Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that Prof. Feng Zhang and his colleagues have engineered CRISPR so that it can edit single RNA letters in human cells. Cookson explains that the researchers believe that, “RNA editing offers a safer and more flexible way to make corrections than the permanent changes involved in DNA editing.”
Prof. Feng Zhang has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize, reports Sharon Begley for STAT. Zhang was honored for his, “track record of innovations and of coming up with big ideas that change fields,” explains Prof. Michael Cima, faculty director of the award. “Zhang is one of those individuals who move through groups of talented people sparking new ideas.”
Carey Goldberg of WBUR speaks to Prof. Kevin Esvelt and graduate student Joanna Buchthal about the next steps in engineering mice that are immune to Lyme disease. With the Lyme disease antibodies identified, the next step is “to encode that mouse DNA back in the mouse genome so that it can be inherited by future generations,” says Esvelt.
Prof. Feng Zhang has been honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for his work contributing to the development of the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, according to the AP. The AP notes that CRISPR-Cas9, “has sparked a boom in research over the past five years.”
Scientific American reporter Lindsay Brownell writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique to enlarge pathology samples. “Not only are expanded samples easier to see because they are larger and more transparent, fluorescent tags and other labels can also be added to track individual molecules of interest.”
In this Bloomberg TV video aired during the July 4th Spectacular, Profs. Sangeeta Bhatia and Robert Langer discuss the Greater Boston area’s prowess in medical research. Langer explains that for his research, which is focused on inventing, “new things in chemical engineering that can change people’s lives in medicine, there is no better place.”
NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that could eventually offer relief to patients with diseases like Parkinson’s and epilepsy without requiring surgery. Fox explains that the method allows for sending, “electrical signals deep into the brain without affecting the layers in between.”
MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive method to stimulate specific neurons deep in the brain that could be used to help treat patients with diseases such as Parkinson’s, reports Meredith Wadman for Science. This new method could also allow scientists to “selectively prod deep-brain neurons into action,” explains Wadman.
Writing for Wired, Abigail Beal highlights how MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive technique to trigger reactions in deep brain cells using low frequency electrical signals. “If we could noninvasively stimulate deep regions, without hitting overlying regions, we might be able to help more people because we could stimulate deep regions selectively, without needing surgery,” explains Prof. Ed Boyden.
MIT researchers have developed a non-invasive technique for deep brain stimulation, which could be used to help patients with brain diseases, reports Mo Costandi for The Guardian. “Targets for disorders such as depression, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, and so forth, are deep in the brain, and they might be more selectively stimulatable with our method,” says Prof. Ed Boyden.
The Economist writes about new research from Prof. Chris Voigt, in which “he and his colleagues demonstrate how to control customised cells with coloured light.”
MIT researchers have genetically engineered E.coli bacteria to replicate light and create images in a range of different colors, reports Alexandra-Simon Lewis for Wired. In the future, the technique could be used to make “bacteria produce more complex molecules on-demand by using light to stop and start chemical reactions.”
Reporting for WBUR, Karen Weintraub speaks with Profs. Angela Belcher, Sangeeta Bhatia and Paula Hammond about their work developing tiny tools to target cancer cells. Bhatia explains that their collaboration feels like, “a dream team of people that are interested in nanoscience and nanotechnology and focusing those advances on cancer.”
Prof. Kevin Esvelt has been honored as a 2017 Boston Globe “Game Changer” for his work with genetic engineering. Ike Swetlitz notes that, “As biology advances at breakneck speed and international debate rages about the ethics and politics of releasing genetically engineered animals, Esvelt has emerged as a respected leader.”
BBC News reporter Roland Pease explores the burgeoning field of synthetic biology. “I think what makes synthetic biology interesting is that it's bringing together engineers and physicists with molecular biologists to model, design, and build molecular components that can then be used to rewire and reprogram living cells for a variety of applications,” explains Prof. James Collins.