Health sciences and technology

“It’s an invisible layer that can provide a barrier, provide cosmetic improvement, and potentially deliver a drug locally to the area that’s being treated. Those three things together could really make it ideal for use in humans,” Daniel Anderson says.

New material temporarily tightens skin

“Second skin” polymer could also be used to protect dry skin and deliver drugs.

May 9, 2016

A black cartridge containing a paper-based diagnostic for detecting the Zika virus is held up by a researcher at Harvard's Wyss Institute. Areas that have turned purple indicate samples infected with Zika, while yellow areas indicate samples that are free of the virus.

A new paper-based test for the Zika virus

Inexpensive device can diagnose Zika in just a few hours.

May 6, 2016

Five with MIT ties are among 30 winners nationwide of the 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Clockwise from top left: Eran Hodis, Lindsey Osimiri ’14, Vishwajith Sridharan, Abubakar Abid ’15, and Suan Lian Tuang ’14.

Five from MIT win 2016 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans

Awards fund graduate studies for immigrants and children of immigrants.

April 27, 2016

Good medicine

Varesh Prasad, an MIT graduate student in health sciences and technology, is creating a multidisciplinary future in health care.

April 26, 2016

(Left to right) Matteo Ligorio, Laura Indolfi, and Elazer Edelman.

Implantable device targets pancreatic cancer

Chemotherapy delivered directly to tumors may slow the disease.

April 14, 2016

Graduate student Osama Mekhi Seidahmed in the Eltahir Research Group holds up larvae of the Dengue-carrying mosquito collected in a water bottle. Environmental management techniques used for related viruses like Dengue and malaria can inform approaches to the recent Zika outbreak.

3Q: Elfatih Eltahir on what malaria and Dengue can tell us about Zika

Environmental management approaches may be key in combating mosquito-borne infectious diseases.

February 23, 2016

A stealth material surface, shown here, has been engineered to provide an “invisibility cloak” against the body’s immune system cells. In this electron microscopy image, you can see the material's surface topography.

No more insulin injections?

Encapsulated pancreatic cells offer possible new diabetes treatment.

January 25, 2016

MIT affiliates were well represented in the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30, honoring young leaders.

25 from MIT named to Forbes 30 Under 30 lists in 2016

Students, researchers, and alumni honored in the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 lists showcasing America’s most important young entrepreneurs, thinkers, and leaders.

January 7, 2016

To track the family history for a single cell, researchers engineered a microfluidic device that traps first an individual cell and then all of its descendants. The device has several connected channels, each of which has a trapping pocket used to capture single cells in precise locations. After the initial cell grows and divides, its progeny float downstream and are captured in the next available...

Tracing a cellular family tree

New technique allows tracking of gene expression over generations of cells as they specialize.

January 6, 2016

(Clockwise from top left)
Angela M. Belcher; Sangeeta N. Bhatia; H. Robert Horvitz; and Emery N. Brown.

Four MIT faculty named 2015 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors

Belcher, Bhatia, Brown, and Horvitz recognized for demonstrating a prolific spirit of innovation and invention resulting in a tangible impact on society.

December 18, 2015