Researchers led by Dr. Jessica Stark (@jcstark.bsky.social) have developed a new way to stimulate the immune system to attack tumor cells, using a strategy that could make #CancerImmunotherapy work for many more patients. 📰 MIT News: https://bit.ly/3YlpCeq

New online in @natbiotech.nature.com: Cancer immunotherapy benefits from antibody-lectin chimeras that block glyco-immune checkpoints.

Congratulations @jcstark.bsky.social and the team, antibody-lectin chimeras (AbLecs), a new modality for cancer immune therapy, now published @natbiotech.nature.com. These bispecifics can block glyco-immune checkpoint receptor ligands directly at the immune synapse/activate immune effector functions

Antibody-lectin chimeras for glyco-immune checkpoint blockade - @jcstark.bsky.social @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social go.nature.com/4aRDpk8

A new jump forward in cancer immunotherapy blocking glycan sugar molecules (antibodies to lectin, AbLec) that releases the immune system brakes against many types of tumors @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social @jcstark.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Out now: We present antibody-lectin chimeras (AbLecs) as a molecular platform to target sugars, or glycans, for cancer immunotherapy. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41... @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social @stanford-chemh.bsky.social

Fewer funded grants and graduate fellowships mean fewer innovative technologies and disease cures in our future. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

🚨 Attention undergraduate scientists and engineers! 🚨 Want to spend a summer doing research at MIT? Join us for the 2026 MIT Summer Research Program! Learn more and apply: oge.mit.edu/msrp/ @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social

It's a great year to join the Leading Edge community 🕊️🤍

Great to see this story in print! Congrats @megtriesscience.bsky.social @douglaspdyer.bsky.social and team! Looking forward to sharing Megan's first contributions as a postdoc in our lab at @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social soon... 👀

Why fundamental research is fundamental to progress, seeding major breakthroughs Editorial @nature.com this week And 7 basic science discoveries that changed the world nature.com/articles/d41... nature.com/articles/d41...

We are recruiting new faculty in IMES at MIT! IMES (Institute for Medical Engineering and Science) is the MIT home of the famous HST program. As faculty are also appointed in a department at MIT, we have diverse research programs, all focused on human health. faculty-searches.mit.edu/imes-search/

“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.

Wow! Covid vaccine development and delivery cost $79.4 billion, but the health and economic benefits of vaccination were valued between $4.83 trillion–$37.8 trillion. A return on investment of $59.8–$475 per dollar invested!! This is why vaccine equity matters! www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

#ThrowbackThursday: In 1980 the 🌍🌎🌏 was declared #smallpox free, thanks to mass vaccination efforts. Smallpox was an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. It was one of the most devastating diseases known to humanity. #VaccinesWork

"The ideas and technologies that are being destroyed today, ... some of them irreversibly, those are the cures that would have been present 20 years from now." "It’s people who will get cancer in 10, 20, or 30 years who will really pay the price for these cuts." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Spending a few days with intramural researcher at NIH has me thinking about the old Bell Labs, the storied research institute where major breakthroughs in physics, chemistry and mat sci (and associated @nobelprize.bsky.social awards) were made in the 70s-80s 1/n

Federal science cuts aren’t just halting medical research or disrupting clinical trials. They are already costing us $8.1 billion and 35,000 jobs. The projected loss is $16 billion and 68,000 jobs every year. This reaches every corner of America. scienceimpacts.org

“As the Trump administration continues to drastically defund and dismantle basic science in America, the United States is presenting other countries with opportunities to take the lead …” writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/43R82B5

Sign on in support of the #BethesdaDeclaration actionnetwork.org/forms/add-na... 2/2

The gutting of US biomedical research with loss of ~2,500 grants affecting research for cancer, Alzheimer’s, infectious disease, global health and much more www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Where was this important 1st randomized trial performed? China Where are 8 of the 10 most productive research institutions in the world as of March 2025? China nature.com/nature-index... What country is radically defunding research and will lose its competitiveness? USA

MIT ACCESS is an opportunity for undergraduates to explore cutting-edge research and graduate education in science and engineering. See for yourself what grad life is like at MIT! Applications open June 1: access.mit.edu @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitchemistry.bsky.social

On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.

Go beyond the ABCs of ADCs! Join us for the 23rd Annual @kochinstitute Symposium on Antibody Drug Conjugates, June 27th! Our keynote speaker is Nobel-prize winner @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social of @stanford.edu & an array of industry and academic leaders. Register: mit-ki.org/4lfoxiz

youtu.be/aXdoExz_cd4?... The anti-vaccine movement has been so successful that children are now dying from preventable infections.

