Category: Announcements

Facundo Batista among MIT affiliates elected to National Academy of Medicine for 2025

Professors Facundo Batista and Dina Katabi, along with three additional MIT alumni, are honored for their outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Lillian Eden | Jane Halpern | Department of Biology | Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
October 22, 2025

On Oct. 20 during its annual meeting, the National Academy of Medicine announced the election of 100 new members, including MIT faculty members Dina Katabi and Facundo Batista, along with three additional MIT alumni.

Election to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Facundo Batista is the associate director and scientific director of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, as well as the first Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Professor in the MIT Department of Biology. The National Academy of Medicine recognized Batista for “his work unraveling the biology of antibody-producing B cells to better understand how our body’s immune systems responds to infectious disease.” More recently, Facundo’s research has advanced preclinical vaccine and therapeutic development for globally important diseases including HIV, malaria, and influenza.

Batista earned a PhD from the International School of Advanced Studies and established his lab in 2002 as a member of the Francis Crick Institute (formerly the London Research Institute), simultaneously holding a professorship at Imperial College London. In 2016, he joined the Ragon Institute to pursue a new research program applying his expertise in B cells and antibody responses to vaccine development, and preclinical vaccinology for diseases including SARS-CoV-2 and HIV. Batista is an elected fellow or member of the U.K. Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Academia de Ciencias de América Latina, and the European Molecular Biology Organization, and he is chief editor of The EMBO Journal.

Dina Katabi SM ’99, PhD ’03 is the Thuan (1990) and Nicole Pham Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Her research spans digital health, wireless sensing, mobile computing, machine learning, and computer vision. Katabi’s contributions include efficient communication protocols for the internet, advanced contactless biosensors, and novel AI models that interpret physiological signals. The NAM recognized Katabi for “pioneering digital health technology that enables non-invasive, off-body remote health monitoring via AI and wireless signals, and for developing digital biomarkers for Parkinson’s progression and detection. She has translated this technology to advance objective, sensitive measures of disease trajectory and treatment response in clinical trials.”

Katabi is director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing. She is also a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), where she leads the Networks at MIT Research Group. Katabi received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Damascus and MS and PhD degrees in computer science from MIT. She is a MacArthur Fellow; a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, and National Academy of Engineering; and a recipient of the ACM Computing Prize.

Additional MIT alumni who were elected to the NAM for 2025 are:

  • Christopher S. Chen SM ’93, PhD ’97, an alumnus of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology;
  • Michael E. Matheny SM ’06, an alumnus of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology; and
  • Rebecca R. Richards-Kortum SM ’87, PhD ’90, and alumna of the Department of Physics and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.

Established originally as the Institute of Medicine in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine, and related policy, and inspires positive actions across sectors.

“I am deeply honored to welcome these extraordinary health and medicine leaders and researchers into the National Academy of Medicine,” says NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “Their demonstrated excellence in tackling public health challenges, leading major discoveries, improving health care, advancing health policy, and addressing health equity will critically strengthen our collective ability to tackle the most pressing health challenges of our time.”

Department of Biology welcomes new faculty Yunha Hwang in shared position with EECS, Schwarzman College of Computing

Hwang is one of 11 new faculty members that occupy core computing and shared positions, bringing varied backgrounds and expertise to the MIT community.

Amanda Diehl | MIT Schwarzman College of Computing
October 17, 2025

The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing welcomes 11 new faculty members in core computing and shared positions to the MIT community. They bring varied backgrounds and expertise spanning sustainable design, satellite remote sensing, decision theory, and the development of new algorithms for declarative artificial intelligence programming, among others.

“I warmly welcome this talented group of new faculty members. Their work lies at the forefront of computing and its broader impact in the world,” says Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

College faculty include those with appointments in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) or in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), which report into both the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the School of Engineering. There are also several new faculty members in shared positions between the college and other MIT departments and sections, including Political Science, Linguistics and Philosophy, History, and Architecture.

“Thanks to another successful year of collaborative searches, we have hired six additional faculty in shared positions, bringing the total to 20,” says Huttenlocher.

The new shared faculty include:

Bailey Flanigan is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. Her research combines tools from social choice theory, game theory, algorithms, statistics, and survey methods to advance political methodology and strengthen democratic participation. She is interested in sampling algorithms, opinion measurement, and the design of democratic innovations like deliberative minipublics and participatory budgeting. Flanigan was a postdoc at Harvard University’s Data Science Initiative, and she earned her PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

Brian Hedden PhD ’12 is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. His research focuses on how we ought to form beliefs and make decisions. His works span epistemology, decision theory, and ethics, including ethics of AI. He is the author of “Reasons without Persons: Rationality, Identity, and Time” (Oxford University Press, 2015) and articles on topics such as collective action problems, legal standards of proof, algorithmic fairness, and political polarization. Prior to joining MIT, he was a faculty member at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney, and a junior research fellow at Oxford University. He received his BA from Princeton University and his PhD from MIT, both in philosophy.

