Washington Post reporter Peter Holley writes that MIT researchers have found that the soft membrane covering a lobster’s joints and abdomen is as tough as industrial rubber. The researchers discovered, “lobsters could offer a solution to the problem plaguing most modern body armors: the more mobility an armor offers, the less it protects the wearer’s body.”
Guardian reporter Ian Sample writes that MIT startup Synlogic are developing a “living” medicine” made from genetically modified bugs. “By engineering these bacteria, we are able to control how they operate in the human gastrointestinal tract,” says Caroline Kurtz of Synlogic. “It allows us to think about many other diseases where you may need to produce something beneficial, or remove something that is toxic for the patient.”
Prof. Aviv Regev speaks with NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce about her work with the Human Cell Atlas trying to catalogue every cell in the human body. “We don't need to analyze every individual cell out of 37 trillion because the cells kind of repeat themselves,” says Regev. “All we need to do is sample enough of them from enough region in order to get comprehensive coverage.”
Reporting for WBUR’s CommonHealth, Carey Goldberg highlights new classroom kits developed by MIT researchers that allow kids to learn and experiment with the building blocks of DNA. "I just think it's really important that microbiology education is accessible for everyone," says graduate student Ally Huang, "and that everyone, regardless of their resources, has access to things like this."
STAT reporter Kate Sheridan writes about MIT startup SQZ Biotech, which is developing a “technology that will squeeze cells to open up tiny pores in their membranes to deliver gene therapies or medicines straight into the cell.”
Prof. Angelika Amon, winner of a 2019 Breakthrough Prize, speaks with Nature about her reaction to winning the prize and her research investigating the consequences of a cell having the wrong number of chromosomes. Amon explains that that next big challenge for her work is to “figure out how these changes in copy number affect cancer.”
Prof. Angelika Amon is honored as one of the recipients of this year’s Breakthrough Prize for her work determining “how extra or missing chromosomes in a person’s genetic makeup can lead to disease,” reports Olivia Vanni for the Boston Herald.
National Geographic reporter Nadia Drake highlights the work of Prof. Angelika Amon, winner of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. “I’m extremely grateful to have been selected,” says Amon. “I’m the representative of all the people who work with me over the years, who this prize is really for—my students and postdocs and trainees, really, they are the winners here.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Eric Lander, president of the Broad Institute, argues for enabling cancer patients to become actively involved in cancer research. “Patients must have an active voice in decisions. Patient data should never be sold,” Lander writes. “Researchers anywhere should have rapid access to the de-identified clinical and genomic data, to ensure that anyone can make discoveries.”
Prof. Angelika Amon is a recipient of this year’s Breakthrough Prize “for her work on aneuploidy, irregularities in the number of chromosomes,” which could lead to a new understanding of cancer, writes Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. Prof. Chenyang Xu, Prof. Matt Evans and research scientist Lisa Barsotti received New Horizons Prizes in physics, while Prof. Daniel Harlow received one in math.
Wired reporter Megan Molteni highlights Prof. Aviv Regev’s work leading the Human Cell Atlas, an effort to catalog the cells in the human body that could eventually serve as a roadmap for understanding and treating disease. “From the beginning we have designed this as a public good and an open resource to enable science around the world,” Regev explains.
Writing for STAT, Eric Boodman highlights how Prof. Jing-Ke Weng’s lab at the Whitehead Institute has mapped the genome of a firefly in an effort to understand how fireflies acquired the ability to glow. The researchers hope their findings will eventually be used to develop “better laboratory tools for studying disease and developing treatments.”
STAT reporter Orly Nadell Farber writes about a new study by MIT researchers that shows glaucoma might be caused by T-cells, an integral component of the human body’s immune system, attacking retinal cells. Farber explains that, “this discovery could unlock a critical new door for treatment options.”
A new study by MIT researchers provides evidence that glaucoma may be caused by an autoimmune disease, according to a HealthDay News piece published by UPI. “Further research will try to determine whether other parts of the immune system play a role in glaucoma, and whether autoimmunity is a factor in degenerative brain diseases.”
Prof. Aviv Regev speaks with WBUR’s Karen Weintraub about her work exploring human cells. Regev says she was inspired to study the human cell as, “it’s this phenomenal entity that knows how to take many different pieces of information, make very quick and sophisticated decisions, act on them and continue on its way.”