Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)

MIT shares $75 million grant to fight heart disease

One Brave Idea Research Award will support the search for new biomarkers and treatments.

October 5, 2016

Nanosensors could help determine tumors’ ability to remodel tissue

Measuring enzyme levels could help doctors select appropriate treatments.

September 29, 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

A new gene therapy technique being developed by researchers at MIT uses microRNAs — small noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression — to control breast cancer metastasis.

Gene therapy technique may help prevent cancer metastasis

Gene-regulating RNA molecules could help treat early-stage breast cancer tumors before they spread.

September 19, 2016

MIT researchers have added an extra layer of control to the CRISPR gene-editing approach, by making the system responsive to light.

Using light to control genome editing

New technique offers precise manipulation of when and where genes are targeted.

August 25, 2016

MIT biological engineers have devised a memory storage system illustrated here as a DNA-embedded meter that is recording the activity of a signaling pathway in a human cell.

Recording analog memories in human cells

Engineers program human cells to store complex histories in their DNA.

August 18, 2016

Researchers at MIT are developing an adhesive patch that can stick to a tumor site, either before or after surgery. The patch delivers a triple-combination of drug, gene, and photo (light-based) therapy via specially designed nanospheres and nanorods, shown here attacking a tumor cell.

Patch that delivers drug, gene, and light-based therapy to tumor sites shows promising results

In mice, device destroyed colorectal tumors and prevented remission after surgery.

July 25, 2016

A new technique called magnified analysis of proteome (MAP), developed at MIT, allows researchers to peer at molecules within cells or take a wider view of the long-range connections between neurons.

Imaging the brain at multiple size scales

New technique can reveal subcellular details and long-range connections.

July 25, 2016

Researchers are developing a new boot with built-in sensors and tiny “haptic” motors, whose vibrations can guide the wearer around or over obstacles. Vibrations will jump from low to high intensity when the wearer is at risk of colliding with an obstacle.

Avoiding stumbles, from spacewalks to sidewalks

Vibrating footwear could help astronauts and visually impaired earthlings skirt obstacles.

July 22, 2016

Researchers at MIT and the University of California at San Diego have delivered artificial genetic circuits into bacteria, allowing the microbes to kill cancer cells in three different ways. Here, an image of a motherboard has been micropatterned using programmable probiotic bacteria. The bright lines are composed of dots made of bacteria. This technique was developed in the lab of MIT professor S...

Cancer-fighting bacteria

Engineers program E. coli to destroy tumor cells.

July 20, 2016

Image courtesy of the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology.

Supporting clinical research with an intensive-care database

Crowdsourcing clinical data from some 40,000 patients could vastly improve research and critical-care decisions.

July 8, 2016

MIT researchers discovered that certain genes in endometrial cancer are inactivated in only some parts of the tumor. Tumor suppressor ARID1A is expressed in the primary tumor (left, brown staining) but not in its paired metastasis (right).

Study sheds light on role of mutations in metastasized cancer

Researchers identify genes that mutate in endometrial cancer, create a family tree describing the evolutionary history of the disease.

July 5, 2016

“This nanoformulation approach allows us to make vaccines against new diseases in only seven days, allowing the potential to deal with sudden outbreaks or make rapid modifications and improvements,” says Daniel Anderson, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Institute for Medical Engineeri...

Engineers design programmable RNA vaccines

Tests in mice show the vaccines work against Ebola, influenza, and a common parasite.

July 4, 2016

Kwanghun Chung receives McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award

June 24, 2016

A new report, “Convergence: The Future of Health,” draws on insights from scientists and researchers across academia, industry, and government. The cover of the report is an image of lungs, one of the major sites of metastasis. To help protect the lungs (blue) from this deadly process, bioengineers have created microscopic drug depots (red) to focus the effect of anti-cancer drugs that may hav...

A strategy for “convergence” research to transform biomedicine

Report calls for more integration of physical, life sciences for needed advances in biomedical research.

June 23, 2016

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