Biological Engineering

Researchers at MIT and other institutions have created tiny freeze-dried pellets that include all of the molecular machinery needed to translate DNA into proteins, which could form the basis for on-demand production of drugs and vaccines.

To produce biopharmaceuticals on demand, just add water

Freeze-dried cellular components can be rehydrated to churn out useful proteins.

September 22, 2016

Manoshi Datta, a postdoc in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, pipettes bacterial samples in the lab.

MIT researchers prove fast microbial evolutionary bursts exist

Study reveals closely related microbes can diversify rapidly via horizontal gene transfer.

September 22, 2016

Each year through the Siebel Scholars program, a formidable group brings together their diverse perspectives from business, science, and engineering to influence the technologies, policies, and economic and social decisions that shape the future.

Sixteen MIT grad students named Siebel Scholars for 2017

MIT graduate students from bioengineering, business, computer science, and energy fields are honored.

September 15, 2016

A new technique invented at MIT can precisely measure the growth of many individual cells simultaneously. “The device provides new insights into how cells grow and respond to drugs,” MIT professor Scott Manalis says.

Microchip enables fast, precise measurement of single-cell growth

Device that measures growth of many individual cells simultaneously could lead to rapid tests for antibiotics.

September 5, 2016

Accelerometers around patients' necks capture data about the motions of their vocal folds to determine if their vocal behavior was normal or abnormal.

How machine learning can help with voice disorders

By detecting signs of vocal misuse, system from CSAIL and Mass General could eventually be used to help diagnose voice disorders.

August 29, 2016

Ginkgo Bioworks staff members Ramya Prathuri (left) and Nate Tedford work at the mass spectrometer in the Ginkgo foundry.

Hacking microbes

Startup’s engineered yeast helps clients produce fragrances and flavors more efficiently.

August 25, 2016

MIT biological engineers have devised a memory storage system illustrated here as a DNA-embedded meter that is recording the activity of a signaling pathway in a human cell.

Recording analog memories in human cells

Engineers program human cells to store complex histories in their DNA.

August 18, 2016

Researchers designed and tested several types of optical sensors that could be placed at the tip of an epidural needle and determined that the best is one that relies on Raman spectroscopy. This technique, which uses light to measure energy shifts in molecular vibrations, offers detailed information about the chemical composition of tissue.

Needles that hit the right mark

New sensor could help anesthesiologists place needles for epidurals and other medical procedures.

August 11, 2016

A new microfluidic device that replicates the neuromuscular junction — the vital connection where nerve meets muscle — contains a small cluster of neurons (green) and a single muscle fiber (red). A fluorescence image, bottom, shows the motor neurons sending out axons toward a muscle strip over a distance of about 1 millimeter.

Replicating the connection between muscles and nerves

New chip could help test drugs for ALS, other neuromuscular disorders.

August 3, 2016

Erica Eggleton is working this summer in the lab of MIT Professor Krystyn Van Vliet on lithium manganese oxide (LMO) electrodes for lithium ion batteries. Here, she measures out carbon powder, a binder, and LMO, the active powder used in the battery electrodes.

Analyzing lithium ion battery fatigue

Summer Scholar Erica Eggleton joins Van Vliet Lab to make and test lithium manganese oxide electrodes.

August 2, 2016

A new, portable production system is designed to manufacture a range of biopharmaceuticals on demand. The principal component of the microbioreactor is a plastic chip with microfluidic circuits (green), optical sensors (red and blue circles) for monitoring oxygen and acidity, and a filter to retain the cells while the therapeutic protein is extracted (white circle).

Portable device produces biopharmaceuticals on demand

System would use microbes for manufacturing small amounts of vaccines and other therapies.

July 29, 2016

“You can build very complex computing systems if you integrate the element of memory together with computation,” says Timothy Lu, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering, and head of the Synthetic Biology Group at MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics.

Scientists program cells to remember and respond to series of stimuli

New approach to biological circuit design enables scientists to track cell histories.

July 21, 2016

MIT and Broad Institute postdoc Ilana Brito sampled not only the human microbiome in the remote villages in Fiji she studied, but also the reservoirs of microbes in the community.

Microbiome genes on the move

Largest metagenomic view of the developing world uncovers “mobile genes” that reveal how culture shapes the human microbiome.

July 14, 2016

Mapping molecular neighborhoods

Associate Professor Ernest Fraenkel uses biological network modeling to identify new targets for disease.

July 5, 2016

MIT researchers have developed a new way to image proteins and RNA inside neurons of intact brain tissue.

Seeing RNA at the nanoscale

Microscopy technique allows scientists to pinpoint RNA molecules in the brain.

July 4, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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