Financial Times reporter Hugo Cox highlights how MIT researchers have developed robots that can be used to detect disease in specific regions by sampling sewage. “A local robot takes days to identify an outbreak of flu; the surge in attendance at local hospitals and surgeries typically takes weeks to register,” Cox explains. “And because the information is local, the response can be too.”
MIT researchers have found that some inactive ingredients in medications could play a role in triggering irritation or allergic reactions, reports Bob McDonald for CBC Radio. The researchers hope that, “pharmaceutical companies provide more information to doctors, and that alternative drug formulas can be developed for people with allergies or sensitivities.”
Prof. Giovanni Traverso speaks with STAT reporter Shraddha Chakradhar about a study examining how the inactive substances in most medications could trigger a patient’s allergies and intolerances. “As you start taking more and more tablets, then you are also taking more and more of some of these ingredients,” says Traverso. “We want to raise awareness that these ingredients are there.”
NBC News reporter Linda Caroll writes about a new study by MIT researchers showing that inactive ingredients in medications could lead to adverse reactions in some patients. The researchers found that some of the inactive ingredients “can worsen symptoms in people with conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.”
MIT researchers have developed a new drug-releasing coil that could be used to help treat tuberculosis, reports Ruby Prosser Scully for New Scientist. Scully explains that the coil is “too large to leave the stomach, so it stays there, and the medicines threaded onto it leach out at a rate depending on the type of drug and the polymer the developers use to make the pills.”
Gizmodo reporter Ed Cara writes about a study by MIT researchers have finds “inactive” ingredients in pills could trigger a patient’s allergies or intolerances. “We’re not saying that everyone should stop taking these medications,” explains Prof. Giovanni Traverso. “But people with an allergy or intolerance should definitely have the opportunity to find out if they have to worry about certain medications.”
MIT researchers have found that many pills contain “inactive” ingredients that could be troublesome for patients, reports Richard Harris for NPR. Prof. Giovanni Traverso explains that if a patient with lactose intolerance takes a pill containing lactose, “it's probably not going to manifest in any significant symptoms. But as the number of pills you're taking [increases], then certainly you might cross that threshold."
AP reporter Lauran Neergaard writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that pills often contain “inactive” ingredients capable of causing allergic or gastrointestinal reactions. The researchers found that “it’s hard for those patients, or even their doctors, to tell if a pill contains an extra ingredient they should avoid,” Neergaard explains.
Prof. Aviv Regev speaks with the Associated Press about the Human Cell Atlas Consortium, which is aimed at cataloging all the cells in the human body in an effort to better understand human diseases. "This is not going to cure all disease immediately," she says, but "it is a critical stepping stone."
STAT reporter Casey Ross writes about how MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible Prof. Timothy Lu explains that he hopes that the sensor “opens up a really new window into how the gut and the rest of the body are connected, and hopefully provide new diagnostic strategies as well.”
Guardian reporter Ian Sample writes that MIT startup Synlogic are developing a “living” medicine” made from genetically modified bugs. “By engineering these bacteria, we are able to control how they operate in the human gastrointestinal tract,” says Caroline Kurtz of Synlogic. “It allows us to think about many other diseases where you may need to produce something beneficial, or remove something that is toxic for the patient.”
MIT researchers have developed an inhalable form of messenger RNA that could be used to help treat patients with lung disease, reports Christopher Intagliata for Scientific American. Intagliata explains that researchers hope to one day “use this technique to help cystic fibrosis patients.”
Prof. Aviv Regev speaks with NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce about her work with the Human Cell Atlas trying to catalogue every cell in the human body. “We don't need to analyze every individual cell out of 37 trillion because the cells kind of repeat themselves,” says Regev. “All we need to do is sample enough of them from enough region in order to get comprehensive coverage.”
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.”
Science reporter Tania Rabesandratana examines how MIT researchers are gathering and identifying gut bacteria from people around the world. The effort is aimed at preserving the human gut’s microbial biodiversity and developing new treatments for diseases. “I'm 100% confident that there are relevant medical applications for hundreds of strains we've screened and characterized,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.