Designing a more resilient future for plants, from the cell up
Foray Bioscience, founded by Ashley Beckwith SM ’18, PhD ’22, is engineering single plant cells to create new materials and meet growing demand.
Some early life forms may have breathed oxygen well before it filled the atmosphere
A new study suggests aerobic respiration began hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought.
3 Questions: Using AI to accelerate the discovery and design of therapeutic drugs
Professor James Collins discusses how collaboration has been central to his research into combining computational predictions with new experimental platforms.
A protein found in the GI tract can neutralize many bacteria
The protein, known as intelectin-2, also helps to strengthen the mucus barrier lining the digestive tract.
3 Questions: Using computation to study the world’s best single-celled chemists
Assistant Professor Yunha Hwang utilizes microbial genomes to examine the language of biology. Her appointment reflects MIT’s commitment to exploring the intersection of genetics research and AI.
Darcy McRose and Mehtaab Sawhney ’20, PhD ’24 named 2025 Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering
McRose, an environmental microbiologist, is recognized for researching the ecological roles of antibiotics in shaping ecosystems, agriculture, and health.
Using generative AI, researchers design compounds that can kill drug-resistant bacteria
The team used two different AI approaches to design novel antibiotics, including one that showed promise against MRSA.
When Earth iced over, early life may have sheltered in meltwater ponds
Modern-day analogs in Antarctica reveal ponds teeming with life similar to early multicellular organisms.
Tiny organisms, huge implications for people
A new book by Thomas Levenson examines how germ theory arose, launched modern medicine, and helped us limit fatal infectious diseases.
New molecular label could lead to simpler, faster tuberculosis tests
MIT chemists found a way to identify a complex sugar molecule in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest pathogen.
Engineered bacteria emit signals that can be spotted from a distance
These bacteria, which could be designed to detect pollution or nutrients, could act as sensors to help farmers monitor their crops.
High-speed videos show what happens when a droplet splashes into a pool
Findings may help predict how rain and irrigation systems launch particles and pathogens from watery surfaces, with implications for industry, agriculture, and public health.
Pivot Bio is using microbial nitrogen to make agriculture more sustainable
The nitrogen product developed by the company, which was co-founded by Professor Chris Voigt, is being used across millions of acres of American farmland.
Seeking climate connections among the oceans’ smallest organisms
MIT oceanographer and biogeochemist Andrew Babbin has voyaged around the globe to investigate marine microbes and their influence on ocean health.
A new way to determine whether a species will successfully invade an ecosystem
MIT physicists develop a predictive formula, based on bacterial communities, that may also apply to other types of ecosystems, including the human GI tract.