Keeping it simple (for a bioinformatician)
Alumnus strikes delicate balances in big data — helping define the future of health care.
Mastering the biological and engineering worlds
Rahul Sarpeshkar bridges biology and engineering to advance research and applications in biotechnology, medicine, and supercomputing.
Fast way to measure DNA repair
Test analyzing cells’ ability to fix different kinds of broken DNA could help doctors predict cancer risk.
Tiny particles may pose big risk
Some nanoparticles commonly added to consumer products can significantly damage DNA.
Unusual suspects
Computer models plus observations of RNA inside a cell help scientists home in on a short list of interesting RNA ‘machines.’
Solving chromosomes’ structure
Scientists find that loops of DNA are key to tightly packing genetic material for cell division.
DNA damage may cause ALS
New study finds link between neurons’ inability to repair DNA and neurodegeneration.
An easier way to control genes
New method for turning genes on and off could enable more complex synthetic biology circuits.
Detecting DNA in space
Researchers, in a step toward analyzing Mars for signs of life, find that gene-sequencing chip can survive space radiation.
Reading DNA, backward and forward
MIT biologists reveal how cells control the direction in which the genome is read.
Patterning graphene with DNA
Folded DNA templates allow researchers to precisely cut out graphene shapes, which could be used in electronic circuits.
Cardiac development needs more than protein-coding genes
Biologists find that long non-coding RNA molecules are necessary to regulate differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiac cells.
Putting the squeeze on cells
By deforming cells, researchers can deliver RNA, proteins and nanoparticles for many applications.
Editing the genome with high precision
New method allows scientists to insert multiple genes in specific locations, delete defective genes.