Yunha Hwang is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. She is also a member of the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. Her research interests span machine learning for sustainable biomanufacturing, microbial evolution, and open science. She serves as the co-founder and chief scientist at Tatta Bio, a scientific nonprofit dedicated to advancing genomic AI for biological discovery. She holds a BS in computer science from Stanford University and a PhD in biology from Harvard University.

Ben Lindquist is an assistant professor in the History Section, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. Through a historical lens, his work observes the ways that computing has circulated with ideas of religion, emotion, and divergent thinking. His book, “The Feeling Machine” (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming), follows the history of synthetic speech to examine how emotion became a subject of computer science. He was a postdoc in the Science in Human Culture Program at Northwestern University and earned his PhD in history from Princeton University.

Mariana Popescu is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. She is also a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). A computational architect and structural designer, Popescu has a strong interest and experience in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in construction. Her area of expertise is computational and parametric design, with a focus on digital fabrication and sustainable design. Popescu earned her doctorate at ETH Zurich.

Paris Smaragdis SM ’97, PhD ’01 is a professor in the Music and Theater Arts Section, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with EECS. His research focus lies at the intersection of signal processing and machine learning, especially as it relates to sound and music. Prior to coming to MIT, he worked as a research scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, a senior research scientist at Adobe Research, and an Amazon Scholar with Amazon’s AWS. He spent 15 years as a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in the Computer Science Department, where he spearheaded the design of the CS+Music program, and served as an associate director of the School of Computer and Data Science. He holds a BMus from Berklee College of Music and earned his PhD in perceptual computing from MIT.

Daniel Varon is an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, holding an MIT Schwarzman College of Computing shared position with IDSS. His work focuses on using satellite observations of atmospheric composition to better understand human impacts on the environment and identify opportunities to reduce them. An atmospheric scientist, Varon is particularly interested in greenhouse gasses, air pollution, and satellite remote sensing. He holds an MS in applied mathematics and a PhD in atmospheric chemistry, both from Harvard University.

In addition, the School of Engineering has adopted the shared faculty search model to hire its first shared faculty member:

Mark Rau is an assistant professor in the Music and Theater Arts Section, holding a School of Engineering shared position with EECS. He is involved in developing graduate programming focused on music technology. He has an interest in musical acoustics, vibration and acoustic measurement, audio signal processing, and physical modeling synthesis. His work focuses on musical instruments and creative audio effects. He holds an MA in music, science, and technology from Stanford, as well as a BS in physics and BMus in jazz from McGill University. He earned his PhD at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

The new core faculty are:

Mitchell Gordon is an assistant professor in EECS. He is also a member of CSAIL. In his research, Gordon designs interactive systems and evaluation approaches that bridge principles of human-computer interaction with the realities of machine learning. His work has won awards at conferences in human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence, including a best paper award at CHI and an Oral at NeurIPS. Gordon received a BS from the University of Rochester, and MS and PhD from Stanford University, all in computer science.

Omar Khattab is an assistant professor in EECS. He is also a member of CSAIL. His work focuses on natural language processing, information retrieval, and AI systems. His research includes developing new algorithms and abstractions for declarative AI programming and for composing retrieval and reasoning. He received his BS from Carnegie Mellon University and his PhD from Stanford University, both in computer science.

Rachit Nigam will join EECS as an assistant professor in January 2026. He will also be a member of CSAIL and the Microsystems Technology Laboratories. He works on programming languages and computer architecture to address the design, verification, and usability challenges of specialized hardware. He was previously a visiting scholar at MIT. Nigam earned an MS and PhD in computer science from Cornell University.

W.M. Keck Foundation to support research on healthy aging at MIT

Assistant Professor of Biology Alison Ringel will investigate the intersection of immunology and aging biology, aiming to define the mechanisms that underlie aging-related decline, thanks to grant from prestigious foundation.

Lillian Eden | Department of Biology
October 9, 2025

A prestigious grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to Assistant Professor of Biology Alison Ringel will support groundbreaking healthy aging research at MIT.

Ringel, also a Core Member of the Ragon Institute, will draw on her background in cancer immunology to create a more comprehensive biomedical understanding of the cause and possible treatments for aging-related decline.

