Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new type of cancer treatment – a gel that can be used to deliver cancer drugs for solid tumors, reports WHDH. “It’s really transformative to try and help patients whose tumors are very resistant to therapy,” says Prof. Giovanni Traverso.
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a swallowable electronic capsule that can be used to help diagnose sleep apnea and other sleep disorders, reports Ian Randall for Newsweek. “Conventional laboratory and home sleep studies require the patient to be attached to many different sensors,” says Prof. Giovanni Traverso. “As you can imagine, trying to sleep with all of this machinery can be challenging. [The] ingestible capsule just requires that the patient swallow the vitamin-sized pill. It's easy and unobtrusive and can accurately measure both respiratory rate and heart rate while the patient sleeps."
Ashley Smart, associate director of the Knight Science Journalism Program, writes for Undark about the impact of commercialized genetic tests on research involving new genetic links. “Even among some researchers who are optimistic about using polygenic scores to screen for physical health conditions, there is one emerging application of polygenic scores that makes them uneasy: the prediction of risks for depression and other psychiatric conditions,” writes Smart.
President Biden has awarded Prof. Emeritus Subra Suresh ScD '81, the former dean of the MIT School of Engineering, the National Medal of Science for his “pioneering research across engineering, physical sciences, and life sciences,” reports Alexa Gagosz for The Boston Globe. Prof. James Fujimoto '79, SM '81, PhD '84, research affiliate Eric Swanson SM '84, and David Huang '85, SM '89, PhD '93 were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, “the nation’s highest award for technical achievement.”
Graduate student Sarah Gurev and her colleagues have developed a new AI system named EVEscape that can, “predict alterations likely to occur to viruses as they evolve,” reports Erin Prater for Fortune. Gurev says that with the amount of data the system has amassed, it “can make surprisingly accurate predications.”
Forbes reporter Howard Gleckman spotlights Prof. Amy Finkelstein’s new book, “We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care.” Finkelstein and her co-author propose a, “highly provocative, radical alternative to our current mess,” by combining, “a global health budget with universal, free, basic care for everybody,” Gleckma explains.
STAT reporter Annalisa Merelli writes that the 2023 Lasker Award has been given to Prof. James Fujimoto, research affiliate Eric Swanson SM ’84 and David Huang PhD ’93 for their work advancing the diagnosis of eye disease. Fujimoto, Swanson and Huang developed “optical coherence tomography (OCT) — the first noninvasive technology allowing doctors to see high-resolution images of the retina.”
Prof. James Fujimoto, research affiliate Eric Swanson SM ’84 and David Huang PhD ’93 have won a Lasker Award for their work inventing optical coherence tomography, which can “detect conditions like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy earlier than previous methods, preventing blindness,” reports Noah Weiland and Cade Metz for The New York Times. “O.C.T. now is commonly used in ophthalmology offices, where the patient simply rests a chin and forehead against an instrument for a brief scan,” write Weiland and Metz. “The method, invented in 1991, offers a staggering amount of detail about the retina.”
Prof. James Fujimoto, research affiliate Eric Swanson SM ’84 and David Huang PhD ’93 have been honored with the Lasker Award for their work for their work inventing “imaging technology that revolutionized how ophthalmologists diagnose diseases of the eye," reports Jonathan Saltzman for The Boston Globe. The scientists were recognized for developing “optical coherence tomography, or OCT, the first technology that enabled doctors to see a two- and three-dimensional cross-sectional image of the retina,” Saltzman explains. “This painless scan takes less than 10 minutes, and is now the standard of care for diagnosing retina diseases.”
Prof. Regina Barzilay writes for CNN about how AI can impact health care. “Smart AI algorithms, which are trained on large-scale medical data and equipped with powerful computing, can go beyond what is humanly possible, eliminate care delays and reduce the cost of health care,” writes Barzilay.
A new working paper, co-authored by Prof. Jonathan Gruber, explores the impact of the New Co-operative Medical Scheme (NCMS), “a health-insurance plan for rural Chinese that was launched in 2003 and folded into a more comprehensive program in 2013,” reports The Economist. “Though it is perhaps best known for being stingy, the NCMS saved millions of lives,” writes The Economist.
Prof. Amy Finkelstein speaks with Politico reporters Erin Schumaker, Daniel Payne and Evan Peng about her new book “We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care.” “Health insurance is not delivering on its function,” says Finkelstein. “Over 1 in 10 Americans under 65 are uninsured at any given moment, and of the 30 million Americans who are uninsured, 6 in 10 are eligible for free or heavily discounted health insurance coverage. And yet they don’t have that coverage.”
Fortune reporter John Singer spotlights Prof. Amy Finkelstein’s new book, “We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care.” The book details “an approach that could potentially transform the multi-dimensional dysfunctionality that is the U.S. healthcare system,” writes Singer.
Forbes reporter John C. Goodman spotlights “We’ve Got You Covered,” a new book co-authored by Prof. Amy Finkelstein and Stanford economist Liran Einav, which explores the idea of offering universal health insurance coverage with no increase in government spending. “An important argument made by Finkelstein and Einav is that Americans are paying about twice as much as we really need to pay for medically necessary health care,” writes Goodman. “So, if we gave the government’s share to people directly, they would be able to buy essential coverage with that money alone."
Prof. Lonnie Petersen speaks with Boston Globe reporter Kay Lazar about the need to prepare doctors to provide medical care in space. “As we have more commercial space flight, we will have a different composition of crew members, we will see more preexisting conditions, the age range will expand, and obviously the way we do medicine is evolving,” Petersen said.