Health sciences and technology

New gel offers controlled drug delivery

Self-assembling hydrogel could help treat cancer and diabetes, among other diseases

March 9, 2009

Whitehead Institute researchers reprogrammed human skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. After removing the reprogramming genes, the scientists used these so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to create dopamine-producing neurons, the cell type that degenerates in Parkinson's disease patients.Â To confirm that the iPS cells had become dopam...

Potential cancer-causing genes removed from engineered stem cells

Whitehead work involved reprogrammed skin cells from Parkinson's patient

March 5, 2009

Sophomore Asad Moten holds up a fibrous scaffold he developed that can help regenerate cartilage and other tissues.

Student's invention holds promise for engineering tissues and organs

March 4, 2009

Gold star

Geoffrey von Maltzahn awarded $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for innovations in fight against cancer

March 3, 2009

Engineered viruses can help fight antibiotic resistance

Viruses attack bacterial defenses

March 2, 2009

MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation Joins the Engineering Systems Division

February 27, 2009

Researchers in RLE, led by Charlotte Reed, are using the sense of touch to develop communication aids for the profoundly deaf. The devices convert sound waves to vibrations, which the deaf person holding the device can feel, and help lip-readers identify sounds that can be difficult to distinguish visually.

Good vibrations

Devices aid the deaf by translating sound waves to vibrations

February 26, 2009

Professor of Biological Engineering David Schauer and post-doc Megan McBee do work on infectious diarrhea in the developing world.

Chronic infection may add to developing-world deaths

MIT study points to hidden threat stalking many diarrhea patients

February 13, 2009

PDAs aren't just for checking e-mail

Researchers use handheld devices to monitor TB patients in Peru

February 11, 2009

Multiple genes implicated in autism

Discovery could lead to drugs targeting gene interactions

February 9, 2009

A possible treatment for Rett syndrome

MIT study suggests molecule can reverse some symptoms

February 9, 2009

Mass. General, MIT and Harvard launch innovative effort to search for AIDS vaccine

Phillip and Susan Ragon Institute will combine medical, scientific and engineering experts to unlock mysteries of the immune system

February 4, 2009

Phillip (Terry) and Susan Ragon hold a copy of The Boston Globe issue that announced the creation of the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute. All the principals -- the Ragons as well as the leaders of MGH, MIT and Harvard -- signed the newspaper.

Alum's $100 million gift targets AIDS vaccine

Ragon Institute to tackle quintessential MIT problem

February 4, 2009

The Graybiel Lab caused Parkinson's disease in rats by depleting dopamine in the right side of the striatum, the brain region that drives the abnormal movements in the disease, leaving the left side as the control. Treating the rats with L-DOPA induced dyskinesia...

What causes motor complications of Parkinson's treatment?

MIT study identifies genes linked to key side effect; work signals new approaches

January 29, 2009

Ed Boyden, seated, Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, middle, and Joost Bonsen, met in Boyden's lab to discuss the class they teach together on neurotechnology as a discipline.

Burgeoning field of neurotech spawns brainy businesses

MIT positioning students for rapidly growing discipline