Health care

Prof. Jon Gruber speaks with former Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and Security Andrea Cabral and GBH Boston Public Radio host Margery Eagan about the future of health care in the United States. 

MIT researchers have developed a biosensor “the size of a stick of gum that can be implanted under the skin and deliver naloxone if vital signs indicate an overdose,” reports David Ovalle and Elana Gordon for The Washington Post. 

A new commentary by Prof. Jonathan Gruber and his colleagues outlines a proposal for a new long-term care at home plan, aimed at enabling seniors to stay in their homes, reports Jonathan Cohn for HuffPost. “Relative to other countries, we’re very nursing home focused, and we’re not really doing enough to keep people at home,” says Gruber. “I also just think it’s a valuable benefit to people that makes their lives better.” 

Profs. Canan Dagdeviren and Hugh Herr speak with CNN discuss their work aimed at empowering patients and doctors. Inspired by her aunt’s experience with breast cancer, Dagdeviren and her students are developing new wearable devices that could help detect cancer at an earlier stage. Says Herr of his work developing prosthetics that can be controlled by the human nervous system: “There will be a point where technology is so sophisticated that we can actually rebuild limbs after amputation that will be as good and, ultimately, they will be better than intact biological limbs.” Herr adds that in the future he hopes “the conversation will not be about human limitation anymore. It will be about human ability and human expression.”

Writing for Forbes, Senior Lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota '08 MS '16, MBA '16 explores the challenges, opportunities and future of AI-driven drug development. “I see the opportunities for AI in drug development as vast and transformative,”  writes Hayes-Mota. “AI can help potentially uncover new drug candidates that would have been impossible to find through traditional methods.”

CNN visits the lab of Prof. Canan Dagdeviren to learn more about her work developing wearable ultrasound devices that could help screen for early-stage breast cancer, monitor kidney health, and detect other cancers deep within the body. “Wearable technology will grow rapidly in the near future,” says Dagdeviren. “But in the far future, they will be one of the most powerful tools that we will be seeing in our daily life.” 

New Yorker reporter Dhruv Khullar spotlights how researchers from across MIT are using AI to advance drug development. Khullar highlights the MIT Jameel Clinic, the Broad Institute and various faculty members for their efforts in bridging the gap between AI and drug research. “With AI, we’re getting that much more efficient at finding molecules—and in some cases creating them,” says Prof. James Collins. “The cost of the search is going down. Now we really don’t have an excuse.”

MIT alumni Mike Ng and Nikhil Buduma founded Ambiance, which has developed an “AI-powered platform geared towards improving documentation processes in medicine,” reports Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle. “In a world filled with AI solutions in search of a problem, Ambience is focusing on a pain point that just about any doctor will attest to (after all, who likes filling out paperwork?),” writes Garfinkle. 

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new device “designed to detect the signs of an overdose and automatically deliver a dose of naloxone in as little as 10 seconds,” reports Tom Hawking for Popular Science. “The device [which has an associated smartphone app] also has a built-in alert system with auditory and tactile signals to wake the user, providing an alternative for those without smartphones or with uncharged devices,” says Prof. Giovanni Traverso. 

Interesting Engineering reporter Shubhangi Dua describes a new implantable device developed by MIT researchers that can detect and automatically treat an opioid overdose. “Having an automated robotic system that can sense and reverse opiate overdose could be transformational,” says Prof. Giovanni Traverso, “particularly for high-risk populations.” 

MIT scientists have developed an implantable sensor that could “detect the signs of an overdose and automatically deliver a dose of naloxone in as little as 10 seconds,” reports Tom Hawking for Popular Science. "The long-term benefits of preventing fatal overdoses and reducing healthcare costs related to overdose treatment are significant factors that support the value of this technology,” explains Prof. Giovanni Traverso. 

Prof. Jonathan Gruber speaks with WGBH’s Craig LeMoult about the bidding process around seven Massachusetts hospitals being sold by Steward Health Care. “I hope that someone innovative can figure out a way to take these existing assets…and turn them into an effective competitor to the [Mass General Brigham] network because we need more competition in health care in Massachusetts,” says Gruber.

Writing for Forbes, lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota '08, SM '16, MBA '16 explores the role of artificial intelligence and biotechnology in transforming the healthcare industry specifically for venture capitalists (VCs). “The fusion of AI and biotechnology presents a wealth of opportunities for venture capitalists,” writes Hayes-Mota. “By staying attuned to emerging trends and adopting strategies for impactful investments, VCs can drive innovation and create transformative changes in healthcare.” 

Prof. Hugh Herr joins the BBC’s Shiona McCallum to discuss a program by the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics aimed at bringing prosthetics to those who suffered forced amputations during the Sierra Leone Civil War. “When we train a young person on how to construct an arm or leg prothesis we’ve impacted the country for solidly forty years,” Herr says. “That person’s going to be living in that country and contributing to their community for a very long time. That’s exciting.” 

The Engine Ventures' CEO and Managing partner Katie Rae talks to Forbes’ Alex Knapp about its recent round of fundraising for investments in startups focused on sustainability, health and infrastructure. Rae also sees opportunities in quantum computing and other new hardware, saying “power and climate and compute all go together.”