News
PhD student Brian Cho receives honorable mention in this year’s NSF GRFP competition
April 2025
Brian's work promises to shed new light on the adaptive immune response to glycans and glycoproteins. Congratulations, Brian!
Read more about it here!
Jessica Stark and Gabriel Rabinovich close out AACR IO with keynote session on Glyco-Immunology
March 2025
Jessica Stark highlights the profound impact glycans and glyco-immune checkpoints have in the context of cancer.
Read more about it here!
Newly established AACR IO meeting
March 2025
Jessica Stark highlights the profound impact glycans and glyco-immune checkpoints have in the context of cancer.
Read more about it here!
PhD student Tran Luu is one of this year's MIT-Accenture Fellows
February 2025
Stark Lab 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. Congratulations, Tran!
Read more about it here!
Postdoc Megan Priestley selected as one of the 2025 Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation Fellows
February 2025
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! We are grateful to TBBCF for their support and privileged to work with outstanding scientists like Megan. Congrats!
Read more about it here!
Image Credit: Christopher Michel
Valora Therapeutics launches from Carolyn Bertozzi Lab
November 2024
Born from a vision to translate groundbreaking glycobiology research into life-changing therapies, Valora Therapeutics aims to restore the defective language of immune communication in disease.
Read more about it here!
AbTherx Appoints Jessica Stark, PhD, as Scientific Advisor
March 2024
Dr. Stark will provide guidance on AbTherx's research strategies with an emphasis on challenging drug targets, including glycan targets that act as immune checkpoints for next-generation cancer immunotherapy.
Read more about it here!
Jessica Stark among twelve researchers selected as finalists for MIT-Royalty Pharma Prize Competition
January 2024
MIT-Royalty Pharma Prize Competition supports female entrepreneurs in biotechnology. The MIT Faculty Founder Initiative was launched in 2020 by the MIT School of Engineering, in collaboration with the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
Read more about it here!
Image Credit: Justin Muir
Cell-free processes could speed up vaccine development
March 2023
Researchers have been using cell-free systems for biochemical reactions for decades — but mostly in the research laboratory. Now, thanks to advances in both reliability and scale, cell-free synthesis is emerging as a major tool for everything from diagnostic-sensor development to vaccine biomanufacturing.
Read more about it here!
2023 Steven A. Rosenberg Scholar Award given to Jessica Stark
2023
The SITC Steven A. Rosenberg Scholars Award Fund was established in honor of Dr. Rosenberg and his many contributions to the field of immuno-oncology. His work pioneered the first effective immunotherapies and gene therapies for patients with advanced cancers.
Read more about it here!
Meet a Scientist: Jessica Stark unleashes the potential of cell-free systems
2023
Jessica shares her research experience, inspirations, advice, and how she was able to apply her passion for engineering to biology and human health.
Read more about it here!
BioBits: Changing the way we teach biology
November 2020
BioBits were developed by a group of synthetic biologists, including Dr. Jessica Stark, who wanted to help students learn biology by doing biology. In sharp contrast to the breakneck increase in our ability to engineer biology, biology education has not changed for generations - until, perhaps, now.
Read more about it here!
Image Credit: Robin Lubbock/WBUR
Making microbiology education accessible to everyone with BioBits freeze-dried, cell-free kits
November 2018
New classroom kits, developed partly at MIT, use cutting-edge methods to introduce students to the basics of DNA with no fuss. The technique uses freeze-dried bits of a cell that can translate DNA - which is
something like a biological blueprint - into action.
Read more about it here!