Koch Institute

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have designed a new silicone rubber face mask that they believe could stop viral particles as effectively as N95 masks. Unlike N95 masks, the new masks can be easily sterilized and used many times.

Engineers design a reusable, silicone rubber face mask

The prototype mask, which includes an N95 filter, can be easily sterilized and worn many times.

July 9, 2020

MIT researchers have developed a computational model that can help improve the injectability of drug-delivery microparticles and prevent clogging. Using this model, the researchers were able to achieve a sixfold increase in the percentage of microparticles they could successfully inject.

Helping drug-delivering particles squeeze through a syringe

MIT engineers are using computing modeling to prevent microparticles from clogging during injections.

July 8, 2020

By folding DNA into a virus-like structure, MIT researchers have designed HIV-like particles that provoke a strong immune response from human immune cells grown in a lab dish.

Engineers use “DNA origami” to identify vaccine design rules

In lab tests, virus-like DNA structures coated with viral proteins provoke a strong immune response in human B cells.

June 29, 2020

The cancer drug cisplatin concentrates in MED1 droplets in vitro.

How cancer drugs find their targets

Certain cancer therapeutics concentrate within cells — a finding that could change the way scientists think about drug design.

June 26, 2020

Using a new calcium indicator that accumulates in the cell bodies of neurons (boxes at right), MIT neuroscientists are able to more accurately image neuron activity. Traditional calcium indicators (boxes at left) can generate crosstalk that blurs the images.

A focused approach to imaging neural activity in the brain

New molecule for imaging calcium in neurons reduces crosstalk from neighboring neurons.

June 26, 2020

Graduate student and lead author Lauren Stopfer in the lab

Counting your antigens

A new platform that precisely quantifies antigens presented on cell surfaces may help researchers and clinicians improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies.

June 2, 2020

An image captured through transmission electron microscopy shows the nanoparticles used to further stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.

A boost for cancer immunotherapy

Engineers design nanoparticles that stimulate the immune system, helping it to attack tumors.

June 1, 2020

Clockwise from upper left: Angela Belcher, Bruce Walker, Jianzhu Chen, Feng Zhang, Siqi Zheng, and Lee Gehrke

Six from MIT awarded research funding to address Covid-19

Multi-institutional MassCPR initiative announces more than $16.5 million to support 62 Boston-area projects.

May 19, 2020

Left to right: David Sabatini, Kerry Emanuel, and Peter Shor, 2020 recipients of BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Awards

Kerry Emanuel, David Sabatini, and Peter Shor receive BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge awards

Laureates recognized for contributions to climate change, biomedicine, and quantum cryptography.

May 8, 2020

Shriya Srinivasan of MIT is the $15,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize “Cure it!” Graduate Winner for her Cutaneous Mechanoneural Interface (CMI), a new type of surgical process for amputee patients that would allow a person to sense what their prosthesis feels.

Top collegiate inventors awarded 2020 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize

Students around the country recognized for innovative solutions to better single-use plastic, spacecraft and aircraft fuel gauges, surgery techniques, and more.

April 29, 2020