The MIT biology community recently welcomed eight postdocs — Catalyst Fellows — to campus as part of the inaugural Catalyst Symposium. Catalysts speed up reactions, and the symposium aims to accelerate progress in inclusive diversity — not just at MIT, but at top research institutions across the country, according to Professor Amy Keating, head of the Department […]
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Bringing the social and ethical responsibilities of computing to the forefront
There has been a remarkable surge in the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence to address a wide range of problems and challenges. While their adoption, particularly with the rise of AI, is reshaping nearly every industry sector, discipline, and area of research, such innovations often expose unexpected consequences that involve new norms, new expectations, […]
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Exploring the links between diet and cancer
Every three to five days, all of the cells lining the human intestine are replaced. That constant replenishment of cells helps the intestinal lining withstand the damage caused by food passing through the digestive tract. This rapid turnover of cells relies on intestinal stem cells, which give rise to all of the other types of […]
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MIT community members who work to eradicate sexual violence recognized at 2023 Change-Maker Awards
On April 24, MIT celebrated outstanding students and employees at the annual Change-Maker Awards for their diligent work to eradicate sexual misconduct and support survivors. These architects of positive change exemplify one of MIT’s core values: striving to make our community a more humane and welcoming place where all can thrive. Hosted by MIT Violence […]
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Tiny diamond rotor could improve protein studies
Many of the biological materials that researchers are most interested in studying, including those associated with major diseases, don’t lend themselves to the conventional methods that researchers typically use to probe a material’s structure and chemistry. One technique, called magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance, or MAS-NMR, has proven highly successful as a way of determining […]
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3 Questions: Sara Prescott on the brain-body connection
Many of our body’s most important functions occur without our conscious knowledge, such as digestion, heartbeat, and breathing. These vital functions depend on the signals generated by the “interoceptive nervous system,” which enables the brain to monitor our internal organs and trigger responses that sometimes save our lives. One second you are breathing normally as […]
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Five MIT faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2023
The National Academy of Sciences has elected 120 members and 23 international members, including five faculty members from MIT. Joshua Angrist, Gang Chen, Catherine Drennan, Dina Katabi, and Gregory Stephanopoulos were elected in recognition of their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.” Membership to the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest […]
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Gene-editing technique could speed up study of cancer mutations
Genomic studies of cancer patients have revealed thousands of mutations linked to tumor development. However, for the vast majority of those mutations, researchers are unsure of how they contribute to cancer because there’s no easy way to study them in animal models. In an advance that could help scientists make a dent in that long […]
Read MoreInaugural J-WAFS Grand Challenge aims to develop enhanced crop variants and move them from lab to land
According to MIT’s charter, established in 1861, part of the Institute’s mission is to advance the “development and practical application of science in connection with arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce.” Today, the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) is one of the driving forces behind water and food-related research on campus, much […]
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Seychelle Vos and Hernandez Moura Silva named HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholars
Two faculty members from the MIT Department of Biology have been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) for the inaugural cohort of HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholars. Seychelle Vos, the Robert A. Swanson Career Development Professor of Life Sciences, and Hernandez Moura Silva, an assistant professor of biology and core member of the Ragon […]
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An unprecedented view of gene regulation
Much of the human genome is made of regulatory regions that control which genes are expressed at a given time within a cell. Those regulatory elements can be located near a target gene or up to 2 million base pairs away from the target. To enable those interactions, the genome loops itself in a 3D […]
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Third annual MIT Research Slam showcase highlights PhD and postdoc communication skills
An 80,000 word PhD thesis would take many hours to present. MIT Research Slam competitors get three minutes. The finalists of the 2023 MIT Research Slam competition met head-to-head on April 19 at a live, in-person showcase event. Four PhD candidates and five postdoc finalists competed for the judges’ and audience’s vote. The contestants put […]
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The measuring tape heard round the world
On a recent evening at MIT, over a hundred people gathered at Boynton Hall for a conversation with Amgen Professor of Biology Emerita Nancy Hopkins and journalist Kate Zernike. The topic of discussion was Zernike’s book, “The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science,” which made its official debut at the end […]
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How to untangle a worm ball: Mathematicians solve a knotty mystery
As anyone who has ever unwound a string of holiday lights or detangled a lock of snarled hair knows, undoing a knot of fibers takes a lot longer than tangling it up in the first place. This is not so for a wily species of West Coast worm. Found in marshes, ponds, and other shallow […]
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Five from MIT awarded 2023 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
MIT graduate students Kat Kajderowicz and Shomik Verma, alumni Desmond Edwards ’22 and Steven Truong ’20, and Vaibhav Mohanty, an MD-PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, are among the 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The P.D. Soros Fellowships for New Americans program […]