“It is such an honor to receive this grant,” Ringel says. “This support will enable us to draw new connections between immunology and aging biology. As the U.S. population grows older, advancing this research is increasingly important, and this line of inquiry is only possible because of the W.M. Keck Foundation.”

Understanding how to extend healthy years of life is a fundamental question of biomedical research with wide-ranging societal implications. Although modern science and medicine have greatly expanded global life expectancy, it remains unclear why everyone ages differently; some maintain physical and cognitive fitness well into old age, while others become debilitatingly frail later in life.

Our immune systems are adaptable, but they do naturally decline as we get older. One critical component of our immune system is CD8+ T cells, which are known to target and destroy cancerous or damaged cells. As we age, our tissues accumulate cells that can no longer divide. These senescent cells are present throughout our lives, but reach seemingly harmful levels as a normal part of aging, causing tissue damage and diminished resilience under stress.

There is now compelling evidence that the immune system plays a more active role in aging than previously thought.

“Decades of research have revealed that T cells can eliminate cancer cells, and studies of how they do so have led directly to the development of cancer immunotherapy,” Ringel says. “Building on these discoveries, we can now ask what roles T cells play in normal aging, where the accumulation of senescent cells, which are remarkably similar to cancer cells in some respects, may cause health problems later in life.”

In animal models, reconstituting elements of a young immune system has been shown to improve age-related decline, potentially due to CD8+ T cells selectively eliminating senescent cells. CD8+ T cells progressively losing the ability to cull senescent cells could explain some age-related pathology.

Ringel aims to build models for the express purpose of tracking and manipulating T cells in the context of aging and to evaluate how T cell behavior changes over a lifespan.

“By defining the protective processes that slow aging when we are young and healthy, and defining how these go awry in older adults, our goal is to generate knowledge that can be applied to extend healthy years of life,” Ringel says. “I’m really excited about where this research can take us.”

The W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 in Los Angeles by William Myron Keck, founder of The Superior Oil Company. One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations, the W. M. Keck Foundation supports outstanding science, engineering and medical research. The Foundation also supports undergraduate education and maintains a program within Southern California to support arts and culture, education, health and community service projects.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals establishes named fund in honor of co-founder

The Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists will support graduate students and faculty in MIT Biology.

Lillian Eden | Department of Biology
October 8, 2025

It’s no question that graduate school in fundamental research was never for the faint of heart, but academia’s nationwide funding disruptions threaten not just research happening now, but the critical pipeline for the next generation of scientists.

“What’s keeping me up at night is the uncertainty,” says Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus, and Intramural Faculty at the Koch Institute.

In the short term, Sharp foresees challenges in sustaining students so they can complete their degrees, postdoctoral scholars to finish their professional preparation, and faculty to set up and sustain their labs. In the long term, the impact becomes potentially existential — fewer people pursuing academia now means fewer advancements in the decades to come.

So, when Sharp was looped into discussions about a gift in his honor, he knew exactly where it should be directed. Established this year thanks to a generous donation from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists will support graduate students and faculty within life sciences.

“This generosity by Alnylam provides an opportunity to bridge the uncertainty and ideally create the environment where students and others will feel that it’s possible to do science and have a career,” Sharp says. 

The fund is set up to be flexible, so the expendable gift can be used to address the evolving needs of the Department of Biology, including financial support, research grants, and seed funding. 

“This fund will help us fortify the department’s capacity to train new generations of life science innovators and leaders,” says Amy E. Keating, Department Head and Jay A. Stein (1968) Professor of Biology and Professor of Biological Engineering. “It is a great privilege for the department to be part of this recognition of Phil’s key role at Alnylam.”

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a company Sharp cofounded in 2002, is, in fact, a case study for the type of long-term investment in fundamental discovery that leads to paradigm-shifting strides in biomedical science, such as: what if the genetic drivers of diseases could be silenced by harnessing a naturally occurring gene regulation process? 

Good things take time

In 1998, Andrew Fire, PhD ’83, who was trained as a graduate student in the Sharp Lab at MIT, and Craig Mello published a paper showing that double-stranded RNA suppresses the expression of the protein from the gene that encodes its sequence. The process, known as RNA interference, was such a groundbreaking revelation that Fire and Mello shared a Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology less than a decade later. 

Four of the five cofounders of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals: (from left to right) Tom Tuschl, Phil Sharp, David Bartel, and Phil Zamore. Not pictured: Paul Schimmel. Photo credit: Christoph Westphal

RNAi is an innate cellular gene regulation process that can, for example, assist cells in defending against viruses by degrading viral RNA, thereby interfering with the production of viral proteins. Taking advantage of this natural process to fine-tune the expression of genes that encode specific proteins was a promising option for disease treatment, as many diseases are caused by the creation or buildup of mutated or faulty proteins. This approach would address the root cause of the disease, rather than its downstream symptoms.

