Volta Labs: Improving workflows for genetic applications
Udayan Umapathi SM ’17 and Will Langford SM ’14, PhD ’19 are co-founders of a Media Lab spinoff building a full-stack platform to enable automation for genomics and genetic engineering.
High-speed camera captures a water jet’s splashy impact as it pierces a droplet
The results may help engineers develop a way to inject drugs without needles.
SMART researchers develop 15-minute immune-profiling assay
Deterministic lateral displacement assay can rapidly assess host inflammatory response, identifying a potentially life-threatening hyper-aggressive immune response.
Controlling drug activity with light
Miniaturized device activates drugs in a small region deep within the brain.
3D printing a miniature magnetic pump
Design is the first demonstration of a magnetic, multi-material pump 3D printed all in one piece.
Researchers explore ocean microbes’ role in climate effects
When they encounter nutrient oases in the marine desert, marine bacteria release a gas involved in climate regulation.
Using “organs-on-a-chip” to model complicated diseases
A new approach reveals how different tissues contribute to inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis.
A new facet for germanium
MIT researchers grow perfectly shaped germanium tunnels on silicon oxide with controllable length.
![“The major research directions and technology platforms that [my] lab is known for today came out of this process where the students or I had a crazy idea, and then the lab executed on it, with all the twists and turns along the way,” says Paul Blainey, associate professor of biological engineering.](/sites/default/files/styles/term_page__news_article/public/images/201910/MIT-Blainey.jpg?itok=sTavLw_j)
Biological engineer Paul Blainey creates new tools to advance biomedical research
His technology platforms have benefited genomics, diagnostics, and drug screening.
Scientists look to synthetic biology and 3-D printing for life support in space
Do-it-yourself bio and maker communities can help NASA meet needs of long-distance missions.
Microfluidics device helps diagnose sepsis in minutes
When time matters in hospitals, automated system can detect an early biomarker for the potentially life-threatening condition.
From microfluidics to metastasis
New platform enables longitudinal studies of circulating tumor cells in mouse models of cancer.
Technique identifies electricity-producing bacteria
Microbes screened with a new microfluidic process might be used in power generation or environmental cleanup.
To guide cancer therapy, device quickly tests drugs on tumor tissue
Inexpensive 3-D-printed microfluidics device could be used to personalize cancer treatment.
Using electricity and water, a new kind of motor can slide microrobots into motion
Microhydraulic actuators, thinner than one-third the width of human hair, are proving to be the most powerful and efficient motors at the microscale.