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Eight from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2023
Eight MIT faculty members are among more than 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced April 19. One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to […]
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Recycling plastics from research labs
In 2019, MIT’s Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Office collaborated with several research labs in the Department of Biology to determine the feasibility of recycling clean lab plastics. Based on early successes with waste isolation and plastics collection, EHS collaborated with GreenLabs Recycling, a local startup, to remove and recycle lab plastics from campus. It […]
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Damar Hamlin Cleared to Resume Football Activities
Photo: Bryan Bennett (Getty Images) A miracle is defined as an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs, according to Merriam-Webster. That’s exactly how I would describe Damar Hamlin’s journey in the past four months. Herschel Walker Supporters Are Unfazed By His BS Off English Nearly all of the country saw the Buffalo Bills’ […]
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Scientists uncover the amazing way sandgrouse hold water in their feathers
Many birds’ feathers are remarkably efficient at shedding water — so much so that “like water off a duck’s back” is a common expression. Much more unusual are the belly feathers of the sandgrouse, especially Namaqua sandgrouse, which absorb and retain water so efficiently the male birds can fly more than 20 kilometers from a […]
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How cell mechanics influences everything
High in the treetops of a Chinese rainforest, Ming Guo began to explore the influence of a single cell. A student in China’s Tsinghua University, Guo was studying the mechanical properties of plant cells. As part of his master’s thesis he took on an intriguing question: Does a cell’s physical integrity — its size, shape, […]
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A novel combination therapy for treating vancomycin-resistant bacterial infections
Researchers have developed a novel combination therapy using the anticancer agent mitoxantrone (MTX), together with an antibiotic, vancomycin, for treating bacteria that are resistant to the vancomycin, which are also known as vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis or VRE. The therapy uniquely targets both VRE and the host, stimulating the host immune system to more effectively clear […]
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Coding for health equity
Choosing a major was a long process for Mercy Oladipo. Coming into MIT, she was interested in both computer science and medicine, but a plan for how those passions would intersect took some time to coalesce. Oladipo finally settled on a joint major in computer science and molecular biology, which allowed her to dive into […]
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QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2023
QS World University Rankings has placed MIT in the No. 1 spot in 11 subject areas for 2023, the organization announced today. The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; […]
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2023 MacVicar Faculty Fellows named
The Office of the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar’s Office have announced this year’s Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows: professor of brain and cognitive sciences John Gabrieli, associate professor of literature Marah Gubar, professor of biology Adam C. Martin, and associate professor of architecture Lawrence “Larry” Sass. For more than 30 years, the MacVicar Faculty Fellows […]
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Five Sleep Habits That Could Be the Key to a Longer Life
Photo: Yellow Dog Productions (Getty Images) Growing up, my parents always stressed the importance of a good night’s sleep. When I was under their roof, my bedtime was consistent and non negotiable – that is, except for those rare occasions when I got out of line. Then, my ass got sent to bed even earlier. […]
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MIT-Takeda Program heads into fourth year with crop of 10 new projects
In 2020, the School of Engineering and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company launched the MIT-Takeda Program, which aims to leverage the experience of both entities to solve problems at the intersection of health care, medicine, and artificial intelligence. Since the program began, teams have devised mechanisms to reduce manufacturing time for certain pharmaceutical products, submitted a patent […]
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School of Science presents 2023 Infinite Expansion Awards
The MIT School of Science has announced seven postdocs and research scientists as recipients of the 2023 Infinite Expansion Award. Nominated by their peers and mentors, the awardees are recognized not only for their exceptional science, but for mentoring and advising junior colleagues, supporting educational programs, working with the MIT Postdoctoral Association, or contributing some […]
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Custom, 3D-printed heart replicas look and pump just like the real thing
No two hearts beat alike. The size and shape of the the heart can vary from one person to the next. These differences can be particularly pronounced for people living with heart disease, as their hearts and major vessels work harder to overcome any compromised function. MIT engineers are hoping to help doctors tailor treatments […]
Read MoreSparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient
The brain’s cerebral cortex produces perception based on the sensory information it’s fed through a region called the thalamus. “How the thalamus communicates with the cortex in a fundamental feature of how the brain interprets the world,” says Elly Nedivi, the William R. and Linda R. Young Professor in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory […]
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Why lung cancer doesn’t respond well to immunotherapy
Immunotherapy — drug treatment that stimulates the immune system to attack tumors — works well against some types of cancer, but it has shown mixed success against lung cancer. A new study from MIT helps to shed light on why the immune system mounts such a lackluster response to lung cancer, even after treatment with […]
Read MorePaying it forward
Since arriving at MIT in fall 2019, senior Sherry Nyeo has conducted groundbreaking work in multiple labs on campus, acted as a mentor to countless other students, and made a lasting mark on the Institute community. But despite her well-earned bragging rights, Nyeo isn’t one to boast. Instead, she takes every opportunity to express just […]
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