Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has named six new core institute members: Gad Getz, Anna Greka, Nir Hacohen, Evan Macosko, Benjamin Neale, and Pardis Sabeti. “We are thrilled to recognize these distinguished scientists for their track record of …
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a pre-invasive tumor, accounts for about 25 percent of breast cancer diagnoses, a leading cause of cancer death. While doctors generally recommend treatment, they lack the appropriate evidence to reliably decide which tumor …
When Ralda Nehme, a cell biologist and neuroscientist, first started her lab at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in 2018, she realized a gap in the field. She was adept at growing stem cells in the lab, …
At some point during her education, self-described “space nerd” Lindsey Erion-Barner traded gazing through telescopes for peering into microscopes. “There are many commonalities between astronomy and microscopy, they’re just at different scales,” she …
Immune cells in the central nervous system called microglia produce a protein called C1q, which helps the immune system prune synapses (the junctions between neurons) in the developing brain. A new study reveals that C1q can also enter neurons, where it …
Developing a new drug can take years of research and cost millions of dollars. Still, more than 90 percent of drug candidates fail in clinical trials, with even more that never make it to the clinical stage. Many drugs fail because they simply aren’t safe. …
A number of cancers, including certain brain and liver tumors, as well as myeloid leukemias, are driven by mutations in the enzyme isocitrate dehydrogenase 1, or IDH1. Drugs that block mutated IDH1 (mIDH1) have recently come onto the market and effectively …
Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common genetic disorders, causing thick mucus build-up in the lungs and other parts of the body, breathing problems, and infection. A three-drug cocktail known as Trikafta has greatly improved patient quality of life …
Researchers at the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a new platform for modeling at the cellular level how the human brain responds to a variety of stimuli. Described …
Prion diseases lead to rapid neurodegeneration and death and are caused by misshapen versions of the prion protein in the brain. There are currently no treatments, but researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Broad Institute of …
The largest and most ethnically and geographically comprehensive investigation to date of the gut microbiome of people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), prediabetes, and healthy glucose status has found that specific viruses and genetic variants within bacteria …
Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment. Now researchers have developed a low-cost paper strip test that could allow more patients to find out which …
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing has made possible a multitude of biomedical experiments including studies that systematically turn off genes in cancer cells to look for ones that the cancer cells heavily depend on to survive and grow. These genes, or “cancer …
When Moe Haines first moved from Beirut, Lebanon to the United States for college, his goal was to earn a degree in pharmacy. Haines was the first person in his family to pursue science, and most people he knew with similar interests had chosen a career in …
Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have improved a gene-editing technology that is now capable of inserting or substituting entire genes in the genome in human cells efficiently enough to be potentially useful for therapeutic applications …
In an important step toward more effective gene therapies for brain diseases, researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have engineered a gene-delivery vehicle that uses a human protein to efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver …
“The T7 system has been influential in biomedicine and has had important clinical implications for many years, but Bill Studier’s contribution to the field has really not been as celebrated as it ought to be,” said Harold Varmus, chair of the Merkin Prize …
In March of 2020, Broad Institute converted a clinical genetics processing lab into a large-scale COVID-19 testing facility in less than two weeks. We've screened more than 1,275 cancer cell lines as part of the Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap). Broad …
Tell us a bit about your research. Why are you studying autopsy samples from cancer patients? Cancers can develop many paths to drug resistance and it’s important to understand how every cell in a cancer develops resistance. If you have a primary tumor …
The health benefits of exercise are well known but new research shows that the body’s response to exercise is more complex and far-reaching than previously thought. In a study on rats, a team of scientists from across the United States has found that …
