AP reporter Lauran Neergaard writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that pills often contain “inactive” ingredients capable of causing allergic or gastrointestinal reactions. The researchers found that “it’s hard for those patients, or even their doctors, to tell if a pill contains an extra ingredient they should avoid,” Neergaard explains.
Prof. Aviv Regev speaks with the Associated Press about the Human Cell Atlas Consortium, which is aimed at cataloging all the cells in the human body in an effort to better understand human diseases. "This is not going to cure all disease immediately," she says, but "it is a critical stepping stone."
STAT reporter Casey Ross writes about how MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible Prof. Timothy Lu explains that he hopes that the sensor “opens up a really new window into how the gut and the rest of the body are connected, and hopefully provide new diagnostic strategies as well.”
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.”
MIT researchers have developed an inhalable form of messenger RNA that could be used to help treat patients with lung disease, reports Christopher Intagliata for Scientific American. Intagliata explains that researchers hope to one day “use this technique to help cystic fibrosis patients.”
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.”
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.”
Science reporter Tania Rabesandratana examines how MIT researchers are gathering and identifying gut bacteria from people around the world. The effort is aimed at preserving the human gut’s microbial biodiversity and developing new treatments for diseases. “I'm 100% confident that there are relevant medical applications for hundreds of strains we've screened and characterized,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.
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.”
Local biotech companies raised money to help MIT’s Bear Lab study Fragile X syndrome by competing in lawn games, writes Allison Hagan for The Boston Globe. The $30,000 raised provides “a very real chance at a success in this disease, and it’s going to have a much broader impact,” says Prof. Mark Bear.
Boston Herald reporter Alexi Cohan highlights a new lab at MIT, led by Prof. Tyler Jacks, that will investigate how the immune system can be used to treat and manage pancreatic cancer. “In the long term we hope that the work that we are doing will help us diagnose the disease at even early stage and maybe even prevent it altogether,” Jacks explains.
MIT researchers have identified how blood cells clump together in patients with sickle-cell disease, writes Shi Yinglun for the Xinhua News Agency. Yinglun explains that the findings represent "a step toward being able to predict when these events known as vaso-occlusive pain crises might occur.”
In an article for The New York Times about how scientists are developing new ways to treat disease using bacteria, Carl Zimmer highlights how MIT startup Synlogic is developing what could be the first FDA-approved synthetic biology-based medical treatment for a disease called phenylketonuria.
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.”