New treatments based on biological molecules like RNA give scientists unprecedented control over how cells function. But delivering those drugs to the right tissues remains one of the biggest obstacles to turning these promising yet fragile molecules into powerful new treatments. Now Gensaic, founded by Lavi Erisson MBA ’19; Uyanga Tsedev SM ’15, PhD ’21; […]
Read MoreFor decades, scientists with big questions about biology have found answers in a tiny worm. That worm — a millimeter-long creature called Caenorhabditis elegans — has helped researchers uncover fundamental features of how cells and organisms work. The impact of that work is enormous: Discoveries made using C. elegans have been recognized with four Nobel […]
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As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell populations become smaller and can’t react to pathogens as quickly, making people more susceptible to a variety of infections. To try to overcome that decline, researchers at MIT and the Broad Institute have found a way to temporarily program cells in the liver to improve […]
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All starting from the same DNA, neurons ultimately take on individual characteristics in the brain and body. Differences in which genes they transcribe into RNA help determine which type of neuron they become, and from there, a new MIT study shows, individual cells edit a selection of sites in those RNA transcripts, each at their […]
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Glioblastoma is the most common form of brain cancer in adults, and its consequences are usually quick and fatal. After receiving standard-of-care treatment (surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy), fewer than half of patients will survive longer than 15 months. Only 5 percent of patients survive longer than five years. Researchers have explored immune checkpoint […]
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CEATEC 2025 featured the usual lineup of AI demos, service robots, and experimental interfaces. But inside Hall 4, a quieter, lab-style booth stood out for a very different reason. There, the RNA Co-creation Consortium demonstrated that RNA extracted from facial sebum can provide insights into the skin’s condition and support better day-to-day cosmetic choices. The […]
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A large-scale screen of tuberculosis proteins has revealed several possible antigens that could be developed as a new vaccine for TB, the world’s deadliest infectious disease. In the new study, a team of MIT biological engineers was able to identify a handful of immunogenic peptides, out of more than 4,000 bacterial proteins, that appear to […]
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Although heart cells and skin cells contain identical instructions for creating proteins encoded in their DNA, they’re able to fill such disparate niches because molecular machinery can cut out and stitch together different segments of those instructions to create endlessly unique combinations. The ingenuity of using the same genes in different ways is made possible […]
Read More Although heart cells and skin cells contain identical instructions for creating proteins encoded in their DNA, they’re able to fill such disparate niches because molecular machinery can cut out and stitch together different segments of those instructions to create endlessly unique combinations. The ingenuity of using the same genes in different ways is made possible […]
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By stimulating cancer cells to produce a molecule that activates a signaling pathway in nearby immune cells, MIT researchers have found a way to force tumors to trigger their own destruction. Activating this signaling pathway, known as the cGAS-STING pathway, worked even better when combined with existing immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint blockade inhibitors, in […]
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Researchers at the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, have developed a powerful tool capable of scanning thousands of biological samples to detect transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) modifications — tiny chemical changes to RNA molecules that help control how cells grow, adapt to […]
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The Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research fondly remembers its founding director, David Baltimore, a former MIT Institute Professor and Nobel laureate who died Sept. 6 at age 87. With discovery after discovery, Baltimore brought to light key features of biology with direct implications for human health. His work at MIT earned him a share of […]
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Our cells produce a variety of proteins, each with a specific role that, in many cases, means that they need to be in a particular part of the cell where that role is needed. One of the ways that cells ensure certain proteins end up in the right location at the right time is through […]
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Using artificial intelligence, MIT researchers have come up with a new way to design nanoparticles that can more efficiently deliver RNA vaccines and other types of RNA therapies. After training a machine-learning model to analyze thousands of existing delivery particles, the researchers used it to predict new materials that would work even better. The model […]
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Scientists at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have re-engineered a compact RNA-guided enzyme they found in bacteria into an efficient, programmable editor of human DNA. The protein they created, called NovaIscB, can be adapted to make precise changes to the genetic code, modulate the […]
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