New MIT research suggests that brain scans may be helpful in predicting a person’s future behavior, reports Andrea Timpano for Boston Magazine. “Researchers found a strong correlation between brain measures, known as neuromarkers, and behavioral outcomes such as a patient’s reading ability or reaction to medication,” Timpano explains.
Karen Hopkin of Scientific American writes about a new method developed by MIT researchers for increasing the size of tissue samples to allow for better observation. Thus far, the researchers have used the new technique to “peer into the brains of mice, fruit flies and zebrafish,” Hopkin explains.
Using a polymer found in diapers that swells on contact with water, Prof. Ed Boyden and his colleagues have developed a method for enlarging tissue samples to allow for better 3-D imaging, writes Jessica Hamzelou for New Scientist. The team can enlarge samples to more than four times their original size, Hamzelou reports.
John Markoff writes for The New York Times about a new technique for observing minuscule features in biological samples developed by Prof. Ed Boyden and his colleagues. The researchers “were able to increase the physical size of cultured cells and tissue by as much as five times while still preserving their structure,” Markoff explains.
Rebecca Jacobson of the PBS NewsHour reports that MIT researchers have developed a new technique to enlarge tissue samples, allowing scientists to create high-resolution images of specimens. Prof. Ed Boyden explains that “now you can see tiny structures with your own eyes.”
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe writes that MIT researchers have developed a new way to enlarge microscopic lab samples to allow for more-detailed imaging of brain cells. The new technique “may offer an inexpensive way for people to examine fine cellular structures at a detailed level using off-the-shelf ingredients.”
A team of MIT researchers has devised a new method for obtaining super-high resolution images from lab microscopes, writes Malcolm Ritter for the AP. The researchers found that by permeating a tissue sample with a specialized version of sodium polyacrylate they were able to enlarge the sample, making them easier to image.
Jen Christensen reports for CNN on new research by Professor John Gabrieli that finds that brain scans can help to determine the best treatment for a given patient. "With this kind of science, we don't have to wait for a failure," explains Gabrieli. "We know what will be the best fit."
“A team of MIT researchers found that an existing computer vision system can achieve object recognition as well as humans and other primates,” writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. Professor James DiCarlo’s team compared the visual recognition abilities of primates to those of the advanced computer system Super Vision.
Dr. Tara Swart speaks with Charlotte Clarke of The Financial Times about her work and what inspired her to switch from working in medicine to business. “My mission is to disseminate simple, pragmatic neuroscience-based messages that change the way people work and that translate to tangible financial improvements in business,” says Swart of her work.
Writing for The New York Times, Richard Friedman highlights how MIT researchers examined brain activity in adults with A.D.H.D. They found that “adults who had had A.D.H.D as children but no longer had it as adults had a restoration of the normal synchrony pattern, so their brains looked just like those of people who had never had it.”
Amy Robinson writes for Scientific American on work being done by MIT researchers in the field of microfluidics and its potential applications in neuroscience. Microfluidics technology is being used "to study stages of development and decipher how variance in chemical and physical processes causes neurons to grow or recede,” Robinson writes.
Melissa Malamut of Boston Magazine writes that a team of MIT researchers has developed a new scaling law to estimate the risk of blast-induced traumatic brain injury. The new method could be useful in helping the military develop more protective helmets and in diagnosing traumatic brain injury, Malamut reports.
Thomas Burton of The Wall Street Journal writes that MIT researchers were among those awarded the first research grants under President Obama’s new BRAIN Initiative. Burton writes that one of the MIT grants will go toward “determining which exact brain circuits are involved in generating short-term memories that influence decisions.”
Boston Globe reporter Deborah Kotz writes that MIT researchers have been awarded new grants from the National Institutes of Health to further brain research. “Biophysicist Alan Jasanoff received a grant to develop imaging agents for functional MRI imaging that would target the flow of calcium into and out of brain cells,” writes Kotz of one of the MIT grants.