Kat McGowan of The Scientific American cites research by Professor Angelica Amon that indicates recent findings may overestimate the amount of genetic variation in healthy human bodies. “Having the wrong chromosome number is not a good thing,” says Amon.
Boston Globe reporter Chris Reify writes that Professor Sangeeta Bhatia has been awarded the 2014 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. “Dr. Bhatia is a wonderful example of a woman who has used her brilliance, skill and creativity to radically improve the detection and treatment of serious global health issues,” says Dorothy Lemelson, Lemelson Foundation chair.
NBC News reports that MIT Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT prize for her work designing miniaturized biomedical tools. "As innovations emerge, we're constantly asking whether they can be repurposed for one of the two diseases we concentrate on: liver disease and cancer,” says Bhatia.
David Pogue of the PBS show NOVA examines Professor Paula Hammond’s work developing a new type of vaccine that delivers a DNA patch via tiny microscopic needles. Using DNA as the vaccine is a “very unique but also very powerful” approach, Hammond explains.
BBC News reports on new efforts to integrate robot-assisted training into the rehabilitation process for stroke victims. "The whole concept is revolutionising the practice of rehabilitation medicine by applying robotics that can assist and enhance recovery," explains Dr. Hermano Igo Krebs.
Wall Street Journal reporter Ed Silverman interviews Professor Andrew Lo about his proposal that a public-private partnership could solve funding issues for drugs research and development. “Right now, the risk of failure [in developing an Alzheimer’s treatment] is far too high for any single pharmaceutical company to take on,” Lo explains.
“Based on the current rates of success in creating new drugs for Alzheimer's disease, it could take 260 years until the next one is approved,” writes The Boston Globe’s Carolyn Johnson on the rationale for why Professor Andrew Lo is proposing a new, portfolio-based approach to Alzheimer's research.
“The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, which evaluates development projects, studied malaria medicines sold by pharmacies in four districts where BRAC and Living Goods work in Uganda,” writes Tina Rosenberg of The New York Times. J-PAL researchers found that efforts by non-governmental organizations are reducing the counterfeit drugs in Uganda.
Graduate student John Lewandowski has developed a battery-powered machine that uses magnets and lasers to detect malaria, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. Bray writes that the device is portable, cheap, quick and easy to use in the field.
A Slate video by Paca Thomas features new MIT research that shows particles from coughs and sneezes travel much farther than previously thought.
Washington Post reporter Fred Barbash reports on new MIT research that shows the importance of covering up coughs and sneezes. Researchers found that droplets from coughs and sneezes form a gas cloud that can travel further than previously thought.
“Researchers found that a droplet just a millionth of a meter in size (100 micrometers) can travel five times farther than previously thought, and a droplet just 10 micrometers in size can travel 200 times farther than previously thought,” writes Huffington Post reporter Amanda Chan of new research on coughing and sneezing.
“A new study from MIT that could change the way building ventilation systems are designed found that the germs stay airborne in gas clouds, spreading the droplets throughout an entire room,” writes Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham of the MIT study on coughing and sneezing.
“In a new study, published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, researchers report that coughs and sneezes have “associated gas clouds that keep their potentially infectious droplets aloft over much greater distances than previously realized”,” writes Boston Magazine reporter Melissa Malamut about a new MIT on how coughs and sneezes spread disease.
Boston Globe reporter Deborah Kotz highlights research from Professor John Bush and Professor Lydia Bourouiba that shows virus droplets expelled through a cough or sneeze travel five to 200 times farther than they would as individual particles.