DNA

“We engineer new functions into cells. We try to give them new abilities,” PhD student Fahim Farzadfard says. “Basically, we’re making molecular tools. We try to understand cells inner-workings and engineer them using these tools.”

Endowing cells with new abilities

PhD student Fahim Farzadfard engineers cells to record “memories” of past events.

June 20, 2017

Metafluidics.org, a new MIT open-source website, supplies blueprints for microfluidic parts. Pictured are a few photographs from the website.

Microfluidics for the masses

New open-source website features blueprints for lab-on-a-chip devices.

June 13, 2017

Mark Bathe, associate professor in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering

Deploying therapeutic payloads to cells

Mark Bathe develops molecular packages for targeted delivery of drugs, vaccines, and gene-editing tools.

June 4, 2017

Researchers produced colored images on culture plates by using red, green, and blue lights to control the pigment produced by bacteria with “multicolor vision.” The image has been color-corrected in Photoshop to improve contrast.

Bacteria with multicolor vision

Red, green, and blue light can be used to control gene expression in engineered E. coli.

May 26, 2017

New research shows that the Zika virus circulated in many regions of the Americas for several months before cases of infection were detected.

Zika virus likely circulated in Americas long before its detection

Analysis of largest collection of Zika genomes to date reveals trajectory and evolution of the virus.

May 24, 2017

MIT professors James Collins (left) and Feng Zhang are co-authors of a new paper reporting that an RNA-targeting CRISPR enzyme can be harnessed as a highly sensitive detector able to indicate the presence of as little as a single molecule of a target RNA or DNA.

Scientists unveil CRISPR-based diagnostic platform

New system adapts tool known for gene editing; to be used in rapid, inexpensive disease diagnosis.

April 13, 2017

A deconvolved wide-field fluorescence microscope image of human HeLa cancer cells, during late anaphase/early telophase, showing a lagging chromosome. If this fails to get into a daughter cell, it may lead to aneuploidy.

Study helps explain varying outcomes for cancer, Down Syndrome

Differences in chromosome number may underlie variation among genetically identical individuals.

April 6, 2017

MIT earth scientists have found evidence that eukaryotes — the domain of life comprising animals, plants, and protists — were present on Earth as early as 2.33 billion years ago, right around the time when oxygen became a permanent fixture in the atmosphere.

Study suggests complex life was present on Earth 2.33 billion years ago

New estimate predates earliest fossil evidence by 800 million years.

March 6, 2017

When cells suffer DNA damage, there are several different pathways that can kick in to help repair it, depending on the type of damage. Cells from different people and different tumors vary greatly in their ability to repair DNA damage, and scientists have been pursuing measurements of this ability as a way to predict how patients will respond to DNA-damaging chemotherapy.

Predicting cancer cells’ response to chemotherapy

Measuring DNA repair capability can reveal tumors’ sensitivity to drugs.

November 2, 2016

Researchers at MIT and other institutions have created tiny freeze-dried pellets that include all of the molecular machinery needed to translate DNA into proteins, which could form the basis for on-demand production of drugs and vaccines.

To produce biopharmaceuticals on demand, just add water

Freeze-dried cellular components can be rehydrated to churn out useful proteins.

September 22, 2016

“I love to work on new ideas and develop new kinds of tools to tackle basic questions,” says PhD student Tim Wang.

Targeting genes by the thousands

PhD student Tim Wang uses CRISPR to take a big-picture approach to cancer research.

August 2, 2016

Researchers identify genome-modifying enzyme linked to Rett Syndrome

Deletion of the HDAC3 gene in the brains of mice causes cognitive and social impairments consistent with Rett Syndrome.

July 22, 2016

Feng Zhang named 2016 Tang Prize laureate

Broad Institute/MIT scientist among three honored for CRISPR contributions.

June 18, 2016

An MIT-led team has developed a model that explains how chromosomes transform from a loosely twisted bundle (left) into two sister chromatids that form the characteristic X shape in preparation for cell division.

Study: Molecular motors shape chromosome structure

By organizing chromosomes into many tiny loops, molecular motors play key role cell division.

June 10, 2016

Researchers have harnessed C2c2 in bacteria to manipulate cellular RNA.

New CRISPR system for targeting RNA

Scientists program C2c2, discovered in bacteria as a viral defense mechanism, to manipulate cellular RNA.

June 2, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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