Disease

Professor Rob MacFarlane is a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT.

3Q: Robert Macfarlane on cleaning your smartphone screen

Materials scientist explores why some household cleaners could harm the protective coating on a smartphone screen.

April 13, 2020

The new Solve Health Security and Pandemics Challenge is designed to produce both short-term solutions to the impact of the current pandemic as well as longer-term strategies for future crises.

MIT Solve rises to meet health security and pandemic challenge

MIT Solve 2020 Challenge seeks tech-based solutions to health security challenges, including Covid-19 and future pandemics.

April 13, 2020

Mail Services Supervisor Darren O’Conner (left) and mail processor Sue Monteiro prepare a shipment of PPE to Mt. Auburn Hospital.

MIT offers assistance to City of Cambridge during Covid-19 crisis

The Institute is supporting Cambridge’s nonprofits, small businesses, and residents.

April 9, 2020

Speakers at MIT's virtual town hall included, from top to bottom, left to right, Rick Danheiser, Martin Schmidt, Maria T. Zuber, Cynthia Barnhart, Ramona Allen, Suzy Nelson, Sanjay Sarma, Ian Waitz, Alfred Ironside, Cecilia Stuopis, Elazer Edelman, Martin L. Culpepper, and L. Rafael Reif.

In virtual town hall, MIT leadership updates community on Covid-19 responses

Critical research continues, students and staff are receiving support, and contingency planning proceeds for eventual phased reopening.

April 9, 2020

A new system relies on short-range Bluetooth signals emitted from people’s smartphones to trace who they've been in contact with. These signals represent random strings of numbers, likened to “chirps” that other nearby smartphones can remember hearing, offering a way to find people who may have been in contact with people who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Bluetooth signals from your smartphone could automate Covid-19 contact tracing while preserving privacy

A system that enables smartphones to transmit “chirps” to nearby devices could notify people if they have been near an infected person.

April 8, 2020

MIT’s innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) community has stepped up to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic — and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the new Covid-19 Rapid Innovation Dashboard, pictured, which features more than 50 projects, research initiatives, startups, and global activities undertaken by the MIT community to respond to the crisis.

MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem steps up to the challenge of Covid-19

Entrepreneurial groups around the Institute have launched initiatives to address challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

April 2, 2020

A new study co-authored by Emil Verner, an assistant professor at The MIT Sloan School of Management, shows that in the 1918 flu pandemic, cities that had more aggressive interventions including social distancing also experienced stronger economic recoveries afterward.

The data speak: Stronger pandemic response yields better economic recovery

Study of 1918 flu pandemic shows U.S. cities that responded more aggressively in health terms also had better economic rebounds.

March 31, 2020

The ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) enzyme is responsible for converting RNA building blocks into DNA building blocks, and is a critical player in both DNA synthesis and repair in all organisms.

Newly discovered enzyme “square dance” helps generate DNA building blocks

MIT biochemists can trap and visualize an enzyme as it becomes active — an important development that may aid in future drug development.

March 30, 2020

As MIT classes resume today, online, faculty and the hundreds of staff who helped implement remote learning at MIT can pause briefly and catch their collective breath. “None of us have ever done this before, so we will navigate together,” says Dean for Digital Learning Krishna Rajagopal.

Rolling out remote learning

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, MIT enters a new mode for teaching and learning.

March 29, 2020

Outpouring of support from MIT’s worldwide community bolsters Institute’s Covid-19 response

Alumni and supporters look to MIT in time of crisis.

March 27, 2020

MIT chemists have designed a peptide that can bind to part of the coronavirus spike protein, which they hope may prevent the virus from being able to enter cells.

An experimental peptide could block Covid-19

MIT chemists are testing a protein fragment that may inhibit coronaviruses’ ability to enter human lung cells.

March 27, 2020

Close up of one version of the prototype shows how an emergency resuscitation (Ambu) bag, in purple, fits into the device.

MIT-based team works on rapid deployment of open-source, low-cost ventilator

Clinical and design considerations will be published online; goal is to support rapid scale-up of device production to alleviate hospital shortages.

March 26, 2020

From developing vaccines to helping governments keep communities informed, a number of companies with MIT ties are working to address problems brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

MIT-affiliated companies take on Covid-19

A variety of companies with MIT ties are working to address aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

March 26, 2020

“Most manufacturing companies will keep about two weeks of inventory,” says David Simchi-Levi, who is a professor of engineering systems in the School of Engineering and in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society within the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. "That means they were able to cover demand for the first two weeks of March. After that, [given] no more supplies, ther...

Supply chain outlook: The timing of the slowdown

MIT Professor David Simchi-Levi forecast the mid-March manufacturing pause. Now he looks ahead.

March 25, 2020

“People are worried about the food supply chain,” says MIT supply chain expert Yossi Sheffi, who is the Elisha Gray II Professor of Engineering Systems at MIT, a professor in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. “However, the U.S. food supply chain is very robust.”

Supply chain outlook: Why the situation varies by industry

MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi describes the supply chain landscape in the U.S., from food security to concerns about medical supplies.