MIT News
Ecogenesis: Understanding the emergence of life on Earth
In Greg Fournier’s line of work — studying living systems that developed billions of years ago — outstanding questions far ...
‘Electronic skin’ wirelessly transmits data about a person’s blood pressure, heart rate, and activity levels
Most wireless sensors today communicate via embedded Bluetooth chips that are themselves powered by small batteries. But these conventional chips ...
A map of the human genome shows the function of every gene we know so far
The Human Genome Project was an ambitious initiative to sequence every piece of human DNA.... Now, over two decades later, ...
Vaccine pill? RNA-based capsule could also deliver therapies for gastrointestinal disease
Like most vaccines, RNA vaccines have to be injected, which can be an obstacle for people who fear needles. Now, ...
Sticky substance that barnacles use to cling to rocks inspires biocompatible glue to quickly seal wounds
Inspired by the sticky substance that barnacles use to cling to rocks, MIT engineers have designed a strong, biocompatible glue ...
Coating seeds with silk that supplies essential nutrients could provide a natural fertilizer to grow crops on unproductive soils
Providing seeds with a protective coating that also supplies essential nutrients to the germinating plant could make it possible to ...
Happy and sad memories are genetically controlled
A new study from MIT finds that [positive and negative emotions] are controlled by two populations of neurons that are ...
Scientists can now guide CRISPR gene editing with light
CRISPR allows scientists to delete or replace any target gene in a living cell. MIT researchers have now added an ...
Microbe ‘kill switch’ developed for safer use of engineered bacteria
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Many research teams are ...
Leap forward in cancer research attributed to CRISPR tumor modeling
By sequencing the genomes of tumor cells, thousands of genetic mutations have been linked with cancer. Sifting through this deluge ...
Human language gene linked to early attentional multi-tasking
Neuroscientists have found that a gene mutation that arose more than half a million years ago may be key to ...
New therapy advances lung cancer treatment, personalized medicine
Small RNA molecules, including microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), offer tremendous potential as new therapeutic agents to inhibit ...
Non-chromosomal DNA matters for expression of traits
In 2003, when the human genome had been sequenced, many people expected a welter of new therapies to follow, as ...
CRISPR editing technique could reverse disease symptoms in living animals
Using a new gene-editing system based on bacterial proteins, MIT researchers have cured mice of a rare liver disorder caused ...
Gene expression goes realtime with MRI
Doctors commonly use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose tumors, damage from stroke, and many other medical conditions. Neuroscientists also ...
Bionic plants developed at MIT focus on the “tech” half of biotech
Researchers at MIT have enhanced plants' abilities using nanomaterials, specifically carbon nanotubes. The cyborg plants can perform supercharged photosynthesis or ...
An easier way to control genes
MIT researchers have shown that they can turn genes on or off inside yeast and human cells by controlling when ...
Controlling genes with light
Although human cells have an estimated 20,000 genes, only a fraction of those are turned on at any given time, ...
Detecting DNA in space
More than 3.5 billion years ago, a blitz of meteors ricocheted around the solar system, passing material between the two ...
Researchers suggest ways to maximize delivery of siRNA
The following is an excerpt. Nanoparticles that deliver short strands of RNA offer a way to treat cancer and other ...
