Biological Engineering

Rendering of a virus used in the MIT experiments. The light-collecting centers, called chromophores, are in red, and chromophores that just absorbed a photon of light are glowing white. After the virus is modified to adjust the spacing between the chromophores, energy can jump from one set of chromophores to the next faster and more efficiently.

Quantum physics meets genetic engineering

Researchers use engineered viruses to provide quantum-based enhancement of energy transport.

October 14, 2015

Ian Waitz addressed the 2015-2016 SuperUROP class at a Sept. 30 reception.

SuperUROP undergrad research program goes engineering-wide

Yearlong “Super” Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program expands beyond electrical engineering and computer science.

October 9, 2015

MIT President L. Rafael Reif and Gianfelice Rocca sign documents renewing a partnership between the Institute and Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Italy's top engineering school.

Significant foundation grant extends two-way partnership with Italy through 2020

Agreement will support a number of joint research projects, seminars, lectures, and other programming.

October 2, 2015

MIT professor of biological engineering Christopher Voigt

Engineering biology

With a new DARPA contract, biological engineer Christopher Voigt aims to harness the power of living cells.

September 24, 2015

MIT researchers find the soft palate (in red) — the soft tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth — plays a key role in how the flu virus (in background) travels through the air.

How flu viruses gain the ability to spread

New study reveals the soft palate is a key site for evolution of airborne transmissibility.

September 23, 2015

MIT researchers have devised a new mix-and-match system to genetically engineer bacteria-infecting viruses, called bacteriophages (yellow), to attack specific bacteria.

Viruses join fight against harmful bacteria

Engineered viruses could combat human disease and improve food safety.

September 23, 2015

At left, cells glow red to indicate that the detection system has been successfully delivered. The system was designed to produce green fluorescence in cells carrying a viral DNA sequence, as seen at right.

Targeting DNA

Protein-based sensor could detect viral infection or kill cancer cells.

September 21, 2015

Crawley announces intention to step down as president of Skoltech

AeroAstro professor to return to MIT next year after five years as Russian institution’s first leader.

September 19, 2015

Mariana Matus working in a lab, wearing white lab coat and goggles

Out of sight and out of mind, sewage can actually tell us a lot about health

PhD student Mariana Matus studies human waste to understand individual and community health.

September 15, 2015

AIM Biotech's microfluidics device (shown here) has an array of culturing sections, each with three chambers: a middle chamber for hydrogel and any cell type, and two side channels for culturing additional cell types.

Capturing cell growth in 3-D

Spinout’s microfluidics device better models how cancer and other cells interact in the body.

August 14, 2015

Researchers have uncovered a way chronic inflammation can lead to cancer. Panel 1 shows a normal DNA base pair of cytosine (C) and guanine (G). In panel 2, inflammation, represented by a red background, damages the base pair. A chlorine atom (Cl) is added to the cytosine, resulting in a cytosine lesion called 5-chlorocytosine. In panel 3, the cytosine lesion is now able to base pair with adenine (...

How chronic inflammation can lead to cancer

Researchers discover how the immune system can create cancerous DNA mutations when fighting off infection.

August 7, 2015

Nanoparticles that lose their stability upon irradiation with light have been designed to extract endocrine disruptors, pesticides, and other contaminants from water and soils. The system exploits the large surface-to-volume ratio of nanoparticles, while the photoinduced precipitation ensures nanomaterials are not released in the environment.

New study shows how nanoparticles can clean up environmental pollutants

Nanomaterials and UV light can “trap” chemicals for easy removal from soil and water.

July 21, 2015

The illustration depicts Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (white) living on mammalian cells in the gut (large pink cells coated in microvilli) and being activated by exogenously added chemical signals (small green dots) to express specific genes, such as those encoding light-generating luciferase proteins (glowing bacteria).

Researchers develop basic computing elements for bacteria

Sensors, memory switches, and circuits can be encoded in a common gut bacterium.

July 9, 2015

Major step for implantable drug-delivery device

MIT spinout signs deal to commercialize microchips that release therapeutics inside the body.

June 29, 2015

In this illustration, phagemid plasmids infect a targeted bacteria.

Researchers develop a new means of killing harmful bacteria

Engineered particles are capable of producing toxins that are deadly to targeted bacteria.

June 25, 2015

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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