Two MIT scientists elected to the Institute of Medicine
Two MIT researchers — Mriganka Sur and Li-Huei Tsai — have been named among the 65 new members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Sur, the Paul E. Newton Professor of Neuroscience and head of the...
View ArticleKaiser to lead National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Cell biologist Chris A. Kaiser, professor and head of the Department of Biology at MIT, has been selected as the new director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Kaiser, who...
View ArticleResearchers achieve RNA interference, in a lighter package
Using a technique known as “nucleic acid origami,” chemical engineers have built tiny particles made out of DNA and RNA that can deliver snippets of RNA directly to tumors, turning off genes expressed...
View ArticleDARPA and NIH to fund ‘human body on a chip’ research
Researchers in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT will receive up to $32 million over the next five years from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National...
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Protein that boosts longevity may protect against diabetes
Leonard Guarente, the Novartis Professor of Biology at MITPhoto: M. Scott Brauer A protein that slows aging in mice and other animals also protects against the ravages of a high-fat diet, including...
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Success of engineered tissue depends on where it’s grown
Laura Indolfi, left, holds up a sample of a sponge-like scaffold that she and Elazer Edelman, right, used to show that implanted cells’ therapeutic properties depend on their shape.Photo: Patrick...
View ArticleStroke disrupts how brain controls muscle synergies
The simple act of picking up a pencil requires the coordination of dozens of muscles: The eyes and head must turn toward the object as the hand reaches forward and the fingers grasp it. To make this...
View ArticleResearchers engineer light-activated skeletal muscle
Many robotic designs take nature as their muse: sticking to walls like geckos, swimming through water like tuna, sprinting across terrain like cheetahs. Such designs borrow properties from nature,...
View ArticleProtein impedes microcirculation of malaria-infected red blood cells
When the parasite responsible for malaria infects human red blood cells, it launches a 48-hour remodeling of the host cells. During the first 24 hours of this cycle, a protein called RESA undertakes...
View ArticleMIT neuroscientists achieve 'dream engineering' in rats
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory Neuroscientist Matt Wilson has shown not only that animals dream, but that they dream about what they experience. In a lab rat’s world, that means navigating...
View ArticleFour from MIT win NIH grants
Four MIT faculty members have been awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants designed to promote innovative biomedical research.The Institute’s recipients of these new NIH grants are Hidde...
View ArticleTracking stem cell reprogramming
Several years ago, biologists discovered that regular body cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells — cells with the ability to become any other type of cell. Such cells hold great promise...
View ArticleMIT team builds most complex synthetic biology circuit yet
Using genes as interchangeable parts, synthetic biologists design cellular circuits that can perform new functions, such as sensing environmental conditions. However, the complexity that can be...
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Drawing a line, with carbon nanotubes
MIT chemists designed a new type of pencil lead consisting of carbon nanotubes, allowing them to draw carbon nanotube sensors onto sheets of paper.Photo: Jan Schnorr Carbon nanotubes offer a powerful...
View ArticleCalcium reveals connections between neurons
A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor.The...
View ArticleInside the unconscious brain
A new study from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reveals, for the first time, what happens inside the brain as patients lose consciousness during anesthesia.By monitoring brain activity as...
View ArticleOn the hunt for rare cancer cells
Tumor cells circulating in a patient’s bloodstream can yield a great deal of information on how a tumor is responding to treatment and what drugs might be more effective against it. But first, these...
View ArticleNew technology may enable earlier cancer diagnosis
Finding ways to diagnose cancer earlier could greatly improve the chances of survival for many patients. One way to do this is to look for specific proteins secreted by cancer cells, which circulate in...
View ArticleImproving the accuracy of cancer diagnoses
Tiny calcium deposits can be a telltale sign of breast cancer. However, in the majority of cases these microcalcifications signal a benign condition. A new diagnostic procedure developed at MIT and...
View ArticleBig medical data
With the recent launch of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, MIT News examines research with the potential to reshape medicine and health care through new scientific knowledge, novel...
View ArticleGore wins $1.13 million NIH grant
MIT Assistant Professor of Physics Jeff Gore is receiving a four-year, $1,131,603 grant from the National Institutes of Health - National Institute of General Medical Science to pursue research into...
View ArticleFour MIT researchers attend White House announcement of brain initiative
Four MIT neuroscientists were among those invited to the White House on Tuesday, April 2, when President Barack Obama announced a new initiative to understand the human brain. Professors Ed Boyden,...
View ArticleThree from MIT win NIH grants
Three MIT faculty members have been awarded National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants designed to promote innovative biomedical research.The Institute’s recipients of these NIH grants are Edward...
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