The details of the biochemistry of RNAi were characterized and patented, and in 2002, Alnylam was founded by Sharp, David Bartel, Paul Schimmel, Thomas Tuschl, and Phillip Zamore. 

“16 years later, we got our first approval for a totally novel therapeutic agent to treat disease,” Sharp says. “Something in a research laboratory, translated in about as short a time as you can do, gave rise to this whole new way of treating critical diseases.” 

This timeline isn’t atypical. Particularly in healthcare, Sharp notes, investments often occur five or ten years before they come to fruition. 

“Phil Sharp’s visionary idea of harnessing RNAi to treat disease brought brilliant people together to pioneer this new class of medicines. RNAi therapeutics would not exist without the bridge Phil built between academia and industry. Now there are six approved Alnylam-discovered RNAi therapeutics, and we are exploring potential treatments for a range of rare and prevalent diseases to improve the lives of many more patients in need,” says Kevin Fitzgerald, Chief Scientific Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. 

Today, the company has grown to over 2,500 employees, markets its six approved treatments worldwide, and has a long list of research programs that are likely to yield new therapeutic agents in the years to come. 

Change is always on the horizon

Sharp foresees potential benefits for companies investing in academia, in the way Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has through the Phil Sharp-Alnylam Fund for Emerging Scientists. 

“We are proud to support the MIT Department of Biology because investments in both early-stage and high-risk research have the potential to unlock the next wave of medical breakthroughs to help so many patients waiting for hope throughout the world,” says Yvonne Greenstreet, Chief Executive Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. 

It is prudent for industry to keep its finger on the pulse — for becoming aware of new talent and for anticipating landscape-shifting advancements, such as Artificial Intelligence. Sharp notes that academia, in its pursuit of fundamental knowledge, “creates new ideas, new opportunities, and new ways of doing things.” 

“All of society, including biotech, is anticipating that AI is going to be a great accelerator,” Sharp says. “Being associated with institutions that have great biology, chemistry, neuroscience, engineering, and computational innovation is how you sort through this anticipation of what the future is going to be.” 

But, Sharp says, it’s a two-way street: academia should also be asking how it can best support the future workplaces for their students who will go on to have careers in industry. To that end, the Department of Biology recently launched a career connections initiative for current trainees to draw on the guidance and experience of alums, and to learn how to hone their knowledge so that they are a value-add to industry’s needs.  

“The symbiotic nature of these relationships is healthy for the country, and for society, all the way from basic research through innovative companies of all sizes, healthcare delivery, hospitals, and right down to primary care physicians meeting one-on-one with patients,” Sharp says. “We’re all part of that, and unless all parts of it remain healthy and appreciated, it will bode poorly for the future of the country’s economy and well-being.”

Gene-Wei Li joins MIT Department of Biology leadership team as Associate Department Head

During a time of academic uncertainty, Li aims to help guide the department in continuing to be a worldwide leader in education, biological sciences, and fundamental research.

Lillian Eden | Department of Biology
October 6, 2025

Associate Professor of Biology Gene-Wei Li has accepted the position of Associate Department Head starting in the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Li, who has been a member of the department since 2015, brings a history of departmental leadership, service, and research and teaching excellence to his new role. He has received many awards, including a Sloan Research Fellowship (2016), an NSF Career Award (2019), Pew and Searle scholarships, and MIT’s Committed to Caring Award (2020), In 2024, he was appointed as an HHMI Investigator, 

“I am grateful to Gene-Wei for joining the leadership team,” says Department Head and Jay A. Stein (1968) Professor of Biology and Professor of Biological Engineering Amy E. Keating. “Gene will be a key leader in our educational initiatives, both digital and residential, and will be a critical part of keeping our department strong and forward-looking.” 

A great environment to do science

Li says he was inspired to take on the role in part because of the way MIT Biology facilitates career development during every stage—from undergraduate and graduate students to postdocs and junior faculty members, as he was when he started in the department as an assistant professor just ten years ago. 

“I think we all benefit a lot from our environment, and I think this is a great environment to do science and educate people, and to create a new generation of scientists,” he says. “I want us to keep doing well, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to contribute to this effort.” 

As part of his portfolio as Associate Department Head, Li will continue in the role of Scientific Director of the Koch Biology Building, Building 68. In the last year, the previous Scientific Director, Stephen Bell, Uncas and Helen Whitaker Professor of Biology and HHMI Investigator, has continued to provide support and ensured a steady ramp-up, transitioning Li into his new duties. The building, which opened its doors in 1994, is in need of a slate of updates and repairs. 

