Tyler Jacks is an American cancer biologist and the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the founding director of MIT's David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and its successor, the Koch Institute, from 2001 to 2021. Jacks was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator from 1994 to 2021, when he became president of Break Through Cancer. His research is best known for the development and analysis of genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMS), a foundational contribution to modern cancer biology that has helped shape how scientists study tumor initiation, progression, and the treatment response across every major cancer type.
Early life Tyler Jacks graduated from Algonquin Region High School (Northborough, MA) in 1979. He received his AB from Harvard University in 1983(magna cum laude with highest honors in biology). Jacks earned a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1988 under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus. He then went on to perform postdoctoral research at MIT in the Whitehead Institute in the laboratory of Robert Weinberg.
Career Jacks joined the MIT faculty as assistant professor in 1992, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1997, and full professor in 2000. He served as director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research and its successor, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, from 2001 to 2021. The Koch Institute brought together cancer scientists and cancer-oriented engineers into a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. Jacks was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator from 1994 to 2021. In 2021, Jacks became president of Break Through Cancer, a cancer research foundation created to support collaborative, multi-institutional research teams focused on difficult-to-treat cancers. The organization brings together researchers from five leading cancer institutions — Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT — using a model centered on shared data, shared materials, coordinated project management, and research designed to move discoveries into clinical settings more quickly. Break Through Cancer describes its approach as “radical collaboration,” emphasizing coordination across institutions, disciplines, clinical strategy, and translational research. He taught introductory biology (7.013) at MIT for many years and currently teaches The Hallmarks of Cancer (7.45). He served on the board of scientific advisors of the National Cancer Institute and chaired the National Cancer Advisory Board. He is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research (2009). He was a founding co-editor of the Annual Review of Cancer Biology in 2017, serving until 2021. Jacks is a member of the board of directors of Amgen and Thermo Fisher Scientific. and Aveo Pharmaceuticals Inc. He co-founded Dragonfly Therapeutics in 2015 and serves as chair of its scientific advisory board; he co-founded T2Biosystems in 2006 and Novello Therapeutics in 2026. He serves on the scientific advisory board of Skyhawk Therapeutics. He served previously on the scientific advisory boards of SQZ Biotech (until 2023) and Aveo Pharmaceuticals. Jacks served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers from 2019 to 2025, including as vice chair of the board’s executive committee for the 2024–25 academic year. He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of The Francis Crick Institute (London).
Research Jacks' most significant scientific contribution is the development of a series of genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMS) of human cancer. These models — which carry targeted mutations in genes such as p53, Rb, Nf1, and K-ras — were among the first to closely recapitulate how human tumors initiate and progress, and are now foundational tools used across the field of cancer biology. His laboratory has used GEMMs to study tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes, DNA repair pathways, tumor evolution, treatment response, and mechanisms of drug resistance. Mouse models of more than nine cancer types have been produced, including lung, pancreatic, ovarian, colorectal, brain, and soft-tissue cancers. In more recent years, the lab has moved into the area of tumor immunology, using mouse models to understand how the immune system recognizes and responds to, and how tumors evade, immune surveillance. The lab has also adopted organoid systems to accelerate model development in tissue culture and upon orthotopic transplantation.
Awards and recognitions 1997: AACR Rhoads Award for outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. 1998: Amgen Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 1997: Daniel K. Ludwig Scholar in Cancer Research. 2002: Chestnut Hill Award for Excellence in Medical Research. 2005: Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. 2009: Elected to the National Academy of Science. 2009: Elected to the National Academy of Medicine. 2012: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 2013: Elected Fellow of the AACR Academy (inaugural class). 2015: Sergio Lombroso Award in Cancer Research. 2015: MIT James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award—the highest honor the MIT faculty can bestow on one of its members. 2020: AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship. 2025: American-Italian Cancer Foundation Award for Excellence in Medicine. 2026: American Cancer Society Medal of Honor—the organization’s highest scientific recognition, awarded for his pioneering work on genetically engineered mouse models of human cancer.
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