Researchers from MIT’s Little Devices Lab have developed Lego-like devices that can perform diagnostic tests, writes UPI reporter Allen Cone. The devices could significantly reduce the cost of diagnostic tests and as they don't require refrigeration or special handling, “they could be particularly useful in the developing world.”
STAT reporter Orly Nadell Farber writes about a new study by Prof. Amy Finkelstein that challenges the widely held assumption that a large portion of Medicare spending goes towards end-of-life care. “We spend money on sick people — some of them die, some of them recover,” says Finkelstein. “Maybe some recover, in part, because of what we spent on them.”
STAT reporter Justin Chen writes about a new study that examines why patients with pancreatic cancer often experience significant weight loss. Prof. Matt Vander Heiden explains that the findings show, “pancreatic cancer patients clearly have a lot of tissue wasting and whether it’s good or bad, we can now say that it’s not necessarily bad at diagnosis.”
MIT researchers have discovered that probiotics can prevent cholera and treat early stage cases of the disease, reports Laney Ruckstuhl for The Boston Globe. The findings, led by Prof. James Collins, “could have implications for other diseases as well because scientists were previously unaware that bacterial infections could be vulnerable to naturally occurring probiotics,” notes Ruckstuhl.
Researchers from a number of universities, including MIT, have developed a new refillable, implantable device that can deliver drugs to the heart tissue to help treat a heart attack, reports Xinhua. "After a heart attack we could use this device to deliver therapy to prevent a patient from getting heart failure," explains Prof. Ellen Roche.
Boston Herald reporter Lindsay Kalter writes that MIT researchers have developed a wireless ingestible sensor that could one day be used to diagnose and treat disease. “The most exciting thing is that we can wirelessly control tiny implants even though they have no batteries at all,” says Prof. Fadel Adib.
Researchers at MIT have developed a device “that can receive power and communicate wirelessly from inside the body,” which could eventually be used for drug delivery, to treat disease or to monitor overall health, reports Allen Cone for UPI. "Having the capacity to communicate with these systems without the need for a battery would be a significant advance," said research affiliate Gio Traverso.
A new study led by Prof. Li-Huei Tsai reveals more information about the possible link between Alzheimer’s disease and the gene variant APOE4, writes Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. The researchers discovered that by editing the gene into the more common APOE3 variant, “they could eliminate the signs of Alzheimer’s in brain cells,” said Finucane.
MIT researchers have developed a surgical technique that allows the central nervous system to send movement commands to a robotic prosthesis, writes Allen Cone for United Press International. Cone explains that the new technique allows for “more stable and efficient” control over the movement of the prosthetic device.
STAT reporters Gideon Gil and Matthew Orr describe a “pioneering” surgical technique from researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital that allows prosthetics to operate like human limbs. Prof. Hugh Herr, “himself a rock climber who lost both his legs to frostbite as a teen, describes his goal as nothing short of eliminating disability."
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about blockchain, Tomio Geron highlights MedRec, a system being developed by MIT researchers that would allow patients to manage their own medical records. “With MedRec, if a baby has been given vaccinations by different doctors,” reports Geron, “all of that information can be accessed from the blockchain.”
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that MIT researchers have designed a kit that allows scientists to develop diagnostic tests quickly and cheaply. The kit, “uses modular blocks that can be connected in different patterns to replicate the function that would typically be built into a manufactured test for pregnancy, glucose, or an infection or other disease.”
TechCrunch’s Devin Coldewey profiles ReviveMed, a biotech startup out of MIT that turns drug discovery into a big data problem. “ReviveMed’s approach is a fundamentally modern one that wouldn’t be possible just a few years ago, such is the scale of the data involved,” writes Coldeway.
Prof. Hugh Herr and his team in the Biomechatronics Group are developing prosthetics that “respond to neural commands with the flexibility and speed of regular limbs,” writes Eillie Anzilotti for Fast Company. In a process pioneered by the group, “doctors leave the tendons and nerve endings intact so they can continue to feed sensations down past where the human leg ends,” Anzilotti says.
James Gallagher of BBC News speaks with several experts about the microbiome and how diversity in gut bacteria is essential to health. “One thing that we're learning is, based on the microbiome, different people may need to consume different diets in order to get the same effect,” says Prof. Eric Alm.