Although Li will be managing more administrative duties, he has provided a stable foundation for his lab to continue its interdisciplinary work on the quantitative biology of gene expression, parsing the mechanisms by which cells control the levels of their proteins and how this enables cells to perform their functions. His recent work includes developing a method that leverages the AI tool AlphaFold to predict whether protein fragments can recapitulate the native interactions of their full-length counterparts.  

“I’m still very heavily involved, and we have a lab environment where everyone helps each other. It’s a team, and so that helps elevate everyone,” he says. “It’s the same with the whole building: nobody is working by themselves, so the science and administrative parts come together really nicely.” 

Teaching for the future

Li is considering how the department can continue to be a global leader in biological sciences while navigating the uncertainty surrounding academia and funding, as well as the likelihood of reduced staff support and tightening budgets.

“The question is, how do you maintain excellence?” Li says. “That involves recruiting great people and giving them the resources that they need, and that’s going to be a priority within the limitations that we have to work with.” 

Li will also be serving as faculty advisor for the MIT Biology Teaching and Learning Group, headed by Mary Ellen Wiltrout, and will serve on the Department of Biology Digital Learning Committee and the new Open Learning Biology Advisory Committee. Li will serve in the latter role in order to represent the department and work with new faculty member and HHMI Investigator Ron Vale on institute-level online learning initiatives. Li will also chair the Biology Academic Planning Committee, which will help develop a longer-term outlook on faculty teaching assignments and course offerings. 

Li is looking forward to hearing from faculty and students about the way the institute teaches, and how it could be improved, both for the students on campus and for the online learners from across the world. 

“There are a lot of things that are changing—what are the core fundamentals that the students need to know, what should we teach them, and how should we teach them?” 

Although the commitment to teaching remains unchanged, there may be big transitions on the horizon. With two young children in school, Li is all too aware that the way that students learn today is very different from what he grew up with, and also very different from how students were learning just five or ten years ago—writing essays on a computer, researching online, using AI tools, and absorbing information from media like short-form YouTube videos. 

“There’s a lot of appeal to a shorter format, but it’s very different from the lecture-based teaching style that has worked for a long time,” Li says. “I think a challenge we should and will face is figuring out the best way to communicate the core fundamentals, and adapting our teaching styles to the next generation of students.” 

Ultimately, Li is excited about balancing his research goals along with joining the department’s leadership team and knows he can look to his fellow researchers in Building 68 and beyond for support.

“I’m privileged to be working with a great group of colleagues who are all invested in these efforts,” Li says. “Different people may have different ways of doing things, but we all share the same mission.” 

Rudolf Jaenisch awarded Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize

Rudolf Jaenisch is recognized for his trailblazing contributions to epigenetics and stem cell biology, which have shaped modern regenerative medicine.

Sarah Stanley | Gladstone Institutes
August 28, 2025

Rudolf Jaenisch, MD, was announced today as the recipient of the 2025 Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize by Gladstone Institutes. He was selected for his trailblazing contributions to epigenetics and stem cell biology. His pivotal discoveries have profoundly advanced our understanding of gene regulation, cellular reprogramming, and the potential of regenerative medicine.

A founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jaenisch is also a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is widely recognized for his role in establishing the use in science of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—adult cells that have been reprogrammed into an embryonic stem cell–like state with the potential to become any cell type in the body.

Among his many achievements, Jaenisch was the first to show the potential therapeutic applications of iPS cells after they were discovered by Gladstone Senior Investigator Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD. In fact, Jaenisch effectively cured mice of sickle cell anemia by using iPS cells that had been derived from the animals’ own skin cells and in which the disease-causing genetic defect had been corrected.

“Until then, iPS cells were just an exciting lab tool—but Dr. Jaenisch provided the first real proof that they could be used to treat human disease,” says Deepak Srivastava, MD, chair of the selection committee, president of Gladstone Institutes, and director of the Rodenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone. “We’re very happy to recognize his outstanding career with this year’s award. His many contributions to stem cell research and disease modeling have helped shape modern regenerative medicine as we know it.”

Jaenisch has been at the forefront of exploring, expanding, and refining the processes by which iPS cells are created and applied in labs around the world. His work has opened the door to the development of therapies for a wide range of genetic and degenerative diseases.

Since its establishment in 2015, the Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize has honored scientists and doctors leading groundbreaking work in translational regenerative medicine using reprogrammed cells. Each year, it is made possible by a generous gift from the Hiro and Betty Ogawa family.

The prize, supported by Gladstone and Cell Press, also pays tribute to Yamanaka, whose discovery of iPS cells earned him a Nobel Prize in 2012 and is tightly intertwined with Jaenisch’s work.

