the physical processes in biology led him to a post-doctoral fellowship at École Normale Supérieure Paris. He showed that RNA polymerase II, a critical protein in gene expression, forms fleeting (“transient”) clusters with similar molecules in order to transcribe DNA into RNA. He joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus as a research specialist in the Transcription Imaging Consortium, before joining the MIT Department of Physics in 2014, and was recently granted tenure and a joint appointment in biology.

The Cissé Laboratory focuses on the development of high-resolution microscopy techniques to examine the behavior of single biomolecules in living cells, and his own research focuses on the process by which DNA gets decoded into RNA. His Time-Correlated Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (tcPALM) technique of imaging was able to peer inside living cells to study the dynamics of protein clusters. This discovery has led to breakthroughs in viewing the clustering and droplet-like behavior of RNA polymerase II during RNA transcription. In an interview with MIT News, he stated, “It’s becoming clearer that physics may be just as important as biology for understanding how cells work.”

Other national and international awards include the Young Fluorescence Investigator Award from the American Biophysical Society, the Pew Biomedical Scholars, and the National Institute of Health Director’s New Innovator Award. He is a Next Einstein Forum fellow and was listed in Science News’ Scientists to Watch.

Ruth Lehmann

Professor of biology and director of Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Ruth Lehmann received the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. As a developmental and cell biologist, she investigates the biology of germ cells, which give rise to sperm and eggs.

The daughter of a teacher and an engineer, Lehmann was captivated by science from a young age. She grew up in Cologne, Germany, and majored in biology as an undergraduate at the University of Tübingen. Her Fulbright Fellowship in 1977 brought her to the University of Washington in Seattle, and served as the catalyst that spurred her career using fruit flies to understand germ cell biology. She went on to train with renowned fruit fly geneticists Gerold Schubiger and Jose Campos-Ortega, learning classical developmental biology and electron microscopy techniques. She then performed her doctoral research with future Nobel laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Genetics. There, Lehmann probed the maternal genes that influence fruit fly embryo development — studies that ignited her fervor for germ cell research. Later, as a postdoc at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, she worked with Michael Wilcox and Peter Lawrence to pinpoint the molecules that control the fate of these vital cells.

Lehmann arrived at MIT in 1988, where she served as a professor and member of the Whitehead Institute for eight years. “Being an immigrant in the United States was exhilarating,” she says, “because of the openness to new ideas and the encouragement to take risks and be creative.”

She was recruited to the Skirball Institute at New York University (NYU), where she was appointed as the institute’s director, as well as the director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology, and chair of the Department of Cell Biology at NYU’s Langone Medical Center.

Lehmann returned to MIT this summer to launch the Lehmann Lab and become director of the Whitehead Institute in July.

Although she began her career focused on the formation and maintenance of germ cells, Lehmann has since revealed key insights into their migration — and more recently into mitochondrial inheritance. Her influential work regarding the development and behavior of these essential cells has also enriched related fields including stem cell biology, lipid biology, and DNA repair.

“It means so much to me to be recognized as an immigrant and a researcher,” says Lehmann. “In these days, immigrants don’t feel as welcomed as I did when I came to this country. For me, coming to the U.S. meant to be given a chance to live the dream of being a scientist. This allowed me to explore the fascinating biology of the germ line together with a group of incredibly talented trainees and staff, many of them immigrants themselves, and I share this wonderful recognition with them.”

Lehmann’s accolades include membership to the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and European Molecular Biology Organization, as well as the Conklin Medal from the Society for Developmental Biology, the Porter Award from the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Society for Developmental Biology.

Silvi Rouskin

The Andria and Paul Heafy Whitehead Fellow at the Whitehead Institute, Silvi Rouskin received the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing methods to unravel the shapes of RNA molecules inside cells — aiding the potential development of RNA-based therapeutics.

