Rationale engineering generates a compact new tool for gene therapy
Researchers redesign a compact RNA-guided enzyme from bacteria, making it an efficient editor of human DNA.
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Lighting up biology’s basement lab
Senior Technical Instructor Vanessa Cheung ’02 brings the energy, experience, and excitement needed to educate students in the biology teaching lab.
MIT’s McGovern Institute is shaping brain science and improving human lives on a global scale
A quarter century after its founding, the McGovern Institute reflects on its discoveries in the areas of neuroscience, neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, brain-body connections, and therapeutics.
An ancient RNA-guided system could simplify delivery of gene editing therapies
The programmable proteins are compact, modular, and can be directed to modify DNA in human cells.
MIT affiliates awarded 2024 National Medals of Science, Technology
Four professors and an additional alumnus honored with nation’s highest awards for scientists and engineers; Moderna, with deep MIT roots, also recognized.
Bacteria in the human gut rarely update their CRISPR defense systems
A new study of the microbiome finds intestinal bacterial interact much less often with viruses that trigger immunity updates than bacteria in the lab.
Introducing MIT HEALS, a life sciences initiative to address pressing health challenges
The MIT Health and Life Sciences Collaborative will bring together researchers from across the Institute to deliver health care solutions at scale.
When a cell protector collaborates with a killer
New research reveals what it takes for a protein that is best known for protecting cells against death to take on the opposite role.
Killing the messenger
A newly characterized anti-viral defense system in bacteria aborts infection through a novel mechanism by chemically altering mRNA.
Pursuing the secrets of a stealthy parasite
By unraveling the genetic pathways that help Toxoplasma gondii persist in human cells, Sebastian Lourido hopes to find new ways to treat toxoplasmosis.
License plates of MIT
Custom plates display expressions of scholarship, creativity, and MIT pride among Institute affiliates.
CHARMed collaboration creates a potent therapy candidate for fatal prion diseases
A new gene-silencing tool shows promise as a future therapy against prion diseases and paves the way for new approaches to treating disease.
Professor Emerita Mary-Lou Pardue, pioneering cellular and molecular biologist, dies at 90
Known for her rigorous approach to science and her influential research, Pardue paved the way for women in science at MIT and beyond.
MIT scholars will take commercial break with entrepreneurial scholarship
Propelled by MIT mentors and colleagues, two Kavanaugh Fellows will spend a year getting their innovative technologies ready for the market.
Scientists develop a rapid gene-editing screen to find effects of cancer mutations
With the new technique, MIT researchers hope to identify mutations that could be targeted with new cancer therapies.