“Shinya’s discovery completely transformed the world of stem cell science and opened up so many promising new paths for understanding and addressing disease,” Jaenisch says. “What an honor it is to be recognized for my contributions in this field.”

One of Jaenisch’s earliest marks on science came in 1974, when he co-created the first transgenic animal—an organism whose genetic material has been intentionally altered by adding foreign genes—with pioneering embryologist Beatrice Mintz, PhD. This work became the foundation for genetically engineered animal models, which are used in nearly every area of biomedical research today.

“This single study was a major leap in molecular biology,” says Srivastava. “It gave birth to the very concept of modeling human diseases in animals, allowing scientists to deliberately change an animal’s genetic code in order to study the mechanisms of disease and test therapies.”

In his more than 40 years at the Whitehead Institute, Jaenisch has led research exploring how stem cells and reprogramming technologies could be harnessed to better understand and treat disease. In the process, he has continued to develop innovative tools, including adapting CRISPR technology for gene editing and epigenome editing in stem cell systems.

An independent committee of international stem cell experts selected Jaenisch for the 2025 Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize from a highly competitive pool of nominees. As this year’s winner, he will receive an unrestricted prize of $150,000. Gladstone will host a ceremony on December 1, 2025, in San Francisco, California, where Jaenisch will deliver a scientific lecture and be presented with the award.

About Gladstone Institutes

Gladstone Institutes is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. Established in 1979, it is located in the epicenter of biomedical and technological innovation, in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. Gladstone has created a research model that disrupts how science is done, funds big ideas, and attracts the brightest minds.

About Rudolf Jaenisch

Rudolf Jaenisch, MD, is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered.

Jaenisch received his MD from the University of Munich in 1967 and carried out postdoctoral research at Princeton University, Fox Chase Institute for Cancer Research, and the Salk Institute. Before joining Whitehead in 1982, he was head of the Department of Tumor Virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute at the University of Hamburg.

His current research focuses on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which has led to major advances in creating embryonic stem cells and iPS cells, as well as their therapeutic applications. His lab also focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms involved in cancer and brain development, as well as coronavirus biology.

Jaenisch has co-authored more than 500 research papers and received various awards during his career, including the Max Delbrück Medal, the Vilcek Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, and the Otto Warburg Medal. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He also was president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in 2014–15.

About the Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize

The Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize recognizes individuals whose original translational research has advanced cellular reprogramming technology for regenerative medicine. Supported by Gladstone Institutes, in partnership with Cell Press, the prize was established in 2015 through a generous gift from Betty and Hiro Ogawa. It has been maintained through their sons, Andrew and Marcus Ogawa, to honor the Ogawas’ memory by continuing the philanthropic legacy they shared during their 46-year marriage. It also recognizes the importance of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), discovered by Gladstone Senior Investigator and Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD.

Past recipients include Masayo Takahashi, MD, PhD, in 2015; Douglas Melton, PhD, in 2016; Lorenz Studer, MD, in 2017; Marius Wernig, MD, PhD, in 2018; Gordon Keller, PhD, in 2019; Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, PhD, in 2022; Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, PhD, in 2023; and Rusty Gage, PhD, in 2025.

The 2025 selection committee was composed of George Daley, MD, PhD, dean of Harvard Medical School; Hideyuki Okano, MD, PhD, dean of the School of Medicine at Keio University; Deepak Srivastava, MD, president of Gladstone Institutes and director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone; Lorenz Studer, MD, director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Fiona Watt, FRS, FMedSci, director of the Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at King’s College, London; and Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, senior investigator at Gladstone and director emeritus of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University.

2025 Amon Award Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award: Sourav Ghosh of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Kotaro Tomuro of RIKEN and The University of Tokyo.

Koch Institute
August 12, 2025

Established in 2021, the Angelika Amon Young Scientist Award recognizes graduate students in the life sciences or biomedical research from institutions outside the United States who embody Dr. Amon’s infectious enthusiasm for discovery science.

Sourav Ghosh, a PhD student in Biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay under the supervision of Anirban Banerjee, investigates cell-autonomous immunity—the ability of host cells to defend themselves against intracellular pathogens. His work uncovered a unique bacteriolytic role for VCP/p97, a host AAA-ATPase or enzyme that uses mechanical force to extract ubiquitinated proteins from bacterial surfaces, rupturing the pathogens and releasing their contents. This process protects the host from lethal sepsis and reveals VCP/p97 as a broad-spectrum defense effector. Ghosh’s findings, published in Nature Microbiology, open new avenues for therapeutic interventions against bacterial infections.