The daughter of rock musicians in early-1980s communist Bulgaria, she grew up fascinated with the geometry of the flora and fauna around her. At 10, she started saving her lunch money to buy a miniature telescope. At 15 she knew that her best chances to study science would be in the United States, and so she joined a student exchange program in Idaho.

“I was not only allowed but encouraged to question my superiors,” she recalls. “I felt free to speak my mind, and often debated with my teachers.” Rouskin completed her GED and studied physics and biochemistry at the Florida Institute of Technology at 16.

As a staff research associate in the laboratory of Joseph DeRisi at the University of California at San Francisco, Rouskin first began studying RNA, using microarrays to detect and track viral infection. She opted to stay at UCSF to pursue her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology.

She joined the Whitehead Institute in 2015, and established the Rouskin Lab to focus on the structure of RNA molecules, including viruses, and to determine how structure influences RNA processing and gene expression in HIV-1 and other viruses. Most recently, Rouskin uncovered the higher-order structure of the RNA genome of SARS-CoV2 — the virus that causes Covid-19  — in infected cells at high resolution.

“The goal of my own lab has been to perform basic RNA research with clear therapeutic applications and a particular focus on the vulnerabilities of RNA viruses,” says Rouskin. “I want my research to matter for medicine, and so I always approach my research with a cognizance of how my work can directly benefit people.”

Rouskin has also received the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award for outstanding achievements in biological sciences and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface.

School of Science

September 11, 2020

The School of Science has awarded chaired appointments to 12 faculty members. These faculty, who are members of the departments of Biology; Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; and Physics, receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.

Kristin Bergmann, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, has been named a D. Reid Weedon, Jr. ’41 Career Development Professor. This is a three-year professorship. Bergmann’s research integrates across sedimentology and stratigraphy, geochemistry, and geobiology to reveal aspects of Earth’s ancient environments. She aims to better constrain Earth’s climate record and carbon cycle during the evolution of early eukaryotes, including animals. Most of her efforts involve reconstructing the details of carbonate rocks, which store much of Earth’s carbon, and thus, are an important component of Earth’s climate system over long timescales.

Joseph Checkelscky is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and has been named a Mitsui Career Development Professor in Contemporary Technology, an appointment he will hold until 2023. His research in quantum materials relies on experimental methods at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and nanoscience. This work is aimed toward synthesizing new crystalline systems that manifest their quantum nature on a macroscopic scale. He aims to realize and study these crystalline systems, which can then serve as platforms for next-generation quantum sensors, quantum communication, and quantum computers.

Mircea Dincă, appointed a W. M. Keck Professor of Energy, is a professor in the Department of Chemistry. This appointment has a five-year term. The topic of Dincă’s research falls largely under the umbrella of energy storage and conversion. His interest in applied energy usage involves creating new organic and inorganic materials that can improve the efficiency of energy collection, storage, and generation while decreasing environmental impacts. Recently, he has developed materials for efficient air-conditioning units and been collaborating with Automobili Lamborghini on electric vehicle design.

Matthew Evans has been appointed to a five-year Mathworks Physics Professorship. Evans, a professor in the Department of Physics, focuses on the instruments used to detect gravitational waves. A member of MIT’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) research group, he engineers ways to fine-tune the detection capabilities of the massive ground-based facilities that are being used to identify collisions between black holes and stars in deep space. By removing thermal and quantum limitations, he can increase the sensitivity of the device’s measurements and, thus, its scope of exploration. Evans is also a member of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

Evelina Fedorenko is an associate professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and has been named a Frederick A. (1971) and Carole J. Middleton Career Development Professor of Neuroscience. Studying how the brain processes language, Fedorenko uses behavioral studies, brain imaging, neurosurgical recording and stimulation, and computational modelling to better grasp language comprehension and production. In her efforts to elucidate how and what parts of the brain support language processing, she evaluates both typical and atypical brains. Fedorenko is an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

