News

September 28, 2022

AFAR News – EDWARD CHOUCHANI, Ph.D. (DANA-FARBER) AND ÖMER YILMAZ, MD, Ph.D. (MIT) RECEIVE 2022 BREAKTHROUGHS IN GERONTOLOGY (BIG) AWARDS FROM THE GLENN FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH AND AFAR Major awards will support research working toward novel therapeutics addressing metabolism, stem cells, and aging biology to target human aging and healthspan Press Release.

August 2022 – Tenure Awarded!   

MIT awards tenure to Angela Koehler, Omer Yilmaz, and Amy Keating. Read more here.

March 2022 KI Image Awards

George Eng KI Image Award photo

George Eng. Read more.

Fall 2021

August 22, 2019

Intestinal stem cells

MIT News – Study links certain metabolites to stem cell function. Molecules called ketones may improve stem cells’ ability to regenerate new intestinal tissue. Published in Cell, August 22, 2019. Read more!

April 2019

Welcome Norihio Goto, Ph.D., to the lab as a new Postdoc!

July 2018

We welcome Heaji Shin, Ph.D. to the lab as a new Postdoc!

June 26, 2018

Sabri-Ulker Symposium, 2018

Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Sabri Ülker Center, hosted its 2nd symposium, “Metabolism and Life” and honored Ömer Yilmaz with their 2018 Sabri Ülker Science Award for basic research in metabolism. 

May 3, 2018 

Cell Stem Cell cover, May 2018

The Lab’s work on stem cell regeneration was featured in MIT News and published in Cell Stem Cell!

March 19, 2018  

Science Translational Medicine cover, 2018

2018 AAAS Award Winner!

Ömer Yilmaz is named a winner of the 2018 AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Award. The award honors early-career investigators who have performed outstanding work in the field of cancer research. Read more.

March 2018

From Origami to Organoids: 2018 Image Awards

We are pleased to announce that our own Jatin Roper and Sebastian Santos were a part of a team whose image is honored to be selected as part of the 8th Annual Image Awards Exhibition at the Koch Institute Galleries. Read more.

September 2017

Four Postdocs from Steven Lippard’s lab in Chemistry have joined our lab to continue their research now that Professor Lippard is retiring. We welcome Postdocs, Amanda Hussey, Wen Zhou, Amit Vernekar and Fang Wang.

July 2017

We welcome as a Fellow. MD. PhD. Shinya Imada to our lab.

May 2017

Our work on colon cancer modeling was featured in MIT News and The Scientist.

April 2017 

We welcome Postdoc Jonathan Braverman to our lab.

February 2017

Postdoc Naniye Cetinbas received a KI Ludwig postdoctoral fellowship.

January 2017

Our work was featured in the Broad Institute blog “Organoids bring a new dimension to tissue research and engineering.”
Link: https://www.broadinstitute.org/blog/organoids-bring-new-dimension-tissue-research-and-engineering

November 2016

Postdoc Chia-Wei Cheng received the prestigious Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellowship.
Link: http://hhwf.org/research-fellowship/

October 2016

Our work was featured on the NIH director’s blog.

August 2016

Postdoc Miyeko Mana received the prestigious American Cancer Society (ACS), postdoctoral fellowship.

July 2016

Omer presented at the CellPress Webinar entitled “Organoids and beyond – 3D tissue in a dish.” Omer and other leaders who are using organoid technologies discussed the “implications for organoids in basic biology, regenerative and personalized medicine while also addressing challenges for the field in accurately recapitulating in vivo complexity as well as crosstalk with other components of the microenvironment.”
Webinar Page Link: http://view6.workcast.net/register?cpak=9254404560299943&referrer=cell

June 2016

Omer was named a 2016 Pew-Stewart Scholar. The Pew-Stewart Scholars Program is a national initiative designed to support innovate early-career scientists whose research will accelerate discovery and advance progress to a cure for cancer.
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/pew-stewart-scholars-for-cancer-research 

April 2016

Omer was named a 2016 Sidney Kimmel Scholar, an award granted to the nation’s most promising young cancer researchers.
http://kimmel.org/kimmel-scholars/our-scholars/

March 2016

Our article “High-fat diet enhances stemness and tumorigenicity of intestinal progenitors,” is published in Nature.

Article Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7592/full/nature17173.html
Preview Link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v531/n7592/full/531042a.html#close
News Link: http://www.nature.com/news/fat-mice-provide-clue-to-obesity-colon-cancer-puzzle-1.19484

Press Release Links

MIT: http://news.mit.edu/2016/diet-influences-colon-cancer-0302
Whitehead Institute: http://wi.mit.edu/news/archive/2016/high-fat-diet-linked-intestinal-stem…
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: http://www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/study-explores-how-a-h…
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2016/03/02/how-a-high-fat-diet-…
Yahoo News: https://news.yahoo.com/high-fat-diet-linked-increased-gut-cancer-risk-12…
The Guardian: http://m.guardian.ng/features/how-high-fat-diet-raises-cancer-risk/
The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/…
Detroit News: http://www.detroitnewstime.com/regional/124388-fatty-foods-cause-boom-in…
Posta (Turkish News): http://www.posta.com.tr/saglik/tipdunyasi/HaberDetay/Turk-bilim-insanlar…

February 2016

Omer was a featured speaker for Gen News’ “Current Trends in 3D and Organoid Cell Culture for Cancer Research.”
Webinar link: http://www.genengnews.com/webinars/current-trends-in-3d-and-organoid-cel…

January 2016

Congratulations to Postdoctoral fellow Chia-Wei Cheng for being named a 2016 Ludwig Scholar.

July 2015

Omer was awarded a 2015 AFAR Research Grant for Junior Faculty.

October 2014

Omer was awarded a 2014 V Scholar Grant from the Jimmy V foundation.
 http://www.jimmyv.org/research/grants-awarded/2011-present/

September 2014

The Yilmaz Lab is kicking into full gear and is fully operational. We are all excited to start conducting experiments in a new lab and expect to have a full lab very soon!

Empty lab, 2014
The empty lab in February
Lab with equipment, 2014
The lab in September, ready for experimentation