Kotaro Tomuro, a PhD candidate at the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute and the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at The University of Tokyo, works under the supervision of Shintaro Iwasaki. Tomuro develops cutting-edge ribosome profiling methods to investigate the spatial and temporal regulation of translation—the process by which genetic information is converted into proteins. His innovations include “Ribo-Calibration,” an approach that enables absolute quantification of translation rates, and “APEX-Ribo-Seq,” which profiles protein synthesis within specific cellular compartments. Together, these tools have generated a detailed atlas of where and when proteins are made in the cell, revealing new principles of gene expression with potential applications in neurobiology, cancer research, and RNA-based therapeutics.

Ghosh and Tomuro will present their research at the Amon Award ceremony on Thursday, November 6, at 10 a.m. in the Luria Auditorium, followed by an 11:30 a.m. reception in the Koch Institute Public Galleries.

The MIT community and Amon Lab alumni are invited to attend.

Sebastian Lourido awarded highest alumni honor from alma mater

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido receives the Tulane 2025 Science and Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award for Professional Excellence

Whitehead Institute
April 11, 2025

The Lourido laboratory at Whitehead Institute studies the developmental transitions and molecular pathways that the single cell parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii ), uses to infect its host, causing toxoplasmosis.They combine several approaches that span phospho-proteomics, chemical-genetics, and genome editing to investigate the unique biology of these organisms and identify specific features that can be targeted to treat infections of T. gondii and related parasites.

Lourido, who is also an associate professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, originally joined Whitehead Institute as a Whitehead Fellow in 2012, a program that allows promising MD or PhD graduates to initiate their own research program in lieu of a traditional postdoctoral fellowship. “Sebastian’s demonstrated excellence as a young investigator underscores the importance of investing in the next generation of scientists and scientific leaders,” says Ruth Lehmann, Whitehead Institute’s President and Director.

After receiving both a BS in Cell and Molecular Biology and a BFA in Studio Art, Lourido went on to pursue graduate work at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to this honor, Lourido has also been the recipient of other awards including the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award and the 2024 William Trager Award from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and was recognized as one of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.

KI Gallery Exhibit: Artifacts from a half century of cancer research

Celebrating 50 years of MIT's cancer research program and the individuals who have shaped its journey, the Koch Institute Gallery features 10 significant artifacts, from one of the earliest PCR machine developed by Nobel Laureate H. Robert Horvitz to a preserved zebrafish from the lab of Nancy Hopkins in the Koch Institute Public Galleries. Visit Monday through Friday, 9AM-5PM.

Koch Institute
November 21, 2024

Throughout 2024, MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research has celebrated 50 years of MIT’s cancer research program and the individuals who have shaped its journey. In honor of this milestone anniversary year, on November 19, the Koch Institute celebrated the opening of a new exhibition: Object Lessons: Celebrating 50 Years of Cancer Research at MIT in 10 Items. Object Lessons invites the public to explore significant artifacts—from one of the earliest PCR machines, developed in the lab of Nobel laureate H. Robert Horvitz, to Greta, a groundbreaking zebrafish from the lab of Professor Nancy Hopkins—in the half century of discoveries and advancements that have positioned MIT at the forefront of the fight against cancer.

50 years of innovation

The exhibition provides a glimpse into the many contributors and advancements that have defined MIT’s cancer research history since the founding of the Center for Cancer Research in 1974. When the National Cancer Act was passed in 1971, very little was understood about the biology of cancer, and it aimed to deepen our understanding of cancer and develop better strategies for the prevention, detection, and treatment of the disease. MIT embraced this call to action, establishing a center where many leading biologists tackled cancer’s fundamental questions. Building on this foundation, the Koch Institute opened its doors in 2011, housing engineers and life scientists from many fields under one roof to accelerate progress against cancer in novel and transformative ways.

In the 13 years since, the Koch Institute’s collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to cancer research has yielded significant advances in our understanding of the underlying biology of cancer and allowed for the translation of these discoveries into meaningful patient impacts. Over 120 spin-out companies—many headquartered nearby in the Kendall Square area—have their roots in Koch Institute research, with nearly half having advanced their technologies to clinical trials or commercial applications. The Koch Institute’s collaborative approach extends beyond its labs: principal investigators often form partnerships with colleagues at world-renowned medical centers, bridging the gap between discovery and clinical impact.

Current Koch Institute Director Matthew Vander Heiden, also a practicing oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is driven by patient stories.

“It is never lost on us that the work we do in the lab is important to change the reality of cancer for patients,” he says. “We are constantly motivated by the urgent need to translate our research and improve outcomes for those impacted by cancer.”