Ankur Jain is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and now a Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor. He will hold this career development appointment for a term of three years. Jain studies how cells organize their contents. Within a cell, there are numerous compartments that form due to weak interactions between biomolecules and exist without an enclosing membrane. By analyzing the biochemistry and biophysics of these compartments, Jain deduces the principles of cellular organization and its dysfunction in human disease. Jain is also a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Pulin Li, an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and the Eugene Bell Career Development Professor of Tissue Engineering for the next three years, explores genetic circuitry in building and maintain a tissue. In particular, she investigates how communication circuitry between individual cells can extrapolate into multicellular behavior using both natural and synthetically generated tissues, for which she combines the fields of synthetic and systems biology, biophysics, and bioengineering. A stronger understanding of genetic circuitry could allow for progress in medicine involving embryonic development and tissue engineering. Li is a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Elizabeth Nolan, appointed an Ivan R. Cottrell Professor of Immunology, investigates innate immunity and infectious disease. The Department of Chemistry professor, who will hold this chaired professorship for five years, combines experimental chemistry and microbiology to learn about human immune responses to, and interactions with, microbial pathogens. This research includes elucidating the fight between host and pathogen for essential metal nutrients and the functions of host-defense peptides and proteins during infection. With this knowledge, Nolan contributes to fundamental understanding of the host’s ability to combat microbial infection, which may provide new strategies to treat infectious disease.

Leigh “Wiki” Royden is now a Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Geology and Geophysics. The five-year appointment supports her research on the large-scale dynamics and tectonics of the Earth as a professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Fundamental to geoscience, the tectonics of regional and global systems are closely linked, particularly through the subduction of the plates into the mantle. Royden’s research adds to our understanding a of the structure and dynamics of the crust and the upper portion of the mantle through observation, theory and modeling. This progress has profound implications for global natural events, like mountain building and continental break-up.

Phiala Shanahan has been appointed a Class of 1957 Career Development Professor for three years. Shanahan is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, where she specializes in theoretical and nuclear physics. Shanahan’s research uses supercomputers to provide insight into the structure of protons and nuclei in terms of their quark and gluon constituents. Her work also informs searches for new physics beyond the current Standard Model, such dark matter. She is a member of the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics.

Xiao Wang, an assistant professor, has also been named a new Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor. In the Department of Chemistry, Wang designs and produces novel methods and tools for analyzing the brain. Integrating chemistry, biophysics, and genomics, her work provides higher-resolution imaging and sampling to explain how the brain functions across molecular to system-wide scales. Wang is also a core member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Bin Zhang has been appointed a Pfizer Inc-Gerald Laubach Career Development Professor for a three-year term. Zhang, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, hopes to connect the framework of the human genome sequence with its various functions on various time and spatial scales. By developing theoretical and computational approaches to categorize information about dynamics, organization, and complexity of the genome, he aims to build a quantitative, predictive modelling tool. This tool could even produce 3D representations of details happening at a microscopic level within the body.

School of Science

September 9, 2020

Despite the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic, 10 new faculty members have joined MIT in the departments of Biology; Chemistry; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Mathematics; and Physics. The School of Science welcomes these new faculty, most of whom began their appointment July 1, amidst efforts to update education and research plans for the fall semester. They bring exciting and valuable new areas of strength and expertise to the Institute.

Camilla Cattania is an earthquake scientist. She uses continuum mechanics, numerical simulations, and statistics to study fault mechanics and earthquake physics at different scales, from small repeating events to fault interaction on regional and global scales. The models she has developed can help forecast earthquake sequences caused by seismic or aseismic events, such as aftershocks and swarms induced by forcing mechanisms like magma moving under the Earth’s surface. She has also developed theoretical models to explain why certain faults rupture in predictable patterns while others do not. Cattania’s research plans include widening her focus to other tectonic settings and geometrically complex fault structures.

