Collaborating against cancer: MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Cancer encompasses a group of diseases characterized by abnormal cell growth. In the 44 years following the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971, multiple genetic and environmental factors have been identified as initiators of the disease. Considerable progress has been made in the treatment and detection of many forms of cancer, but despite this progress, it remains as the most lethal group of diseases worldwide (Stewart BW, Wild CP. World Cancer Report 2014. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2014). The barriers to developing new cancer therapies lie in the heterogeneity, adaptability, and physiological complexity of these diseases (Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell 2011, 144, 646–647). To address these challenges, MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research has combined the strengths of both cancer biology and engineering to take a multidisciplinary, multi-investigator approach to cancer research. The insights and technologies developed by this approach are already bearing fruit, serving as an inspirational model for disease-focused research.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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