Symbols of progress

The items on display as part of Object Lessons take viewers on a journey through five decades of MIT cancer research, from the pioneering days of Salvador Luria, founding director of the Center for Cancer Research, to some of the Koch Institute’s newest investigators including Francisco Sánchez-Rivera, Eisen and Chang Career Development Professor and an assistant professor of biology, and Jessica Stark, Underwood-Prescott Career Development Professor and an assistant professor of biological engineering and chemical engineering.

Among the standout pieces is a humble yet iconic object: Salvador Luria’s ceramic mug, emblazoned with “Luria’s broth.” Lysogeny broth, often called—apocryphally—Luria Broth, is a medium for growing bacteria. Still in use today, the recipe was first published in 1951 by a research associate in Luria’s lab. The artifact, on loan from the MIT Museum, symbolizes the foundational years of the Center for Cancer Research and serves as a reminder of Luria’s influence as an early visionary. His work set the stage for a new era of biological inquiry that would shape cancer research at MIT for generations.

Visitors can explore firsthand how the Koch Institute continues to build on the legacy of its predecessors, translating decades of knowledge into new tools and therapies that have the potential to transform patient care and cancer research.

For instance, the PCR machine designed in the Horvitz Lab in the 1980s made genetic manipulation of cells easier, and gene sequencing faster and more cost-effective. At the time of its commercialization, this groundbreaking benchtop unit marked a major leap forward. In the decades since, technological advances have allowed for the visualization of DNA and biological processes at a much smaller scale, as demonstrated by the handheld BioBits® imaging device developed by Stark and on display next door to the Horvitz panel.

 “We created BioBits kits to address a need for increased equity in STEM education,” Stark says. “By making hands-on biology education approachable and affordable, BioBits kits are helping inspire and empower the next generation of scientists.”

While the exhibition showcases scientific discoveries and marvels of engineering, it also aims to underscore the human element of cancer research through personally significant items, such as a messenger bag and Seq-Well device belonging to Alex Shalek, J. W. Kieckhefer Professor in the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and the Department of Chemistry.

Shalek investigates the molecular differences between individual cells, developing mobile RNA-sequencing devices. He could often be seen toting the bag around the Boston area, and worldwide as he perfected and shared his technology with collaborators near and far. Through his work, Shalek has helped to make single cell sequencing accessible for labs in more than 30 countries across six continents.

“The KI seamlessly brings together students, staff, clinicians, and faculty across multiple different disciplines to collaboratively derive transformative insights into cancer,” Shalek says. “To me, these sorts of partnerships are the best part about being at MIT.”

Around the corner from Shalek’s display, visitors will find an object that serves as a stark reminder of the real people impacted by Koch Institute research: Steven Keating’s SM’12, PhD ’16 3D-printed model of his own brain tumor. Keating, who passed away in 2019, became a fierce advocate for the rights of patients to their medical data, and came to know Vander Heiden through his pursuit to become an expert on his tumor type, IDH-mutant glioma. In the years since, Vander Heiden’s work has contributed to a new therapy to treat Steven’s tumor type. In 2024, the drug, called vorasidenib, gained FDA approval, providing the first therapeutic breakthrough for Keating’s cancer in more than 20 years.

As the Koch Institute looks to the future, Object Lessons stands as a celebration of the people, the science, and the culture that have defined MIT’s first half-century of breakthroughs and contributions to the field of cancer research.

“Working in the uniquely collaborative environment of the Koch Institute and MIT, I am confident that we will continue to unlock key insights in the fight against cancer,” says Vander Heiden. “Our community is poised to embark on our next 50 years with the same passion and innovation that has carried us this far.”

Object Lessons will be on view in the Koch Institute Public Galleries. Visit Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to see the exhibit up close.

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido receives the 2024 William Trager Award

Sebastian Lourido was awarded the 2024 William Trager Award by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene for his pioneering use of CRISPR tools to study the biology of Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite that infects about 25% of humans.

Merrill Meadow | Whitehead Institute
November 14, 2024

The Trager Award recognizes scientists who have made substantial contributions to the study of basic parasitology through breakthroughs that have unlocked completely new areas of work.

ASTMH selected Lourido — who is also an associate professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds the Landon Clay Career Development Chair at Whitehead Institute — in recognition of his groundbreaking discoveries on the molecular biology of Toxoplasma. In particular, Lourido has been lauded for his use of cutting-edge CRISPR tools to study the fundamental biology of Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite that infects about 25 percent of humans.

“My laboratory colleagues and I are grateful for this recognition of our work, and for the wonderful opportunity it presents to more widely share the ideas and tools we have developed,” says Lourido, who will deliver a talk on his research at the ASTMH Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Nov. 15, 2024.