Cattania earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cambridge University in experimental and theoretical physics in 2011, after which she completed a PhD in Germany at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences and the University of Potsdam in 2015. Subsequently, she spent a few months as a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and as a postdoc at Stanford University and her doctoral institution. She joins the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences as an assistant professor.

Richard Fletcher researches quantum physics using atomic vapors one-millionth the density of air and one-millionth the temperature of deep space. By manipulating the gas with intricately sculpted laser beams and magnetic fields, he can engineer custom-made quantum worlds, which provide both a powerful test bed for theory and a wonderful playground for discovering new phenomena. The goal is to understand how interesting collective behaviors emerge from the underlying microscopic complexity of many interacting particles. Fletcher’s interests include superfluidity in two-dimensional gases, methods to probe the correlations between individual atoms, and how the interplay of interactions and magnetic fields leads to novel physics.

Fletcher is a graduate of Cambridge University, where he completed his bachelor’s in 2010. Before returning to Cambridge University to earn his PhD in 2015, he was a research fellow at Harvard University. He originally came to MIT as a postdoc in 2016 and now joins the Department of Physics as an assistant professor. Fletcher is a member of the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms.

William Frank investigates deformation of the Earth’s crust. He combines seismology and geodesy to explore the physical mechanisms that control the broad continuum of rupture modes and fault instabilities within the Earth. His research has illuminated the cascading rupture dynamics of slow fault slip and how the aftershocks that follow a large earthquake can reveal the underlying behavior of the host fault. Frank considers shallow shifts that cause earthquakes down to deep creep that is all-but-invisible at the surface. His insights work to improve estimates of seismic hazards induced by tectonic dynamics, volcanic processes, and human activity, which can then inform risk prediction and mitigation.

Frank holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in earth systems science, which he received in 2009. The Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris awarded him a master’s degree in geophysics in 2011 and a PhD in 2014. He first joined MIT as a postdoc in 2015 before moving to the University of Southern California as an assistant professor in 2018. He now returns as an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz advances research on fundamental physics and nuclear structure largely through the development of novel laser spectroscopy techniques. He investigates the properties of subatomic particles using atoms and molecules made up of short-lived radioactive nuclei. Garcia Ruiz’s experimental work provides unique information about the fundamental forces of nature and offers new opportunities in the search beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. His previous research at CERN focused on the study of the emergence of nuclear phenomena and the properties of nuclear matter at the limits of existence.

Garcia Ruiz’s bachelor’s degree in physics was achieved in 2009 at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. After earning a master’s in physics in 2011 at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, he completed a doctoral degree in radiation and nuclear physics at KU Leuven in 2015. Prior to joining MIT, he was first a research associate at the University of Manchester from 2016-17 and then a research fellow at CERN. Garcia Ruiz has now joined the Department of Physics as an assistant professor. He began his appointment Jan. 1. He is also affiliated with the Laboratory for Nuclear Science.

Ruth Lehmann studies germ cells. The only cells in the body capable of producing an entire organism on their own, germ cells pass genomic information from one generation to the next via egg cells. By analyzing the organization of their informational material as well as the mechanics they regulate, such as the production of eggs and sperm, Lehmann hopes to expose germ cells’ unique ability to enable procreation. Her work in cellular and developmental biology is renowned for identifying how germ cells migrate and lead to the continuation of life. An advocate for fundamental research in science, Lehmann studies fruit flies as a model to unveil vital aspects of early embryonic development that have important implications for stem cell research, lipid biology, and DNA repair.

