Power from motion and vibrations
Forget about batteries. The ability to harness electricity from tiny vibrations could power a new generation of electronic devices.
Self-powered sensors
Harvesting electricity from small temperature differences could enable a new generation of electronic devices that don’t need batteries
Medical entrepreneurship, from the bottom up
MIT students aim to bring affordable health care to India’s masses.
Engineering a new way to study hepatitis C
Tissue engineers have successfully infected liver cells in the laboratory, allowing a better way to test new drugs.
New ‘nanoburrs’ could help fight heart disease
Targeted nanoparticles can home in on damaged vascular tissue and may be used to deliver drugs that help clear arteries
Human immune cells — in mice
MIT team engineers mice with human immune cells, which could be used to test vaccines for HIV and other diseases.
Silencing the brain with light
MIT neuroengineers find a new way to quickly and reversibly shut off neurons with multiple colors of light, which could lead to new treatments for epilepsy and chronic pain.
New and improved RNA interference
Researchers use RNA interference to silence multiple genes at once. The advance, which one expert calls a ‘substantial breakthrough,’ could lead to new treatments for liver diseases.
HHMI lists Tsai team’s advance among 10 biggest stories of 2009
Howard Hughes Medical Institute honors discovery of gene protein that could lead to safer drug treatments for Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
New evidence links sirtuins and life extension
Study from Leonard Guarente shows how sirtuins act in the brain during calorie restriction to potentially lengthen lifespan.
Reporter’s Notebook: Breaking the silence
Actress Padma Lakshmi comes to MIT to raise awareness of endometriosis and help launch the new Center for Gynepathology.
Engineering a cure
Biological engineering professor Linda Griffith launches a new center to study endometriosis and other gynecological diseases.
New computer model could lead to safer stents
Study by HST scientists shows that location of arterial stents is critical to efficient and safe drug delivery.
Explained: RNA interference
Exploiting the recently discovered mechanism could allow biologists to develop disease treatments by shutting down specific genes.