Chemical engineering

STAT reporter Kate Sheridan writes about MIT startup SQZ Biotech, which is developing a “technology that will squeeze cells to open up tiny pores in their membranes to deliver gene therapies or medicines straight into the cell.”

MIT startup Lyndra has found that an ingestible device originally developed by researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital can help tackle the problem of medication adherence, reports Kate Sheridan for STAT. The new technology could make it possible for patients to take “one pill a week for conditions as varied as Alzheimer’s, addiction, allergies, malaria, schizophrenia, high cholesterol, and HIV.”

Writing for the American History Magazine, Sarah Richardson highlights the trailblazing path of Ellen Swallow Richards. Richardson notes that Swallow Richards was a “one-woman parade of firsts: first female student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, first female fellow of the American Association of Mining and Metallurgy, first female professor at MIT.”

Researchers from MIT are using the brittle nature of graphene to mass produce cell-sized robots, writes David Grossman of Popular Mechanics. Called “syncells” or synthetic cells, the researchers hope they can be used in biomedical testing. “Inject hundreds into the bloodstreams and let the data fly back into sensors,” explains Grossman.

A team of researchers led by Prof. J. Christopher Love has developed a system to produce on-demand clinical-grade vaccines and drugs, writes Dr. Francis Collins on the NIH Director’s Blog. In addition to allowing on site production for hospitals the systems could also “produce biologic treatments specially tailored to attack the cancer of a particular individual,” suggests Collins.

Writing for STAT, Karen Weintraub spotlights Prof. J. Christopher Love’s work developing a new desktop drug manufacturing process that can produce thousands of doses of biopharmaceuticals on demand. “I think in the long run there’ll be an opportunity to think about manufacturing for patients in a new way,” says Love.

Xinhua news wire reports that MIT researchers have developed a tiny new robot, the size of a human egg cell, that could be used to detect medical problems or to identify oil or gas leaks. “The self-powered cell-size robots don't need any external power source or even internal batteries,” explains Xinhua.

MIT researchers have designed new robots the size of a human egg cell that can sense their surroundings, writes Brooks Hays for UPI. These nanoscale robots could one day be used to develop less invasive colonoscopies or aid in the search for structural vulnerabilities inside oil and gas pipelines, explains Hays.

TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that MIT researchers have developed self-powered robots the size of human cells that can float indefinitely in liquid or the air. Heater explains that the robots could be used to monitor hard to reach environments, such as pipelines or the human body.

During this episode of NOVA Wonders, Professors Kristala Jones Prather and Kevin Esvelt discuss the future of genetic engineering. Speaking about the evolution of the biotech industry, Prather explains that, "the key observation that really fueled the entire biotech industry was recognizing that D.N.A. is really just a chemical, and the structure is what matters.”

Speaking to Bloomberg’s Emily Chang and Selina Wang, Lecturer Luis Perez-Breva suggests that fear of AI stems from confusing it with automation. Perez-Breva explains that in his view, “we need to make better businesses that actually use this technology and AI to take advantage of the automation and create new jobs.”

Boston Herald reporter Lindsay Kalter writes that a team of MIT researchers has developed a new technique that can deliver medication to specific regions of the brain with extreme precision. “The whole idea here is that instead of treating the entire brain, you can treat small portions of the brain,” explains Prof. Michael Cima. 

AP reporter Lauran Neergaard writes that MIT researchers have developed a hair-thin implant that can deliver medications to specific regions of the brain. Neergaard writes that the device, “could mark a new approach to treating brain diseases — potentially reducing side effects by targeting only the hard-to-reach circuits that need care.”

Tony Lee of Mashable spotlights the technique developed by MIT researchers that allows plants to glow when inserted with nanoparticles containing luciferase,  an enzyme known to make fireflies glow. 

MIT researchers have developed a new capsule that allows HIV medication to be delivered over the course of a week, and could allow patients to forgo daily pills, reports Ed Cara for Gizmodo. Researchers also found that using this method for the pre-exposure pill, “would manifest in approximately a 20 per cent increase in efficacy” for weekly dosage compared to the daily regimen.