Lehmann earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Tubingen in Germany. She took an interlude from her education to carry out research at the University of Washington in the United States before returning to Germany. There, she earned a master’s equivalent from the University of Freiburg and a PhD from the University of Tubingen. Lehmann was subsequently a postdoc at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the UK, after which she joined MIT. A faculty member and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research member from 1988 to 1996, she now returns after 23 years at New York University. Lehmann joins as a full professor in the Department of Biology and is the new director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

As an astrochemist, Brett McGuire is interested in the chemical origins of life and its evolution. He combines physical chemistry experiments and analyses with molecular spectroscopy in a lab, the results of which he then compares against astrophysics observation. His work ties together questions about the formation of planets and a planet’s ability to host and create life. McGuire does this by investigating the generation, presence, and fate of new molecules in space, which is vast and mostly empty, providing unique physical challenges on top of chemical specifications that can impact molecular formation. He has discovered several complex molecules already, including benzonitrile, a marker of carbon-based reactions occurring in an interstellar medium.

McGuire’s BS degree was awarded by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009. He completed a master’s in physical chemistry in 2011 at Emory University and a PhD in 2015 at Caltech. He then pursued a postdoc at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He joins the Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor.

Dor Minzer works in the fields of mathematics and theoretical computer science. His interests revolve around computational complexity theory, or — more explicitly — probabilistically checkable proofs, Boolean function analysis, and combinatorics. With collaborators, he has proved the 2-to-2 Games Conjecture, a central problem in complexity theory closely related to the Unique-Games Conjecture. This work significantly advances our understanding of approximation problems and, in particular, our ability to draw the border between computationally feasible and infeasible approximation problems.

Minzer is not new to online education. After earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2014 and a PhD in 2018, both from Tel-Aviv University, he became a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He joins the Department of Mathematics as an assistant professor.

Lisa Piccirillo is a mathematician specializing in the study of three- and four-dimensional spaces. Her work in four-manifold topology has surprising applications to the study of mathematical knots. Perhaps most notably, Piccirillo proved that the Conway knot is not “slice.” For all other small knots, “sliceness” is readily determined, but this particular knot had remained a mystery since John Conway presented it in the mid-1900s. After hearing about the problem at a conference, Piccirillo took only a week to formulate a proof. She is broadly interested in low-dimensional topology and knot theory, and employs constructive techniques in four-manifolds.

Piccirillo earned her BS in mathematics in 2013 from Boston College. Her PhD in mathematics was earned from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019, and from 2019-20 she was a postdoc at Brandeis University. She joins the Department of Mathematics as an assistant professor.

Jonathan Weissman’s research interest is protein folding and structure, an integral function of life. His purview encompasses the expression of human genes and the lineage of cells, as well as protein misfolding, which can cause diseases and other physiological issues. He has made discoveries surrounding protein folding mechanisms, the development of CRISPR gene-editing tools, and other new therapeutics and drugs, and in the process generated innovative experimental and analytical methods and technologies. One of his novel methods is the ribosome profiling approach, which allows researchers to observe in vivo molecular translation, the process by which a protein is created according to code provided by RNA, a major advancement for health care.

Weissman earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University in 1998 and a PhD from MIT in 1993. After completing his doctoral degree, he left MIT to become a postdoc at Yale University for three years, and then a faculty member at the University of California at San Francisco in 1996. He returns to MIT to join the Department of Biology as a full professor and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Yukiko Yamashita, a stem cell biologist, delves into the origins of multicellular organisms, asking questions about how genetic information is passed from one generation to the next, essentially in perpetuity, via germ cells (eggs and sperm), and how a single cell (fertilized egg) becomes an organism containing many different types of cells. The results of her work on stem cell division and gene transmission has implications for medicine and long-term human health. Using fruit flies as a model in the lab, she has revealed new areas of knowledge. For example, Yamashita has identified the mechanisms that enable a stem cell to produce two daughter cells with distinct fates, one a stem cell and one a differentiating cell, as well as the functions of satellite DNA, which she found to be crucial, unlike the “waste” they were previously thought to be.

Yamashita received her bachelor’s degree in biology in 1994 and her PhD in biophysics in 1999, both from Kyoto University. After being a postdoc at Stanford University for five years, she was appointed a faculty member at the University of Michigan in 2007. She joined the Department of Biology as a full professor with a July 1 start. She also became a member of the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research and is a standing investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.