Medicine

A team of researchers hopes to extend patients’ lifespan by delivering directly to the brain a drug that targets a mutation found in 20 to 25 percent of all gliomas.

A targeted approach to treating glioma

With new method, surgeons would remove tumor, then implant microparticles that attack remaining cancer cells.

August 6, 2018

Featured video: If the spacesuit fits

PhD student Richard Fineman is using wearable sensors to understand coordination and walking — and next-generation spacesuit design.

July 31, 2018

Findings from the Whitehead Institute at MIT not only help illuminate the biology of a well-known cancer chemotherapy, but also suggest a simple dietary supplement that could help broaden its therapeutic window and reduce its toxicity.

Scientists sharpen the edges of cancer chemotherapy

Whitehead team deploys CRISPR tools to better understand and uncover ways of improving methotrexate, a popular chemotherapy drug.

July 12, 2018

Techstars Impact, a new accelerator, has accepted three MIT-incubated ventures and their founders: (l-r) Nick Gomez and Cory Siskind (Base Operations); Genevieve Barnard Oni and Soga Oni (MDaaS Global); and Nisheeth Singh, Anirudh Sharma, and Nitesh Kadyan (Graviky Labs).

Three MIT-incubated ventures chosen for first Techstars Impact class

Base Operations, MDaaS Global, and Graviky Labs will head to Texas to be part of the first class at the new elite accelerator.

July 12, 2018

MIT engineers have designed nanoparticles that can be attached to T cells and release T-cell-stimulating molecules called cytokines (yellow spheres). These cytokines activate T cells (blue) to attack nearby tumor cells.

Nanoparticles give immune cells a boost

Drugs carried in cellular “backpacks” help T cells to destroy tumors.

July 9, 2018

“What we discovered is, very little [Medicare] money is spent on people who we know with high probability are going to die in a short amount of time,” says Amy Finkelstein, a professor in MIT’s Department of Economics and co-author of a paper in the journal Science.

The value of late-in-life health care spending

Study debunks notion that large chunks of Medicare go to futile end-of-life care.

June 28, 2018

Great progress has been made in reducing the cancer death toll through better prevention and screening, according to a new article by MIT Professor Emerita Nancy Hopkins and colleagues.

3Q: Nancy Hopkins on the impact and potential of cancer prevention

Mechanism-based cancer prevention is poised to further decrease the numbers of U.S. cancer deaths, says MIT professor emerita.

June 25, 2018

This image shows pancreatic cancer cells (nuclei in blue) growing as a sphere encased in membranes (red).

Biologists discover how pancreatic tumors lead to weight loss

Shortfall of digestive enzymes can lead to tissue breakdown in early stages of pancreatic cancer.

June 20, 2018

MIT researchers describe a machine-learning algorithm that can register brain scans and other 3-D images more than 1,000 times more quickly using novel learning techniques.

Faster analysis of medical images

Algorithm makes the process of comparing 3-D scans up to 1,000 times faster.

June 18, 2018

MIT engineers recruit microbes to help fight cholera

Probiotic bacteria can diagnose, prevent, and treat infections.

June 13, 2018

Therepi’s reservoir, which would attach directly to the damaged heart tissue, is placed on a dime for size reference and connected to a self-sealing subcutaneous port.

A new way to mend a broken heart

“Therepi” device attaches directly to damaged heart, enabling delivery of medicine from a port under a patient’s skin to augment cardiac function.

June 12, 2018

An unexpected ambition borne from MIT experience

Annamarie Bair, a premed student turned computer science major, is drawn to the promise of artificial intelligence and health care.

June 6, 2018

MIT researchers, working with scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have developed a new way to power and communicate with devices implanted deep within the human body.

Wireless system can power devices inside the body

New technology could enable remote control of drug delivery, sensing, and other medical applications.

June 4, 2018

Ravi Raju, a Picower Clinical Research Fellow, explains how gene expression differs as mice respond to circumstances modeling poverty.

Fighting toxic stress in children is tough but possible

Taking time to understand underlying causes of stress can help children escape debilitating health effects, symposium speakers argue.

May 31, 2018

MIT neuroscientists have performed a comprehensive study of the APOE4 gene, which increases risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and the more common form of the gene, APOE3.

Neuroscientists discover roles of gene linked to Alzheimer’s

Study reveals why people with the APOE4 gene have higher risk of the disease.