Enjoyed discussing the interface of glycobiology and immunology with @mitcheme.bsky.social colleague Brandon Dekosky on The Chain podcast. Looking forward to sharing our work at #PEGSummit next month! @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social www.healthtech.com/the-chain/pe...

Great summary of last month's senate forum on what cuts to NIH funding mean for Americans: fewer treatments and fewer cures for diseases that collectively affect us all. Worth the ~12 min watch!

Yesterday we celebrated @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social PhD student Brian Cho, who received an honorable mention in this year's #NSFGRFP competition. Brian's work promises to shed new light on the adaptive immune response to glycans and glycoproteins. Congratulations! 🍾

"The vaccine provides close to 100% protection against infections and pre-cancers caused by certain types of HPV. That is remarkable." Effective cancer prevention. www.voicesforvaccines.org/hpv-vaccine-...

Peter Marks’s resignation letter. Everyone should read this.

Looking forward to representing @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social and @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social at #AACRIO! Thanks @theaacr.bsky.social for highlighting our work on glycans as emerging targets for cancer immunotherapy, just one of many exciting stories on the agenda: www.aacr.org/about-the-aa...

More good news from our team: @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social PhD student Tran Luu is one of this year's MIT-Accenture Fellows, recognized for her efforts to understand how glycans mediate immune tolerance in cancer. Learn more about Tran's work here: convergence.mit.edu/fellowships/ Congratulations! 🍾

Megan, our lab's first postdoc, has set a record that will be hard to beat: securing a competitive fellowship in her first week on the job! I'm grateful to TBBCF for their support and privileged to work with outstanding scientists like Megan, more on her work here: tbbcf.org/research/ Congrats! 🍾

Congratulations, Megan!! 👏

Comforting today to walk by our #BioBits kits highlighted as part of the #ObjectLessons exhibit @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social. Important now and always to inspire the next generation of scientists 🧬 @minipcr.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social

8 years ago @asbmb.bsky.social gave me +18 more trainees a crash course in advocacy for their DC Hill Day. With NIH slashing indirect costs effective immediately, university Govt Affairs teams will be swamped. Here's 10 tips for scientists contacting lawmakers +pics from Denver's 2017 Science March.

Cuts to the NIH are a strategy to strangle research universities not “reduce waste”

NIH has cut billions of dollars in biomedical funding, effective immediately The move halts a large slice of money for most universities and research institutions virtually overnight, imperiling vital research in everything from cancer to heart disease. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb... Excellent article.

Welcome immigrants from X interested in science to the friendlier skies of @bsky.app, as documented by a new @nature.com survey (but you already knew that 😉) "Bluesky is much better for science. There is much less toxicity, misinformation, and distractions." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Scientific advancements aside, this is economically irresponsible Every $1 spent by NIH generates $2.46 For example, in 2023, $47B in NIH spending generated ~$93B Halting NIH spending will LOSE the US a lot of money (and talent)

Happy holidays from our team to yours ☃️ Looking forward to lots more #glycotime in 2025! @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social

🚨 Attention undergraduate scientists and engineers! 🚨 Want to spend a summer doing research at MIT? Join us for the 2025 MIT Summer Research Program! Learn more and apply: oge.mit.edu/msrp/ @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social

Friends, the second #immunology starter pack filled in 3 days! I started a third to help folks new to BlueSky rebuild their network Below are the links If you're an immunologist and I have missed you so far, let me know 🧪 go.bsky.app/PY5tCas go.bsky.app/FmERUoD go.bsky.app/6aT6qDS

The secret is out! 🚀 Thrilled to support Valora's mission to bring our #AbLec technology to patients, alongside co-inventor @carolynbertozzi.bsky.social. More to come, and in the meantime, you can learn more about AbLecs here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congratulations to the Valora Therapeutics team on an exciting launch; it is a privilege to work with cofounders @jcstark.bsky.social at MIT/Koch Inst and biotech veteran/CEO Miguel Garcia-Guzman, bringing the #AbLec technology to patients. #glycotime endpts.com/carolyn-bert...

Hey 🦋! We at MIT BE @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social are searching for a tenure-track faculty colleague at the interface of #immunology and #biologicalengineering. Still plenty of time to apply before our priority deadline on 12/1, more details here: tinyurl.com/2p8hs6hu. Please share widely!

As someone who has gained a lot of knowledge and career advice from fellow glycobiologists, I wanted to recreate a space for discussion on Bluesky. Here's a starter pack with some glycobiology users to get started. Please comment/DM me to get added to the #glycotime starter pack go.bsky.app/CN9pS3u

Finally enough Immunoengineers to create a Starter Pack :) We'll also keep adding to this one as well - just self nominate by replying here or DMing me. go.bsky.app/DhAhgyB