Scientific American reporter Lindsay Brownell writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique to enlarge pathology samples. “Not only are expanded samples easier to see because they are larger and more transparent, fluorescent tags and other labels can also be added to track individual molecules of interest.”
A study by MIT researchers finds that children from lower-income families benefited more from summer reading programs, reports Andrew Grant for The Boston Globe. Of the children who participated in the study about half, “improved their test scores and most of those that did came from lower-income families.”
NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that could eventually offer relief to patients with diseases like Parkinson’s and epilepsy without requiring surgery. Fox explains that the method allows for sending, “electrical signals deep into the brain without affecting the layers in between.”
MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive method to stimulate specific neurons deep in the brain that could be used to help treat patients with diseases such as Parkinson’s, reports Meredith Wadman for Science. This new method could also allow scientists to “selectively prod deep-brain neurons into action,” explains Wadman.
Writing for Wired, Abigail Beal highlights how MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive technique to trigger reactions in deep brain cells using low frequency electrical signals. “If we could noninvasively stimulate deep regions, without hitting overlying regions, we might be able to help more people because we could stimulate deep regions selectively, without needing surgery,” explains Prof. Ed Boyden.
New York Times reporter Pam Belluck writes that MIT researchers have developed a new, non-invasive deep brain stimulation technique. The technique could be used to help treat, “a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders more cheaply and safely than current approaches,” writes Belluck.
MIT researchers have developed a non-invasive technique for deep brain stimulation, which could be used to help patients with brain diseases, reports Mo Costandi for The Guardian. “Targets for disorders such as depression, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, and so forth, are deep in the brain, and they might be more selectively stimulatable with our method,” says Prof. Ed Boyden.
TIME reporter Alice Park writes that MIT researchers have modified the CRISPR gene-editing system so that it could be used to diagnose disease. Park explains that the researchers, “used CRISPR to recognize specific substances that bacteria and viruses make. Picking up even the slightest whisper of these products can alert doctors that an infection is active.”
MIT researchers have developed a new technique that uses the CRISPR gene-editing system to diagnose diseases, reports Joel Achenbach for The Washington Post. Achenbach explains that the tool could potentially be used to “detect not only viral and bacterial diseases but also potentially for finding cancer-causing mutations.”
Meg Tirrell of CNBC spotlights research by Prof. Li-Huei Tsai that shows that flashing lights could be used as a non-invasive treatment method for Alzheimer’s disease. Tsai and her colleagues found that flashing light could potentially be used to restore gamma rhythms in the brain, which are often impaired in people with Alzheimer’s.
Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes that the McGovern Institute has established a new center focused on autism research, thanks to a gift from Lisa Yang and Hock Tan ’75 SM ’75. Graham explains that the center will “focus on trying to make significant jumps through new technologies such as gene editing with CRISPR/Cas9.”
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.”
MIT is launching a center for autism research at the McGovern Institute with $20 million in funding from MIT alumnus Hock Tan and Lisa Yang, writes Barb Darrow for Fortune. Darrow writes that Yang told Fortune she was "greatly impressed by both the collegiality and focus of the institute's researchers.”
MIT researchers have found similarities in how the brains of babies and adults respond to visual information, reports Courtney Humphries for The Atlantic. “Every region that we knew about in adults [with] a preference for faces or scenes has that same preference in babies 4 to 6 months old,” explains Prof. Rebecca Saxe.
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.”