Bioengineering and Neuroengineering
Cover Photo Credit: Dr. Soohong Kim & Dr. Paul Blainey, Image Credit: Boyden Lab
Research in Bioengineering and Neuroengineering at MIT emphasizes development of innovative tools to enable high-resolution measurements, high-precision control, and high-throughput perturbation of biological systems, including photogenetics and genome engineering.
CSB Thesis Defense
Mapping the brain at high resolution
New 3-D imaging technique can reveal, much more quickly than other methods, how neurons connect throughout the brain.
Ingestible"bacteria on a chip" could help diagnose disease
Ultra-low power sensors carrying genetically engineered bacteria can detect gastric bleeding.
MIT researchers have built an ingestible sensor equipped with genetically engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach or other gastrointestinal problems.
Exploring the many roles of mucus
Katharina Ribbeck studies the sticky substance to uncover its impacts on health and disease.
In 2007, Katharina Ribbeck spent a year as a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School. While there, she heard about a fellowship offered at Harvard that would provide the recipient with a lab, startup funding, and status as an independent investigator. The catch? Applicants had to propose starting a new field of study.
Researchers identify important role for gene in 16p11.2 deletion autism
Study finds that major vault protein is needed for homeostatic plasticity.
In a new study of one of the most common genetic causes of autism, neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have identified a molecular mechanism that appears to undermine the ability of neurons in affected mice to properly incorporate changes driven by experience. The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that a particular gene, MVP, is likely consequential in people with 16p11.2 deletion syndrome.
Bryan Bryson
Engineers 3-D print a "living tattoo"
New technique 3-D prints programmed cells into living devices for first time.
Cell-weighing method could help doctors choose cancer drugs
Technique may predict which therapies a patient is most sensitive or resistant to.
Doctors have many drugs available to treat multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. However, there is no way to predict, by genetic markers or other means, how a patient will respond to a particular drug. This can lead to months of treatment with a drug that isn’t working.
Next-generation optogenetic molecules control single neurons
Focused laser beam could help scientists map connections amoung neurons that underlie behavior.