Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology
Image Credit:Geoff Fudenberg and Leonid Mirny
Research in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology at MIT studies fundamental properties of molecules and systems, often by integrating computational thinking, engineering designs, and biophysical insights.
Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli
Katie Galloway
Uncovering how cells control their protein output
Gene-Wei Li investigates the rules that cells use to maintain the correct ratio of the proteins they need to survive.
A typical bacterial genome contains more than 4,000 genes, which encode all of the proteins that the cells need to survive. How do cells know just how much of each protein they need for their everyday functions?
Bin Zhang
Lindsay Case
Engineers use "DNA origami" to identify design rules
In lab tests, virus-like DNA structures coated with viral proteins provoke a strong immune response in human B cells.
By folding DNA into a virus-like structure, MIT researchers have designed HIV-like particles that provoke a strong immune response from human immune cells grown in a lab dish. Such particles might eventually be used as an HIV vaccine.
Seychelle Vos
Anders Sejr Hansen
Technique can image individual proteins within synapses
Rapid imaging method could help reveal how conditions such as autism affect brain cells.
Our brains contain trillions of synapses — the connections that transmit messages from neuron to neuron. Within these synapses are hundreds of different proteins, and dysfunction of these proteins can lead to conditions such as schizophrenia and autism.
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