Rationale engineering generates a compact new tool for gene therapy
Researchers redesign a compact RNA-guided enzyme from bacteria, making it an efficient editor of human DNA.
Lighting up biology’s basement lab
Senior Technical Instructor Vanessa Cheung ’02 brings the energy, experience, and excitement needed to educate students in the biology teaching lab.
MIT’s McGovern Institute is shaping brain science and improving human lives on a global scale
A quarter century after its founding, the McGovern Institute reflects on its discoveries in the areas of neuroscience, neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, brain-body connections, and therapeutics.
An ancient RNA-guided system could simplify delivery of gene editing therapies
The programmable proteins are compact, modular, and can be directed to modify DNA in human cells.
MIT affiliates awarded 2024 National Medals of Science, Technology
Four professors and an additional alumnus honored with nation’s highest awards for scientists and engineers; Moderna, with deep MIT roots, also recognized.
Bacteria in the human gut rarely update their CRISPR defense systems
A new study of the microbiome finds intestinal bacterial interact much less often with viruses that trigger immunity updates than bacteria in the lab.
When a cell protector collaborates with a killer
New research reveals what it takes for a protein that is best known for protecting cells against death to take on the opposite role.
License plates of MIT
Custom plates display expressions of scholarship, creativity, and MIT pride among Institute affiliates.
CHARMed collaboration creates a potent therapy candidate for fatal prion diseases
A new gene-silencing tool shows promise as a future therapy against prion diseases and paves the way for new approaches to treating disease.
Scientists develop a rapid gene-editing screen to find effects of cancer mutations
With the new technique, MIT researchers hope to identify mutations that could be targeted with new cancer therapies.
Search algorithm reveals nearly 200 new kinds of CRISPR systems
By analyzing bacterial data, researchers have discovered thousands of rare new CRISPR systems that have a range of functions and could enable gene editing, diagnostics, and more.
Thousands of programmable DNA-cutters found in algae, snails, and other organisms
New research finds RNA-guided enzymes called Fanzors are widespread among eukaryotic organisms.
Focus on function helps identify the changes that made us human
A new approach for identifying significant differences in gene use between closely-related species provides insights into human evolution.
Researchers uncover a new CRISPR-like system in animals that can edit the human genome
The first RNA-guided DNA-cutting enzyme found in eukaryotes, Fanzor could one day be harnessed to edit DNA more precisely than CRISPR/Cas systems.
Gene-editing technique could speed up study of cancer mutations
With the new method, scientists can explore many cancer mutations whose roles are unknown, helping them develop new drugs that target those mutations.