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.”
CBS Boston highlights a new study by MIT researchers that shows that blocking the HDAC2 enzyme could one day help restore memories in Alzheimer’s patients. Postdoctoral fellow Jay Penney explains that, “What we’ve done is found a new way to basically prevent this negative effect of this enzyme.”
MIT researchers have found that blocking the HDAC2 enzyme could potentially restore the memories of Alzheimer’s patients, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. The researchers, “pinpointed a gene called Sp3 that binds with HDAC2, which then results in the compression and subsequent deactivation of memory genes.”
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 an article for HuffPost, Alvaro Fernandez writes about Solve’s 2017 Global Challenge, which is dedicated to brain health. Fernandez writes that, “through the Brain Health Challenge, we are seeking to unearth and support innovative solutions to improving brain health and fitness for all.”
A study by MIT researchers finds that children from lower-income families benefited more from summer reading programs, reports Andrew Grant for The Boston Globe. Of the children who participated in the study about half, “improved their test scores and most of those that did came from lower-income families.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Alison Gopnik writes about Prof. Pawan Sinha’s research examining how humans acquire specific visual abilities. Sinha’s latest research into how people learn to differentiate between faces and other objects showed that children who had their vision restored were able to learn “the skill and eventually they did as well as sighted children.”
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.
New York Times reporter Pam Belluck writes that MIT researchers have developed a new, non-invasive deep brain stimulation technique. The technique could be used to help treat, “a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders more cheaply and safely than current approaches,” writes Belluck.
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.
Susan Hockfield, president emerita of MIT, has been named to U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 STEM Leadership Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame honors leaders, “who have achieved measurable results in the science, technology, engineering and math fields; challenged established processes and conventional wisdom; inspired a shared vision; and motivated aspiring STEM professionals.”
Prof. Emery Brown is a guest on WBUR’s Radio Boston to discuss the feasibility of merging computers with the human brain in an attempt to keep up with artificial intelligence. “Putting the emphasis on using the computational power to understand the physiology and neurocircuitry of the brain is where the success is going to come,” suggests Brown.
TIME reporter Alice Park writes that MIT researchers have modified the CRISPR gene-editing system so that it could be used to diagnose disease. Park explains that the researchers, “used CRISPR to recognize specific substances that bacteria and viruses make. Picking up even the slightest whisper of these products can alert doctors that an infection is active.”