MIT affiliates named 2026 Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellows
Five MIT faculty members and two additional alumni are honored with fellowships to advance research on beneficial AI.
Department
Biology
Capturing the complete process of embryonic development
By tracking over 1 million cells, researchers created a detailed map of embryonic development in mice. It could provide development and disease insights.
Seven MIT affiliates elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2026
Professor Michael Yaffe and six MIT alumni are honored for their outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
AI model decodes the language cells use to communicate
A new computational approach reveals how cells communicate to assemble into tissues. This could accelerate stem cell engineering, improve disease models, and inform therapies.
Lung cancers can use two different mechanisms to evade KRAS-inhibiting drugs
Some tumor cells develop resistance by amplifying the KRAS gene, while others change their tumor type, MIT researchers have found.
Biologists identify a cellular pathway that allows colorectal cancer to metastasize
They also found that obesity may put patients at higher risk for activation of the pathway. Drugs that block the pathway may help prevent metastasis.
Finding purpose through research
This summer, BSG-MSRP-Bio student Marina Milea investigated how lung cancers become resistant to targeted therapies, gaining hands-on research experience in the Jacks Lab at the Koch Institute.
MIT Quantum Initiative launches postdoctoral fellowship program
The Institute welcomes its first cohort of QMIT Fellows this fall to advance interdisciplinary quantum research.
Looking beyond natural sequences
A new machine-learning framework aims to improve the success rate of computational protein design while moving away from results that reproduce sequences found in nature.
Cells use a little-known molecule to protect themselves from iron overload
This discovery points toward new combination strategies against cancer, and may explain the iron buildup seen in disorders such as early-onset Parkinson’s disease.
How the Toxoplasma parasite adapts to crowded conditions in host cells
A new study by Whitehead Institute researchers identifies how the widespread parasite Toxoplasma gondii survives in crowded environments in infected cells, which helps it persist in long-lasting brain cysts.
DNA shaper steers nervous system development
A study of worms finds a protein that helps shape the structure of the genome is critical for establishing the identity of some neurons.
MIT Professor Susumu Tonegawa, renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 86
Tonegawa made landmark discoveries about how the immune system generates antibody diversity and how the brain forms memories.
Ketogenic diets may increase cancer risk in the small intestine
MIT researchers have found that a ketogenic high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet fuels the growth of intestinal tumors.
Why are some bacterial genes high in purines?
In certain species of bacteria, the answer lies in shielding RNA transcripts from a quality-control factor called Rho. Understanding the requirements for expressible sequences is critical for expression engineering of therapeutic agents.