Xconomy reporter Ben Fidler writes about the life and legacy of Henri Termeer, a life member of the MIT Corporation who died at age 71. Institute Prof. Phillip Sharp explains that Termeer was, “a transformational leader in biotechnology of orphan diseases. Many children now have hope of a healthy life because of his vision and 40 years of creative business leadership.”
Henri Termeer, a life member of the MIT Corporation who was known as one of the founding fathers of the biotech industry, died at age 71, write Robert Weisman and Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Termeer was, “a key leader in the biotech revolution that placed Massachusetts at the nexus of cutting-edge research and development.”
Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can measure walking speed using wireless signals. The device can “also measure stride length, which may come in handy when studying conditions that are characterized by small steps, such as Parkinson’s disease.”
Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet speaks with Samantha Boh of The Straits Times. Van Vliet explains that "My work gives me added motivation because at the end of the day you are not just engineering a new toy or learning something for yourself, but engineering a whole process where the outcome has the potential to restore health."
MIT researchers have developed a drug that could reverse hearing loss by regenerating hair cells in the ear, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. Hearing loss affects about 45 million Americans and “repairing or regrowing those hair cells would be a major breakthrough,” explains Tamblyn.
By regenerating hair cells in the inner ear that detect and transmit noise to the brain, researchers from MIT and other institutions believe they can help people with hearing loss, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. This method of regenerating cells “holds promise for a vast array of medical issues,” explains Ducharme.
President L. Rafael Reif spoke with Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn about MIT’s commitment to fundamental scientific research. Reif explained that at MIT researchers are working to “identify big problems and have people working on those. To me, the health of the planet and human health are the two critical ones that drive everything.”
Boston Herald reporter Lindsay Kalter writes that Prof. Ed Boyden is working on a new effort to develop technologies that would allow doctors to explore tumors using virtual reality. Boyden explains that he and his colleagues hope to use virtual reality to explore “what a tumor’s weaknesses are, and what makes it thrive.”
Cynthia Graber writes for The Boston Globe Magazine that MIT researchers developed a robot to collect sewage samples, in an effort to gain a better understanding of public health problems. The samples can pinpoint harmful environmental factors as well as “neighborhoods with high rates of infectious diseases or even obesity, levels of illegal drug use, and pollutants.”
Speaking with Ellie Bothwell of Times Higher Education, President L. Rafael Reif emphasizes MIT’s “commitment to tackling big, important problems for humanity – climate change, clean energy, cybersecurity, human health – with colleagues of every identity and background.”
MIT researchers have found that reduced plasticity in the brains of people with dyslexia may explain why they experience difficulties with reading and with processing spoken speech, writes Kevin Murnane of Forbes. Murnane explains that the findings “indicate that dyslexia is not just about reading. It involves a reduction in neural adaptation to a variety of perceptual stimuli.”
In this piece for The New Yorker, Michael Specter writes about Prof. Kevin Esvelt’s idea to use gene-editing technology to eradicate Lyme disease. “This is an ecological problem,” Esvelt explains. “And we want to enact an ecological solution so that we break the transmission cycle that keeps ticks in the environment infected with these pathogens.”
TIME reporter Alice Park writes about a study by Prof. John Gabrieli that shows that the difficulty people with dyslexia experience when reading could be caused by reduced plasticity in the brain. “We need to figure out a curriculum or approach that matches the differences they have,” explains Gabrieli.
A new study co-authored by Prof. John Gabrieli shows that the brains of people with dyslexia respond differently not only to words, but also objects and faces, reports Felice Freyer for The Boston Globe. The findings point to “the core biological difference in the brains of people with dyslexia,” explains Prof. John Gabrieli.
Prof. James Collins has been named one of The Boston Globe’s “2016 Bostonians of the Year” for his work developing a paper-based test that can detect the Zika virus in just a few hours. Neil Swidey notes that Collins also developed a “workflow for how this new platform could be adapted to meet future crises.”