The Koch Institute

The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT both transforms and transcends the MIT Center for Cancer Research (CCR). Founded in 1974 by Nobel Laureate and MIT Professor Salvador Luria, CCR has made enormous contributions to the field of cancer research, including:

• Identified the molecules that led to two of the first FDA-approved molecularly targeted anti-cancer drugs: Herceptin® (1998) and Gleevec® (2001)
• Isolated the first human cancer genes
• Discovered extracellular matrix components and their receptors, which play a critical role in metastasis
• Contributed to the sequencing of the human genome
• Developed novel materials for sustained delivery of anti-cancer drugs

CCR/Koch remains one of only eight National Cancer Institute-designated basic research centers in the US. And our faculty have earned the most prestigious national and international science honors:

• Five current and former faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize
• 14 current faculty are members of the National Academy of Sciences
• Six current and former faculty have been awarded the National Medal of Science
• Five current faculty are Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators