Robert Langer on biomaterials for the 21st century

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:37:16 GMT

Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, discusses his research in material science and biomaterials at TEDxBigApple.

Cellular Injections: 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards Winner

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:30:58 GMT

Alex Shalek explains the science behind his striking image, "Cellular Injections: Using Nanowires to Investigate the Causes of Leukemia." Alex's image was selected as a winner of the 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards.

On the Scent: 2013 Image Award Winner

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:30:58 GMT

Eric Williams explains the story behind his beautiful image, "On the Scent: Investigating an Anti-Aging Gene Inside the Nose." Eric's image was selected as a winner of the 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards.

A Dangerous Meeting - 2013 Image Award Winner

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:30:57 GMT

Tuomas Tammela explains the science behind his fascinating image, A Dangerous Meeting: Blood Vessels and a Tumor Come Together. Tuomas's image was selected as a winner of the 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards. See all the winners at http://ki-galleries.mit.edu.

Cancer Deconstructed - 2013 Image Award Winner

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:30:56 GMT

Vasilena Gocheva explains the science behind her striking image, Cancer Deconstructed: Investigating the Role of Non-Cancerous Cells in a Lung Tumor. Vasilena's image was selected as a winner of the 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards. See all the winners at http://ki-galleries.mit.edu.

Nikolai Begg: The 2013 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize Winner

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:07:34 GMT

Profile video of Nikolai Begg, 2013 $30,000 winner of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for his portfolio of novel medical devices that are helping to make surgical procedures less invasive.

Treating Diseases by Using RNAi Technology

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:29 GMT

RNA interference (RNAi) is a process in which small pieces of silencing RNA (siRNA) bind to cellular RNA, thereby shutting down the production of the encoded protein.

Nozomi Ando's Personal Story

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:28 GMT

Nozomi, a self-described artist and comic book lover, describes how her training to become a scientist was akin to that of a ninja.

Targeting Ulcer-Causing H. Pylori Bacteria

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:28 GMT

Dr. Sarah Bowman studies a protein from a pathogenic bacterium that is found in the stomach and is known to cause ulcers. She explains how the bacterium survives in the low pH environment of the stomach by using a nickel-dependent protein to buffer the acidity of its environment. Sarah envisions that taking advantage of this nickel requirement could lead to a new treatment for ulcers.

Understanding Chemotherapeutic Drug Targets

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:28 GMT

Dr. Nozomi Ando conducts research on a protein that is essential for DNA synthesis, repair and replication. She explains how this protein is in equilibrium between an active and an inactive form, and how discovering strategies to lock the protein in the inactive conformation could lead to treatments for cancer and/or could be used in the creation of new antibiotics.

Imaging Viruses with Nanoscale MRI

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:27 GMT

Ben Ofori-Okai discusses the concept of orbital degeneracy (two orbitals with the same energy) in relation to his research on nanoscale MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

Labeling Tumors with Quantum Dots

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:31:26 GMT

Quantum dots are tiny semiconductor crystals with vivid colors that can be used as visual labels in biology and medicine. Quantum dots excited by UV radiation emit light with an energy and color that is determined by the size of the quantum dot.

Darcy Wanger describes how the characteristics of atomic energy levels relate to the color of quantum dots, and how quantum dots may someday be used as markers in surgical procedures.

Nikolai Begg Lemelson-MIT Application Video

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:06:22 GMT

My video submission for the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for Invention, describing a novel mechanism to increase the safety of puncture access procedures.

Imaging Zebrafish at MIT

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:31:20 GMT

MIT researchers have invented a new imaging system that allowed them to create this three-dimensional rendering of the cartilage that forms the skull of a five-day-old zebrafish larva.

The Invention of Optical Coherence Tomography

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:30:46 GMT

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) uses light to enable real-time visualization of tissue microstructure and pathology.

Delivering large molecules to cells through tiny holes in membranes

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:31:22 GMT

Researchers from MIT have now found a safe and efficient way to get large molecules through the cell membrane, by squeezing the cells through a narrow constriction that opens up tiny, temporary holes in the membrane.

Osher Clinic for Integrative Medicine

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:05:05 GMT

Stopping a leak the way blood does

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:30:14 GMT

Harnessing the principle that allows blood to clot, MIT researchers are working on new synthetic materials to plug holes.

SOLUTIONS with/in/sight: Understanding the Path to Personalized Cancer Care

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:30:12 GMT

This with/in/sight program on Nov. 7, 2012, featured three experts exploring the future of cancer diagnostics and treatments that are personalized to the unique attributes of each patient and their cancer:

Nikhil Munshi, multiple myeloma physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Michael Hemann, Eisen and Chang Career Development Associate Professor of Biology at MIT

Vincent A. Miller, Senior Vice President, Clinical Development at Foundation Medicine

David Sabatini

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:49 GMT

Douglas Lauffenburger

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:49 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Forest White

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:49 GMT

Jeffrey Settleman

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:49 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Benjamin Neel

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Joan Brugge

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Michael B.Yaffe

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Michael Comb

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Rudolf Jaenisch

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

Rune Linding

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

William Kaelin

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Recorded 11/6/12

MIT News at Noon with Burcu Erkmen

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 08:05:48 GMT

Berkmen discusses her research with Professors Utkan Demirci and Ed Boyden in developing 3-D brain tissue constructs.

Missy Cummings at TEDMED

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:48:58 GMT

MIT Professor—and former Navy fighter pilot—Missy Cummings gives a talk at TEDMED 2012.

Manipulating microscopic magnetic beads at MIT

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:30:22 GMT

MIT researchers found that arc-shaped magnetic nanotracks could be used most effectively to control the motion of magnetic microbeads across the surface of a silicon wafer. By combining these arcs, they produced configurations such as this, with two "reservoir" rings at top right and left, where the beads can be stored indefinitely, connected to tracks where they can be moved along as needed. In the center, a junction allows the bead's path to be altered, either continuing to the side or moving downward to another section of the wafer. By combining such structures, complex series of manipulations of the beads could be carried out.

Read more at MIT News: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/magnetic-beads-lab-on-a-chip-0925.html

Bridge Project Workshop, May 24 2012

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 07:07:55 GMT

Read more about the Bridge Project: http://ki.mit.edu/approach/partnerships/bridge

Protein Methyltransferase Inhibitors as Personalized Cancer Therapeutics

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:30:09 GMT

The Koch Institute: Summer Symposium 2012
Epigenetics, Plasticity, and Cancer

The 2012 Symposium, on “Epigenetics, Plasticity, and Cancer” is the 11th Annual Oncology Research Symposium and was held on Thursday, June 14, 2012.

Victoria Richon
Vice President of Biological Sciences
Epizyme

Victoria M. Richon, Ph.D. joined Epizyme, Inc.in 2008 as Vice President of Biological Sciences. Epizyme is focused on the discovery and development of small molecule histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors, a new class of personalized therapeutics for the treatment of genetically-defined cancer patients, based on breakthroughs in the field of epigenetics. Dr. Richon was a leading member of the scientific group that discovered the histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat (SAHA). This discovery was the basis of Aton Pharma, Inc., a company that Dr. Richon co-founded and for which she served as Executive Director of Biology. Dr. Richon led the discovery of selective inhibitors of histone deacetylases as well as the development of vorinostat. Aton Pharma was acquired by Merck & Co, Inc in 2004 and Victoria continued supporting vorinostat through its approval by the U.S. FDA in October 2006 for the treatment of cutaneous manifestations in patients with advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Marketed under the name Zolinza™, vorinostat is the first histone deacetylase inhibitor approved for the treatment of cancer. In addition to supporting vorinostat at Merck, Dr. Richon served as the head of the department of Cancer Biology and Therapeutics. In this role, Dr. Richon led the department’s efforts for the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics for novel cancer targets. Dr. Richon received her BA in Chemistry from the University of Vermont and her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska. Her thesis research focus was on the development of resistance to cisplatin. Following her graduate work, she conducted post-doctoral research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Sharper ultrasound images could improve diagnostics

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 14:30:10 GMT

A new system for ultrasound imaging developed at MIT allows precise measurements and tracking of disease progression.

Dr. Stephen Quake - 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize Winner

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:30:14 GMT

Profile of Dr. Stephen Quake, winner of the 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his revolutionary work in drug discovery, genome analysis and personalized medicine.

Jet-injected drugs may mean the end of needles

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:30:09 GMT

MIT researchers have engineered a device that delivers a tiny, high-pressure jet of medicine through the skin without the use of a hypodermic needle.

Research & Policy Design: Part V - The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:09 GMT

Research and Policy Design: The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Session II: Deworming. In Part V, Karthik Muralidharan (Assistant Professor of Economics, UC San Diego) speaks on the topic of randomized control trials and impact evaluation in the very succesful deworming program.

Read more about Research & Policy Design – The First Bihar Development Conference: http://www.povertyactionlab.org/south-asia/bihar-conference

Introduction to Allopathy: The unique philosophy of non-alternative medicine

Sat, 05 May 2012 07:03:01 GMT

Allopathic medicine is taught by the medical schools that award M.D. degrees. At its base, is the philosophy that medical therapy should be based on science. In this moderated discussion, we'll explore both the strengths and quirks of conventional medicine based on its foundation in the scientific method including peer review, controlled experimentation, and underpinnings in human biology. We'll also discuss how allopathic philosophy creates an antipathy toward euthanasia, prescribing placebo, integrating alternative therapies, etc. Finally, we'll consider the development of the standardized undergraduate, pre-medical core curriculum and extra-curriculars as prerequisites for studying medicine in an allopathic school. Featuring Louis Kuchnir, MD, PhD and MIT '87 alum.

Lessons from Alnylam: The Science and Business of RNAi Therapeutics

Tue, 01 May 2012 17:30:09 GMT

Important lessons in the story of RNAi and Alnylam and their broader implications will be shared.

Creative Experimentation: Developing a Skill Critical for Managing Complex Operating Systems -- Steven J. Spear, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and MIT Engineering Systems Division

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:49:11 GMT

A broad-based capacity for experimentation is critical for organizations to succeed because the systems in which people are embedded are increasingly complex and fast.

The Doctor Is In - KI Special Series December 2011 - Targeted Therapies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:19:33 GMT

From December 2011: "Targeted Therapies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer"

Doing double duty: MIT's Collin Stultz

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:58:50 GMT

A computational biologist and physician, Collin Stultz takes a unique approach to studying diseases that could lead to new treatments.

RLE Investigator Profile Video Series: James G. Fujimoto

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:58:53 GMT

Professor James G. Fujimoto of MIT discusses research and education in his group, and the intellectual challenges facing engineers at the frontiers of optics and biomedical imaging.

The Doctor Is In - KI Special Series November 2011 - Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:38:13 GMT

"The Doctor is IN" is a monthly seminar series at the Koch Institute at MIT. The goal of this seminar is to discuss the clinical management of different cancer types.

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging - Dr. Aubrey de Grey - Part 2 Q&A - MIT Club of Northern California

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:37:11 GMT

Join us for a fascinating discussion with Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science officer of the SENS Foundation (SENS stands for "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senscence"), on the topic of "Regenerative Medicine Against Aging."

Dr. de Grey has been a provocative and polarizing figure in the scientific and medical communities' dialogue on the topic of life extension, and the approaches that will lead to dramatic increases in quantity and quality of life.

According to Dr. de Grey, "the first human who will live up to 1,000 years is probably already alive now, and might even be today between 50 and 60 years old."

Biography:

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist based in Cambridge, UK, and is the Chief Science Officer of SENS Foundation, a California-based 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to combating the aging process.

He is also Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, the world's highest-impact peer-reviewed journal focused on intervention in aging. He received his BA and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1985 and 2000 respectively.

His original field was computer science, and he did research in the private sector for six years in the area of software verification before switching to biogerontology in the mid-1990s.

His research interests encompass the characterization of all the accumulating and eventually pathogenic molecular and cellular side-effects of metabolism ("damage") that constitute mammalian aging and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. He has developed a possibly comprehensive plan for such repair, termed Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS), which breaks aging down into seven major classes of damage and identifies detailed approaches to addressing each one.

A key aspect of SENS is that it can potentially extend healthy lifespan without limit, even though these repair processes will probably never be perfect, as the repair only needs to approach perfection rapidly enough to keep the overall level of damage below pathogenic levels.

Dr. de Grey has termed this required rate of improvement of repair therapies "longevity escape velocity".

Dr. de Grey is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organizations.

Links worth a look:

SENS Foundation. Advancing Rejuvenation Biotechnologies. http://sens.org/

"Do You Want to Live Forever: Aubrey de Grey thinks he knows how to defeat aging. He's brilliant, but is he nuts?" Technology Review, Feb 2005. http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/14147/

"Aubrey de Grey Responds." Technology Review, Jan 2005. http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/14097/

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging - Dr. Aubrey de Grey - Part 1 - MIT Club of Northern California

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:49:23 GMT

Inside the lab: Jacqueline A. Lees, Ph.D.

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:32:50 GMT

Learn more about the work that Professor Lees and her lab are doing to understand how proteins and pathways are mutated in cancer--and how they hope to make advances in detecting and hopefully treating osteosarcoma.

Conquering Cancer: Opening Remarks Reflections on Major Milestones in Cancer Research and Technology Development

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

03/16/2011 8:30 AM KresgeDavid A. Mindell, PhD '96, Frances and David Dibner Associate Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing; ; Dr. Susan Hockfield, President, MIT; Tyler Jacks, Director, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and David H. Koch Professor, MITInvestigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; ; Nancy Hopkins, Amgen, Inc. Professor of Biology; Phillip A. Sharp, HM, Institute Professor; Founding Director, McGovern Institute for Brain Research ; Jacqueline Lees, SM '86, PhD '90, Associate Director, Center for Cancer Research and Professor, Dept of Biology; Robert S. Langer, Jr., ScD '74, Institute Professor, Kenneth J. Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Harvard"MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology ; Description: The breadth and depth of thinking represented in MIT's 150th anniversary symposia would do William Barton Rogers proud, believes David Mindell. MIT's founder and first president envisioned the university pursuing cutting edge work, and the "convergence of science and engineering 150 years later captures the essence, the special courage" that Rogers imagined, says Mindell. MIT's pursuit of a cure for cancer constitutes just this kind of convergence, states MIT president Susan Hockfield. While the Institute began significant research on the disease decades ago, work underway today promises major breakthroughs. "We've got the right place, the right people and this is the right time. We are riding the crest of a powerful wave in science," says Hockfield. And at MIT's new David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, states Tyler Jacks, partnerships between scientists and engineers are "already helping us treat the disease more sensitively, and one day will give us the tools to prevent it altogether." Jacks' colleagues from the Koch Institute describe past milestones in cancer research, and attest to the promise of science and engineering collaborations in current and future research. Nancy Hopkins starts with the Nixon Administration's declared "war on cancer" in 1971. Researchers could identify environmental factors, such as smoking, that caused cancers, and learned that early detection and treatment were critical in battling the disease. But these two avenues were not enough, and tackling cancer at the molecular level soon became essential. Energized by the revolution in molecular biology, MIT was "courageous or crazy enough" to take on this challenge, says Hopkins. She characterizes progress in understanding the cellular basis of cancer as "breathtaking," leading to the development of "smart drugs," some of which seriously extend the lifespan of cancer patients without the side effects of previous therapies. But while the number of cancer deaths this country avoids has grown enormously in the past decade, Hopkins believes "the true number being saved is not nearly as great as it should be," primarily because basic discoveries "are not exploited as effectively as they could be." There "are still major things about cancer we don't know," says Phillip Sharp, in spite of a raft of important discoveries from researchers at MIT. Salvador Luria, David Baltimore, Robert Horvitz, Susumu Tonegawa and Sharp himself pried apart such secrets as the function of genes in bacteria, genetic changes in the immune system, oncogenes, and programmed cell death. Sharp notes the long evolution of one of the first personalized cancer treatments, Gleevec (for chronic myelogenous leukemia), from MIT laboratories to actual drug. "To turn down the death rate due to cancer," says Sharp, "we must accelerate understanding and the ability to take fundamental discoveries and move them into therapy." Convergence of engineering and medicine will be critical to quickening the pace of drug discovery, says Sharp, and no better place than at MIT, which has brought together all the essential research elements. Cancer genes acquire mutations along a stepwise path that proves diabolically difficult to trace, as Jacqueline Lees describes. But the job of researchers has been elucidating this process of transformation from normal cell to metastatic cancer, and seeking opportunities to detect, disrupt, and destroy the disease at different points along the way. Lees points to several types of genes scientists have been targeting in their battle. Her lab has been exploring a tumor suppressor gene that plays a major role in retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer of the eyes, and that also predisposes some patients to other tumors. Researchers want to control this gene to inhibit mutations, and stop the cancer from marshaling resources from other cells. Lees advocates the use of mouse models, rather than "studying isolated cancer cells in cultures," in order to "analyze the progression of disease and most importantly, test chemotherapeutic agents in the context of a living organism." Robert Langer credits a series of lucky breaks for bringing him to the engineering side of medicine, including his entr_e to Judah Folkman's Boston lab, where he participated in pioneering work showing that tumors grow by recruiting new blood vessels (angiogenesis), and that targeting this process could thwart the spread of cancer. Langer tested hundreds of materials that could be released slowly in the body to block the growth of tumor"related blood vessels without harming healthy tissue. But he notes it took 28 years from the time this work was first published in 1976 to FDA approval of an angiogenesis inhibitor drug. The field is still young, says Langer, with new inhibitors emerging for different cancers, and bioengineering increasingly central to drug development. He is excited about Koch Institute work involving "nanoparticles decorated with different molecules" that attack tumor cells. The interface of engineering and biology also promises minute sensors, cancer vaccines, and ways of measuring changes in cells at "1 one"millionth the weight of a nanogram-the most sensitive scale in the world." Says Langer, "I hope these will change our future." About the Speaker(s): Nancy Hopkins earned widespread recognition for cloning vertebrate developmental genes. Using a techniqe called insertional mutagenesis -- designed for such invertebrate animals as the fruit fly -- Hopkins's laboratory has cloned hundreds of genes that play a role in creating a viable fish embryo. Hopkins' research earned her 1998 election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1999 election to the Institute of Medicine and 2004 election to the National Academy of Sciences. She speaks frequently about gender equity issues in science. Hopkins obtained a B.A. from Radcliffe College in 1964 and a Ph.D. from the department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Harvard University in 1971. Host(s): Office of the President, MIT150 Inventional Wisdom

Paradigm Shifts: From Biology to Technology to Medical Applications

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

03/16/2011 1:30 PM KresgeRichard O. Hynes, PhD '71, Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research, Department of Biology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Eric S. Lander, Professor of Biology ; Founding Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Member, Whitehead Institute; Lee Hood, Affiliate Professor of Immunology, University of Washington; President, Institute of Systems Biology; Susan L. Lindquist, Professor of Biology, MITDescription: After years of working out the genetic and molecular machinery of cancer, scientists are gaining significant ground on the disease, and are on the verge of a new generation of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Three researchers who have spearheaded this biomedical revolution describe how increasingly fast and cost"effective technology has helped make sense of ever"growing data on different cancers, offering 'big picture' views that may lead not merely to more effective treatments, but to an entirely new kind of medical care. When exposed to environmental stress such as high temperatures, cells in all organisms respond with proteins called heat shock factors (HSFs), and endure all sorts of damage. Years ago, Susan Lindquist speculated that the stress response, an "ancient survival pathway," might have something to do with cancer. She set this work aside, until she was "enticed" by MIT and its multidisciplinary and computational approach to the disease. In recent studies, Lindquist has learned that a central protein, HSF1, promotes malignancy in many ways. She tested different strains of cancer cells from many MIT labs, and found that "cancer is aided and abetted by the stress response." In human breast cancer cells, for example, "the more deranged and metastatic and oncogenic the cell line is, the more it seems to depend on stress response," Lindquist says. Conversely, knocking out HSF1 can protect against cancer growth. With the help of the Broad Institute and its screening technology, Lindquist has explored 350 thousand compounds to see whether they inhibit or potentiate HSF1, and turned up herbal remedies that interfere with the stress response and slow the advance of some cancers. Only recently has it been possible to step back and get the big picture on cancer, says Eric Lander. This increasingly comprehensive perspective comes courtesy of Lander's own enterprises, including the Human Genome Project (1990"2003), and relentlessly improving DNA sequencing technology. MIT's own sequencing output has grown from 70 billion bases per year in 1999 to 125 billion bases, with the cost down 100 thousand fold _ "a stunning pace," concludes Lander, with major implications for cancer research. Lander has launched a cancer genome atlas that will assemble from hundreds of thousands of patient samples of normal and cancerous DNA, and permit the analysis of important cancer cell lines. He envisions the capacity to "knock out every gene in the genome" to build cellular models in order to predict "how a tumor will become resistant to drugs. "It's already time to start asking what is the standard of care for cancer patients," says Lander. "It should be soon for anybody that I loved that they could have this information." Leroy Hood figures he has participated in four paradigm changes in biomedical science, and is leading the charge on the fifth: the drive toward P4 medicine (for "predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory"). Hood was behind the automated DNA sequencer that made the Human Genome Project a reality, and has subsequently developed other devices for translating RNA, protein and other biological information. He says he came to realize that "cross"disciplinary biology was essential for the future," accompanied by a systems approach to disease. Hood imagines patients someday "surrounded by a cloud of virtual data points," which may be distilled to render "simple hypotheses about health and disease." With medicine increasingly an informational science, researchers will be able to map diseases as networks perturbed by precisely delineated genetic or environmental factors. Hood is developing a blood diagnostics system for detecting different types of disease, and developing genomes of families to track genes coding for these diseases. The ultimate goal: creating individualized patient "data spaces" in order to "deal with disease in powerful new ways," and to shift the future focus toward wellness. About the Speaker(s): Richard Hynes received his B.A. in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and his Ph.D. in biology from MIT. After postdoctoral work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, where he initiated his work on cell adhesion, he returned to MIT as a faculty member. Hynes is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He has received the Gairdner Foundation International Award for achievement in medical science and recently served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT150 Inventional Wisdom

Personalized Cancer Care

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

03/16/2011 3:15 PM KresgeMichael Yaffe, Professor of Biology, MIT; Michael T. Hemann, Latham Family Career Development Assistant Professor of Biology, MIT; David M. Livingston, Emil Frei Professor of Genetics and Medicine, Harvard Medical Schoo; Daniel A. Haber, Laurel Schwartz Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Center for Cancer Risk Analysis, MGH; Director, MGH Cancer Center, MGH; Tyler Jacks, Director, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and David H. Koch Professor, MITInvestigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Description: In the final of four symposia on pathbreaking cancer research, Tyler Jacks expresses "great optimism that we're getting close, that we can see over the horizon...and we will be successful in controlling the disease in the not too distant future." Personalized medicine will pave the way to this future, explains moderator Michael Yaffe. Scientists must gain an understanding "of what makes each tumor unique, and design a custom strategy to try to turn that knowledge into a cure," he says. Yaffe's panelists describe the great challenges involved in generating "the right drug, for the right time, in a dose that maximizes the chances of killing the tumor without killing the patient." "Tumor genomes are very complex," says Michael Hemann, but their makeup can now be modeled outside the patient, modified by removing or adding DNA, and even tested for responses to possible therapeutic compounds. Bioengineering using such tools as retroviruses proves especially helpful in exploring two proteins that appear to be involved in a large percentage of human cancers: ATM and p53. Researchers know that mutations in these correlate with different prognoses in cancer patients, and have developed drugs to help silence these proteins selectively. The problem is drug resistance. But Hemann believes it will be possible to "make a drug"resistant tumor drug sensitive," by manipulating ATM and p53 in a manner specific to a patient's own tumor profile. By identifying the molecular signature of many different tumors, through genome scale analysis of alterations in a large collection of genes, scientists can build a "toolset to predict patient outcome and optimize strategies for overcoming drug resistance." Normal cells do a good job of repairing DNA damage, but in some types of cancers, such as those associated with the loss of BRCA1 or 2 genes, cells cannot fix breaks in DNA, explains David Livingston. These tumor suppressor genes fix double strand breaks in DNA, "which is for a cell like a medical emergency," and if not corrected, leads to cell death. Livingston describes efforts to help address BRCA1 or 2 deficiencies, with targeted drug treatments that combine inhibiting the activities of DNA"damaging proteins inside the cell with chemotherapy to kill micrometastases. Livingston believes "the most urgent need of all is for some sort of analysis method, a robust, tractable biomarker," that can report on the sensitivities of tumor cells to certain kinds of drugs, and that might help predict clinical outcome as well as personalize a patient's therapy. "What in the world do we do with all this information?" asks Daniel Haber, referring to an enormously complex "wiring diagram" of a cancer. Scientists already have in hand novel therapeutics that target different nodes in this picture, with some dramatic successes in certain types of lung cancer and melanomas. But "there has been a tremendous amount of serendipity to how some of these have evolved," says Haber. He wants to achieve more systematic progress in matching the right drug with the right patient, preclinically; applying information "that's wonderful in the lab, in the patient;" and then "serially monitoring cells during therapy." Haber argues for robotic screening of thousands of cancer cell lines to identify biomarkers for drug sensitivity, and genotyping cancers taken in biopsy "in real time for known and clinically significant mutations." Finally, Haber is developing a microfluidic device to capture circulating tumor cells ("a huge challenge") to determine how many cells move from the primary tumor into the blood, and whether they act as metastatic precursors. This would open a window onto cancers as they evolve, permit monitoring of drug resistance, and maybe even suggest opportunities for adjusting treatment as a tumor regrows. About the Speaker(s): Michael Yaffe received his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry in 1987, and an M.D. in 1989, both from Case Western Reserve University. He is also a founder of Consensus Pharmaceuticals and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. Yaffe co"founded The DNA Repair Company in 2004 and serves as Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board at the company. He also serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Boston Biomedical Research Institute, Inc. Yaffe received multiple teaching awards from University Hospitals of Cleveland, and earned the 1998 Howard Hughes Physician Scientist Award, and the 1999 Burroughs Wellcome Career Development Award.Host(s): Office of the President, MIT150 Inventional Wisdom

Rebuilding Haiti

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

10/29/2010 4:00 PM 34"101Paul Farmer, Founder, Partners in HealthDescription: Difficult as it is to look beyond the acute misery of Haiti's current crisis, Paul Farmer proposes that aid agencies and others concerned with rebuilding focus on the nation's "old, chronic problems." There's no shortage of recovery ideas, he says, but these will go nowhere if they do not also advance the long"neglected, basic rights of Haitians. Farmer describes efforts to respond to Haiti's disastrous earthquake of January 2010, which killed hundreds of thousands, left 1.3 million homeless and much of the capital in ruins. Today, nearly a year later, the generous pledges of international aid have yet to materialize, says Farmer, and the peril has expanded to include a cholera outbreak. This picture is all the bleaker for the deaths of many of Farmer's collaborators. The earthquake destroyed invaluable "human infrastructure", says Farmer, including all the nursing students at Haiti's one public nursing school. Farmer has been working in Haiti for more than a decade, attempting to address not just malnutrition, HIV and tuberculosis, but larger issues such as Haitians' lack of access to clean water, public education and healthcare. He would like to see international aid groups and foreign powers involved with Haiti recognize these issues in a meaningful way. Farmer's long"standing strategy has been to engage Haiti's public sector, or what remains after years of military and U.S. proxy rule, in the fight for these rights. He says, "There is always a role for the promotion of basic rightsThe question is how to do this in the field, not just win an argument in seminar." The earthquake has profoundly deepened Haiti's need for essential public institutions. The 1,000"plus tent cities housing more than a million people in Port au Prince are swelling, not diminishing, because people cannot find potable water anywhere else, and most have no idea where their next meal will come from. Yet there is a push to expel people from their tents and tarps, says Farmer, as if that will somehow speed construction of more permanent residences. Many plans are afoot for such housing, he says -- but few that take into account the desires of Haitians, who should have agency in shaping their own future. Rebuilding Haiti, Farmer believes, means "rebuilding aid machinery which is very broken, and often a damaging thing." He is forging new alliances among Haitians and other aid partners, including Cubans and evangelical groups from the U.S., around water projects, and a new hospital that will be "big, green and public." Says Farmer, "We must make common cause with those seeking to provide basic rights." About the Speaker(s): Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is medical director of a charity hospital, the Clinique Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti and he is also the UN Deputy Special Envoy to for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases. He is the author of Pathologies of Power (University of California Press, 2003); Infections and Inequalities (University of California Press, 1998); The Uses of Haiti (Common Courage Press, 1994); and AIDS and Accusation (University of California Press, 1992). In addition, he is co"editor of Women, Poverty, and AIDS, (Common Courage Press, 1996) and of The Global Impact of Drug"Resistant Tuberculosis (Harvard Medical School and Open Society Institute, 1999). Farmer is the recipient of the Duke University Humanitarian Award, the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association's Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award, and the Heinz Humanitarian Award. In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in recognition of his work. Farmer is the subject of Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House, 2003). Farmer received his Bachelor's degree from Duke University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Program in Science, Technology and Society

Killian Lecture 2010: Rudolph Jaenisch

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:50:37 GMT

Making stem-cell therapy a reality
In Killian Award lecture, Rudolf Jaenisch outlines progress and possibilities for treating human disease with stem cells.
Read more on the MIT News Office website here.

Stem cells, reprogramming and personalized medicine: promise, problems, reality

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:00:00 GMT

09/28/2010 2:30 PM 10"250Rudolf Jaenisch, Professor of Biology, MIT Founding Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchDescription: After years of relentless lab work, rising and falling expectations, and the challenge of a sometimes hostile public, Rudolf Jaenisch says, "The scenario that looked like a fantasy has come closer to reality. We can study complex human diseases in a Petri dish and potentially contribute to therapy." In this lecture, Jaenisch describes the history of stem cell research and recent progress -- a story in which he has played a central role. Jaenisch relates how stem cell science emerged from other significant work in molecular biology, such as his own breakthroughs with transgenic mice. Early in his career, Jaenisch began using viruses to study development, especially the puzzling way genes worked to switch on key sequences of growth. Jaenisch helped explicate some of the mechanisms of gene expression, or epigenetics, the system that makes genes readable or unreadable. In a "simple analogy for non"biologists," Jaenisch says that genetic information without epigenetics is like a Shakespeare speech without punctuation and spaces -- information content that's hard to read. Jaenisch's lab learned how to manipulate genes essential for development, and this led to exploration of embryonic stem cells. Stem cells have the potential to develop into any type of cell (called pluripotency). Scientists imagined that genetic manipulation would permit shaping these cells into tissues that could be used for "customized tissue repair in degenerative diseases, and maybe for rejuvenation and prolongation of life." Enormous hype, and hope, immediately surrounded the concept of regenerative medicine. Jaenisch displays some tabloid advertisements falsely describing stem cell cures for dread diseases. A subsequent advance, a technique called nuclear transfer that involves replacing the egg's original genetic material with that of a somatic donor cell, created even greater opportunities in the stem cell field. For Jaenisch, this held out even greater promise for therapeutic applications of stem cells. But for others, it raised the specter of human reproductive cloning, generating "enormous debate." The field took another momentous turn when researchers learned how to induce pluripotent cells without the egg, says Jaenisch. Skin cells could become beating heart muscle, for instance. Recently, Jaenisch and his team have been at work reprogramming cells in culture, and attempting to resolve remaining challenges to customized stem cell therapy. These include eliminating the possibility of introducing viruses into growing cells, precisely integrating the correct genes in human induced pluripotent stem cells, and identifying the best kinds of donor cells for culturing. His current research involves modeling Parkinson's disease, exposing cells in culture to the kind of stress a human patient might experience, and "telescoping the aging process." About the Speaker(s): Rudolf Jaenisch is one of the founders of transgenic science (gene transfer to create mouse models of human disease). His lab has produced mouse models leading to new understanding of cancers and various neurological diseases. He received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Munich in 1967. He came to the Whitehead from the University of Hamburg in Germany, where he was head of the Department of Tumor Virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute. Jaenisch received the 2002 Robert Koch Prize for Excellence in Scientific Achievement. In 2003, he was awarded the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for basic research in oncology and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Jaenisch is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology, and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Host(s): Office of the President, Office of the President

Cancer Stem Cells and Malignant Progression

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:37:37 GMT

Robert Weinberg - Whitehead Institute

Oncogenic Kras: Models and Medicines

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:54:16 GMT

David Tuveson - Cancer Research UK, Cambridge Research Institute

From Targets to Drugs for Cancer Patients

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:52:39 GMT

Edwin Clark - Merck Research Laboratories

Prostate Tissue Stem Cells and Cancer Progression

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:01:20 GMT

Owen Witte - HHMI, University of California, Los Angeles

Recognition of Cancer Cells by Natural Killer Cells

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:59:22 GMT

David Raulet - University of California, Berkeley

How Can Engineers Contribute to the Fight Against Malaria?

Tue, 11 May 2010 04:00:00 GMT

05/11/2010 6:00 PM MuseumSubra Suresh, ScD '81, Dean, MIT School of Engineering; ; Monica Diez"Silva, Post"doctoral fellow, DMSE; David Quinn, Graduate student, Mechanical EngineeringDescription: Malaria has afflicted mankind from time immemorial, confounding many attempts at its eradication. Hundreds of millions now contract the disease annually, and between one and three million -- primarily children -- die from malaria each year. But thanks to an alliance with engineering, medical science has some powerful, new weapons in its arsenal that may ultimately prevail over malaria. From the labs of MIT Dean of Engineering Subra Suresh comes a fresh approach to the disease. The parasitic microbe that causes malaria affects the ability of red blood cells to contract, or deform, as they move through the body's thousands of blood vessels, delivering oxygen and removing CO2. Several years ago, Suresh had the insight that the infection could be viewed as "an engineering problem." With the recent deciphering of the malaria parasite genome, and new methods for measuring forces on individual molecules and cells, says Suresh, "We have some hope of asking a question that we did not have the hope of answering 10 years ago." Researchers can now minutely and systematically track how biochemical and environmental triggers lead to devastating changes in red blood cell deformability in malaria. Suresh has assembled an international group of researchers to investigate different pieces of this complex disease, which involves mosquitoes and humans, and multiple phases of infection. From the Institut Pasteur Suresh recruited microbiologist Monica Diez"Silva, who is exploring how Plasmodium falciparum (the parasite responsible for the most severe form of malaria) produces mechanical changes inside infected red blood cells. This microorganism churns out thousands of merozoites that enter the cells, making them stick to each other and to the walls of blood vessels. They become so rigid that they can't squeeze easily through blood vessels, compromising circulation. Diez"Silva is especially concerned with infected cells that invade the brain. Another Suresh group member, mechanical engineer David Quinn, developed a home"made optic system to trap and stretch red blood cells. He learned that in the late stages of malaria infection, the membranes of these cells increase in stiffness by a factor of 50. He is also using microfluidics to model the flow of infected and uninfected red blood cells -- an "engineered obstacle course" -- which may some day yield a portable diagnostic tool. Suresh hopes his team's work will lead to a host of analytic and therapeutic aids for malaria. They have already made a great leap with the discovery of a Plasmodium falciparum gene that codes for a protein reducing the deformability of red blood cells. This same protein, they learned, also has greater impact when body temperature rises _ typical of high fever episodes in malaria. With research partners in Singapore, the Suresh group is working on a humanized mouse model in which different genes of the Plasmodium parasite are removed to see how they affect the disease. Some day, it might be possible to kill key parasite proteins in mosquitoes by widespread spraying, effectively defanging the disease. But Suresh warns, "We are very far away from therapeutic success. Mosquitoes adapt faster than we can study malaria." About the Speaker(s): Subra Suresh joined the MIT faculty from Brown University in 1993. He has served as the head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and became Dean of the School of Engineering in 2007. His current research focuses on the mechanical responses of single biological cells and molecules and their implications for human health and diseases. Suresh has published more than 210 articles in journals, and is co"inventor of 14 U.S. and international patents. Suresh is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. His honors include the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar award from CalTech, the Brahm Prakash Visiting Professorship from the Indian Institute of Science, selection by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the most highly cited researchers in Materials Science, the Clark B. Millikan Visiting Professorship at CalTech, the TFR Swedish National Chair in Engineering from the Royal Instiute of Technology, Stockholm and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Host(s): Office of the Provost, MIT Museum

OSF 2009: Modeling and Personalizing Cancer-Michael Yaffe

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:19:08 GMT

OSF 2009: Modeling and Personalizing Cancer-Michael Hemann

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:18:21 GMT

The Power of Basic Science Applied to Medical Progress: Past Examples and Hope for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Illness

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

10/22/2009 4:00 PM 26"100Ed Scolnick, Director, Psychiatric Disease Program and the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad InstituteDescription: An exemplar of the purpose"driven life in medical science, Ed Scolnick details research milestones from a remarkably varied career, revealing how scientific insight and collaborative effort translate into life"saving solutions for millions. This physician turned biochemist has held distinguished positions at the National Institutes of Health, Merck, and now at MIT, but common themes unite his pursuits: "I'm always excited by the inherent beauty of molecular and biochemical insights into how biology works. Making scientific discoveries for me is tremendously emotionally satisfying and in fact addicting." In his talk, Scolnick touches on such research breakthroughs as identifying virus oncogenes, and developing treatments for cardiovascular disease, Hepatitis B, and osteoporosis, among others. He emphasizes that teasing out the biochemistry of diseases is "the key to success in drug discovery." In Marfan syndrome, for example, investigators learned that a mutant gene leads to a malfunctioning aorta. Finding a cure flowed from understanding the underlying pathological processes. Scolnick proudly describes research on a gene involved with cholesterol buildup and an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. This led to the development of statins, which has helped dramatically reduce the death rate in people with heart disease. Scolnick offers a dramatic chronology of his pioneering work at Merck starting in 1981 to find an effective AIDS treatment, an effort leading to the protease inhibitor Crixivan. His timeline covers more than a decade of scientific collaboration to block the mechanism of HIV, and involves false starts, the death of a key scientist in the Lockerbie bombing, pressure from AIDS activists and corporate overseers, a "miracle" AIDS patient, breakthroughs in measuring viral protein, and more than one "twist of fate." In 2004, Scolnick turned in a new direction: toward mental illness, a field stalled for decades due to ignorance "about the underlying biochemistry and physiology of the disease." Today, with the help of genomics and computative technologies, researchers are beginning to reveal the basic genetic architecture of schizophrenia and bipolar illness, says Scolnick. The "outline of their biochemistry" is starting to come clear for the first time, leading to the real possibility of novel therapeutics. While the challenges are formidable, he believes, consolidating MIT's "first rate neuroscience, human genetics, chemistry (creates) a unique opportunity to do something in a field that desperately needs the kind of approach and change we were able to bring to the AIDS field." NOTE: Audio levels for Kastner and Horvitz are very low, but improve when Scolnick begins his talk. We apologize for the inferior audio. About the Speaker(s): At the Broad Institute, Edward Scolnick works to identify risk genes for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. From 1982"2003, Scolnick served as president of Merck Research Laboratories; executive vice president for science and technology at Merck & Company, Inc; executive director and vice president in the department of virus and cell biology and senior vice president for basic research at Merck Research Laboratories. Prior to joining Merck, he worked at the National Cancer Institute where he demonstrated the cellular origin of sarcoma virus oncogenes in mammals and defined specific genes that cause human cancer. He also worked at the National Heart Institute. Scolnick was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1984 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1993. He became a member of the Institute of Medicine in 1996 and served on the Board of Directors of Merck & Co., Inc. from 1997 to 2002. He recently was selected as Regents' Lecturer, University of California at Berkeley, Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor at Cornell University, and appointed to the Board of Visitors at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He currently serves on the board of directors for Millipore Corporation; Renovis, Inc.; and TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board for MPM Capital. He was a member of the FDA Science Board from 2000 to 2002. Scolnick holds an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.D. from Harvard University Medical School. Host(s): School of Science, School of Science

Novel Chip for Monitoring Breast Cancer

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

This video illustrates how estrogen is extracted from a drop of human blood using a novel microfluidics chip developed at the University of Toronto. The samples are lysed, and then the estrogen is extracted into a polar solvent (methanol), while the unwanted parts of the blood sample are extracted into a non-polar solvent (isooctane).

A Musical Score for Disease

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Gil Alterovitz, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, translated populations of genes into musical notes. Each constellation (green) represents a key network of interrelated genes (blue). Each network is represented by a musical note. In healthy cells, the notes form music in harmony, indicating a healthy state. In cancer cells, the soundtrack veers out of harmony, signaling a transition from a healthy to a diseased state.

Ting Shih: ClickHealth & ClickDiagnostics

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:16:13 GMT

Ting Shih SM '09 participated in the MIT Paul and Priscilla Gray Value-Added Internship program. Ting traveled to Botswana to implement the ClickDiagnostics telemedicine system she co-founded. The system connects community health workers to remote medical specialists for diagnosis and treatment advice. During the summer of 2009, she will be developing a series of new telemedicine applications on the Google Android G1 phone targeting HIV/AIDS staging and cervical cancer. The group will be setting up operations in Ghana and Uganda this summer. Find out more about Ting at http://www.clickdiagnostics.com/

Critical Issues and Grand Challenges

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

06/15/2009 10:15 AM Wong AuditoriumJames A. Champy, '63, SM '65, Chairman of Consulting Perot Systems Corporation; Life Member, MIT Corporation; John Reed, Retired, Chairman, Citigroup, Inc.; Denis Cortese, CEO, Mayo Clinic; Steven E. Koonin, PhD '75, Undersecretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy; Irving Wladawsky"Berger, Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, and Visiting Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems DivisionDescription: These panelists use the lens of systems engineering to focus sharply on some signature global challenges in finance, healthcare, energy and IT. The system failure that undid the small but influential financial services industry was a few decades in the making, says John Reed. In the '80s, a sea change swept over firms trading hundreds of billions of dollars each day. The new mantra was "shareholder value." Firms ditched time"honored rules of capitalizing trades and guaranteeing risk in order to build investor profits. The crystallization of this philosophy was the mortgage"backed security. Trillions of dollars went into "off"balance"sheet investment vehicles." When the nation's mortgage portfolio deteriorated, not just one node in the system collapsed, but all of them. To fix the financial sector, says Reed, "A systems view will be essential, including behavioral considerations, not just economics." There's no point in saying U.S.healthcare is broken unless you can offer a vision. For Denis Cortese, this means designing a "learning organization." Cortese maps out this organization's goals: simple value, with "better outcomes, better safety, and better service at a lower cost over time." His proposed system would focus on the patient's needs in order to "raise the health of the entire population." Cortese doesn't see a role for the government in his ideal organization. But there must be better metrics for determining value, coordination among large and small healthcare organizations, and "common principles in the payer domain." Ultimately, we'll need to define quality healthcare and set outcomes: "It won't be perfect, but it will be better than where we are today." Nine billion people will inhabit the planet by 2100, and many of them will either be acquiring energy for the first time, or wanting more. This has "unpleasant if not catastrophic" implications for greenhouse gas emissions, says Steven Koonin. Powering up while securing affordable energy and minimizing emissions involves better modeling of the physical and biological climate system; overcoming the inertia of our current transportation and building industries; and improving the "patchwork" of our current energy grid. Koonin sees immediate opportunities to cut energy use in half in cities, but we "must bring policy up to speed" to make this happen. Tackling global problems won't be possible without an improvement in complex organizational systems, says Irving Wladawsky"Berger, which in contrast to physically engineered systems, haven't progressed in the past century or so. Change is creeping in, though, as organizations manage increasing amounts of data with more integrated instrumentation and swelling computer capacity. Wladawsky"Berger sees new tools emerging such as cloud computing and networked data centers, leading to the standardization and customization of services for producers and consumers. He believes that the "merging of the digital infrastructure with the physical infrastructure" will lead to new ways of life, including smarter cities with smart traffic systems that reduce congestion and pollution. About the Speaker(s): James A. Champy is an authority on the management issues surrounding business reengineering and organizational change. Prior to joining Perot Systems, Champy was chairman and CEO of CSC Index, the management consulting arm of Computer Science Corporation. He was one of the original founders of Index, a $200"million consulting practice that was acquired by CSC in 1988. Champy has also authored such well"received books as Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, which sold more than 2,500,000 copies and spent more than a year on The New York Times bestseller list. His articles appear in major newspapers and magazines throughout the world. Champy earned his B.S. and his M.S. in civil engineering from MIT, and his J.D. from Boston College Law School. Champy serves on the board of Analog Devices, Inc., on MIT's Board of Trustees, and on the Board of Overseers of the Boston College Law School. Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Mending hearts with tissue engineering

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:09:37 GMT

Video of a patch of engineered heart tissue "beating" in response to electrical field stimulation. The tissue was created by culturing rat heart cells on an accordion-like honeycomb scaffold developed by MIT researchers. Original magnification = 100x. Photo Credit G.C. Engelmayr Jr., MIT

Reflections on an MIT Education

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT

04/28/2008 4:30 PM 6"120A. Neil Pappalardo, '64, SB EE '64 Chairman and CEO MeditechDescription: In a neat series of time capsules tagged to his MIT experience, Neil Pappalardo shares his story with MIT graduates in the hope that it will give them "an idea of the possibilities that lie ahead." His story begins in 1964, when as a senior majoring in Physics, he decided to pursue a thesis on a medical topic, without, Pappalardo notes, having attended a single course in design or synthesis. He met cardiologists at a Boston hospital searching for a labor"saving way to analyze hours' worth of EKG data. In a matter of months, he had invented a device to solve the problem, graduated in Electrical Engineering, and set out for a career at Mass. General Hospital. Lesson learned: "An MIT education will awaken creativity and discovery within you." Pappalardo recounts his early financial hardships (he had to sell blood for 12 weeks in order to buy a piano for his wife), as well as setbacks in trying to improve the complex and often error"prone workings of the hospital, via the entirely new concept of computer systems. "Everyone knows computers can be used for financial accounting," Pappalardo recalls people telling him, "but they can never orchestrate clinical processes, treatment or care." No one believed someone as young as he could tackle the complexities of hospital administration. He was determined, though, and took "every computer science course MIT has to offer -- all two of them." With some partner programmers, Pappalardo in six months came up with an automated system to reduce errors in clinical laboratory tests at the hospital. Lesson: A rigorous MIT education will ignite passion within you. In 1968, a 26"year"old Pappalardo, father of three, departed Mass General to start his own company. While venture capital liked his software, they didn't think his business plan would fly if hospitals had to purchase it on $200 thousand computers. So Pappalardo tweaked the plan with a bold innovation: Run the software on his company's computer and use a phone line to connect to the hospital. The VCs were impressed, and Meditech was formally born, August 4, 1969, the same day as Pappalardo's fourth child. Since then, Pappalardo's company has grown to provide a comprehensive set of medical, administrative, and financial software products, serving 25 million patients in 2,200 hospitals worldwide. And he has become one of MIT's most generous patrons. Says Pappalardo: "An MIT degree will open doors, and bestow confidence." Pappalardo closes: May your own children be proud of you, of your accomplishments and of your contributions to society. About the Speaker(s): After earning his S.B. in Electrical Engineering at MIT, A. Neil Pappalardo founded Medical Information Technology (Meditech), one of the earliest software companies. Meditech is a leading supplier of information system software for hospitals in the US, Canada and the UK. Meditech employs over 2,600 people, all in Massachusetts. Pappalardo is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation and serves on the Institute's Executive committee, the Audit committee and three visiting committees. For the Mechanical Engineering department he has funded a full professorship, the construction of a major undergraduate teaching laboratory, a book series and the construction of a nano"technology manufacturing laboratory. For the Physics department he has helped fund the construction of the world"class Magellan optical telescope observatory in Chile, provided the funds to initiate and sustain a program for Physics fellows and provided major funding for the construction of the Green Center. He is a Trustee of the New England Aquarium, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Dibner Institute and the Boston Lyric Opera. In 1996, he received an honorary degree from Suffolk University. In 2000, the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid in his honor. In 2007, he received an honorary degree from the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Host(s): School of Engineering, School of Engineering

Bridging the Delivery Gap to Global Health

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

11/19/2007 12:00 PM Wong AuditoriumDr. Jim Yong Kim, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights, Harvard Medical School; Board of Directors, Partners in Health Description: Jim Yong Kim and Partners in Health are paradoxically suffering from their own success. They demonstrated over the past decade that it is possible to set up effective HIV and primary care clinics in such developing nations as Haiti, and that it's possible to cure multiple drug resistant tuberculosis. They even managed to persuade pharmaceutical companies to permit the production of generic, less expensive antiretroviral medicines so they could be affordable to the poorest people. But now, as billions of dollars flow into efforts to attack diseases that needlessly kill and maim the world's poor, we find ourselves "living in the middle of an implementation bottleneck," says Kim. Whether from the Gates or Clinton Foundations, or from international government initiatives, money is flowing into new products like HIV/AIDS vaccines, TB vaccines, microbicides, anti"malarial drugs, and surgical services such as male circumcision. It could all "have a huge impact," says Kim, helping to forestall 10 million preventable deaths per year, but for the increasingly massive logjam in delivering all the care. Why is it so hard to distribute the expertise, technology, resources, to the people in need? There are all kinds of "just answers" that Kim gets: just align incentives; just make the markets work better; just fund infrastructures adequately; just give workers the management skills. While he agrees that these are all relevant issues, Kim really wants an integrated response. He'd like to see medical schools like Harvard, where he's on staff, develop the kind of case studies commonly employed at business and engineering schools to dissect complex strategy problems. For instance, medical students today have no idea how smallpox was eradicated _ the story of this immense project combining management and epidemiology has been lost as a teaching tool. Just as Harvard Business School was "teaching the Jet Blue meltdown three weeks after it happened," so must medical schools capture current problems and approach them both qualitatively and quantitatively. Kim calls on institutions like MIT Sloan to help devise new analytic frameworks for examining and improving global health delivery. "There's room for a whole new field, health care delivery science," says Kim, combining multiple disciplines, and developing leaders to advance evidence based strategies. We can't alleviate human suffering caused by disease "just being the lab, or by doing clinical research." It's now time "to build functioning health care systems everywhere in the world." About the Speaker(s): Jim Yong Kim was director of the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS department, a post he was appointed to in March 2004 after serving as advisor to the WHO director"general. He oversaw all of WHO's work related to HIV/AIDS, focusing on initiatives to help developing countries scale up their treatment, prevention, and care programs, including the "3x5" initiative designed to put three million people in developing countries on AIDS treatment by the end of 2005. Kim was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003; and was named one of America's 25 best leaders by US News & World Report in 2005; and one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He was a contributing editor to the 2003 and 2004 World Health Report, and his edited volume Dying for Growth: Global Inequity and the Health of the Poor analyzes the effects of economic and political change on health outcomes in developing countries. Kim trained dually as a physician and medical anthropologist. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University.Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Global Health Equity

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:00:00 GMT

11/15/2007 4:00 PM Kirsch 32"123Paul Farmer, Founder, Partners in HealthDescription: Don't foolishly advise Paul Farmer that his bold projects can't succeed. For the past 20 years, Farmer's been toppling orthodoxies concerning the delivery of health care to people of developing nations, and to our country's inner city poor. In a talk full of insights and anecdotes, Farmer brings his audience up to date on his groundbreaking work and methods. In the early 80s, Farmer was a Harvard medical student studying infectious disease in Haiti. HIV was taking a deadly toll there and in the U.S., but Farmer was struck by the inequity of treatment. "The idea of a different standard of care for people 1 _ hours from Miami didn't strike me as a good idea." Health care, Farmer came to believe, is a basic human right. In the early 90s, antiretroviral drugs emerged in the U.S. as a powerful treatment for AIDS -- but were priced beyond the reach of developing countries. Farmer and his colleagues began a public battle against such global inequalities. They demanded affordable drugs, and support for community"based health care initiatives, viewed by international funders as unsustainable and cost"ineffective. With a loan from a commercial bank in Boston, Farmer set out to prove everyone wrong. Starting with one facility, Farmer established community medical clinics across Haiti, run by and for Haitians, securing and disbursing affordable drugs for HIV and TB, and educating the community in preventive medicine. Local workers spread out into neighborhoods, to initiate and follow up on care. Farmer used his AIDS programs "as a battle horse to ride into the fight against poverty, and to talk about education, food security and housing." Farmer's support broadened to include such powerful funders as the Clinton Foundation. This has enabled him to take his program into Africa, first to Rwanda and more recently to Lesotho and Malawi. Farmer's Partners in Health group rebuilds medical infrastructure weakened by war or years of neglect; takes care of the sick; and then trains hundreds of local citizens. Haitians, whom Farmer describes as his teachers, have been spearheading much of the work in Africa. The costs of scaling up come less from labor, than from basic goods like food, and bumps in the supply chain. But the biggest obstacle of all, says Farmer, according, is "nay"saying, low expectations, a certain undertow of censorious opinion. As if it weren't hard enough to do the work, you have to fight a lot of skepticism, not from patients, coworkers or family members, but from your peers." About the Speaker(s): Medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is medical director of a charity hospital, the Clinique Bon Sauveur, in rural Haiti. Farmer has written extensively about health and human rights, and about the role of social inequalities in the distribution and outcome of infectious diseases. He is the author of Pathologies of Power (University of California Press, 2003); Infections and Inequalities (University of California Press, 1998); The Uses of Haiti (Common Courage Press, 1994); and AIDS and Accusation (University of California Press, 1992). In addition, he is co"editor of Women, Poverty, and AIDS, (Common Courage Press, 1996) and of The Global Impact of Drug"Resistant Tuberculosis (Harvard Medical School and Open Society Institute, 1999). Farmer is the recipient of the Duke University Humanitarian Award, the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association's Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award, and the Heinz Humanitarian Award. In 1993, he was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in recognition of his work. Farmer is the subject of Pulitzer Prizewinner Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House, 2003). Farmer received his Bachelor's degree from Duke University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Host(s): School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences

Process Improvement in the Rarefied Environment of Academic Medicine

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:00:00 GMT

10/23/2007 4:30 PM e"25"111Paul Levy, '72, MCP '74, President and Chief Executive Officer,; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterDescription: If, as Paul Levy says, "medicine for the most part remains a cottage industry," then how can you impose system"wide improvements -- especially if you're presiding over an academic hospital, where the culture rewards brilliant, independent, free"thinking doctors? This has been Levy's challenge since 2002, when he took over an ailing Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The result of a merger between two hospitals in the late '90s , BIDMC immediately fell into a "downward spiral," recounts Levy. Doctors and nurses left, and losses grew to nearly $70 million a year. The hospital burned up $200 million of a $500 million endowment. When he arrived, Levy recognized that the hospital's problems had less to do with medicine than with management and organization. For instance, it took 100 days for a bill to go out after the actual service was performed, and bills were often inaccurate, based on a doctor's hand"scribbled note. Levy set to work enhancing the hospital's routines, such as providing an electronic billing system with pull"down menus. He met with demoralized nurses to address their concerns, and succeeded in reversing the 15% turnover rate. Then, says Levy, "we started focusing on what really matters: how well we're taking care of people, how often are we hurting and killing people and what to do to stop." Hospitals, he notes, "are very dangerous places," with "bugs floating around and mistakes being made." One common problem at BIDMC, ventilator associated pneumonia, had a 30% mortality rate. The fixes were simple --raising beds, better oral hygiene, hand"washing --but accomplishing them required systemic compliance. Levy identified doctors who could lead colleagues in the new practices. He attached protractors to beds so nurses could raise them by precisely 45 degrees. "Lots of low"tech solutions must be institutionalized," says Levy. Mortality due to this pneumonia dropped, and Levy figures the hospital saves 96 lives per year, or $12 million in expenses. By shadowing nurses and other staff, Levy's discovered that individuals often find workarounds to problems, but aren't aware that others might benefit from their solutions. Levy set up a blog to post these solutions and focus the organization as a whole on areas of concern. Supporting good performance, sharing clinical results such as "how many people we hurt and kill" stimulates people in a hospital to do better, he believes. Public exposure goes a long way in helping academic medical staff to understand they must be "held accountable for their actions particularly when it comes to harm." About the Speaker(s): Paul F. Levy served as Executive Dean of Harvard Medical School before joining Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He established a national reputation as an administrator with his service as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the agency charged with the clean up of Boston Harbor, one of the largest pollution control projects in the world. He has also served as chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and Director of the Arkansas Department of Energy. Before joining Harvard Medical School, Levy was Adjunct Professor of Environmental Policy at MIT, where he taught infrastructure planning and development and environmental policy for seven years. He has also maintained an independent consulting practice, providing strategic, negotiation and regulatory advice to firms in the energy, water and telecommunications arenas. Levy holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Urban Studies and Planning, and a Master's in City Planning from MIT. He is the co"author of Negotiating Environmental Agreements (Island Press, 1999). Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Diverse Applications of Nuclear Technology

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 05:00:00 GMT

03/08/2007 7:00 PM 32-141David Kaiser, Program in Science, Technology and Society, MIT; Ian Hutchinson, Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering; Jeffrey Coderre, Nuclear Science and Engineering; Alan Jasanoff, Associate member, McGovern Institute for Brain Research; Dwight Williams, MLK Visiting Professor of Nuclear Science and EngineeringDescription: This session goes a long way toward demonstrating the -happy face of the atom," as moderator David Kaiser puts it, replacing the mushroom cloud image with a multidimensional picture of the uses of nuclear technology. As a plasma physicist, Ian Hutchinson works on controlled fusion -- a very hot area of nuclear technology in more ways than one. By fusing together isotopes of hydrogen, you can achieve the energy source of stars, says Hutchinson. This promises infinite reserves of clean energy. These reactions are only possible at super high temperatures, and -to bring these down to a human scale," the gases created must be contained by powerful magnets in machines called tokamaks. MIT and other labs have produced fusion energy and now a major international project to create a large fusion reactor is under way. The big challenge, says Hutchinson, is understanding the -great stirrings and eddies inside the plasma" that cause gas leaks and disruption to the fusion process. We are now entering a time when -angst seems to be subsiding and we are able to discuss the benefits of nuclear technology in the security arena," says Dwight Williams. He describes some major upgrades to the detection devices commonly used to prevent people from getting -bad stuff on an airplane or through a port." Williams explains active system devices, which can induce a radioactive signature in something that was not originally radioactive, and thus signal an item's -elemental content." A machine using thermal neutron activation analysis can penetrate all kinds of shielding, to produce gamma rays and a 3D image of the contents of a bag. Since explosives share some of the features of jam, marzipan and chocolate, says Williams, advanced nuclear techniques will help inspectors distinguish between the benign and dangerous. Medical applications of nuclear technology deploy different types of radiation to kill tumor cells and spare healthy tissue. But, says Jeffrey Coderre, shielding healthy cells to prevent radiation's side effects turns out to be a tricky proposition. Coderre investigated the nature of radiation damage and determined it was a function of damage to stem cells (rather than damage to blood vessels). He describes how the radioisotopes used in medical radiation, virtually all of which come from Canadian reactors, can be used in a variety of ways: to view areas of rapid bone growth, or tumor sites in bone; to sterilize syringes and drapes used in hospitals; and in a radiation helmet called the gamma knife to get focused radiation into difficult brain tumors. Alan Jasanoff provides a one-stop tour of medical imaging techniques, differentiating between those scans that use high energy radiation (such as computed tomography and positron emission tomography); and low wavelength radiation, based on radio waves, such as nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. PET scans detect molecular tracers that have been consumed in a sugary drink to find areas where cells are rapidly dividing, for example. New applications for this well established imaging method include locating plaques in the brain that cause Alzheimer's disease. MRI, unlike CT or PET scans, has minimal destructive impact on tissues, and allows 3D mapping of blood vessels, and more recently, the tracing of microscopic fibers in the brain. Jasanoff's lab uses calcium-sensitive contrast agents to detect events in the brain. About the Speaker(s): David Kaiser's physics research focuses on early-universe cosmology. His historical research focuses on the development of physics during the twentieth century. Kaiser's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy. He is the author of Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics (University of Chicago Press, 2005). He has also edited six books on the history of modern physical sciences, including, most recently, Pedagogy and the Practice of Science: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (MIT Press, 2005). Kaiser has been honored with awards from the American Physical Society, the History of Science Society, and the British Society for the History of Science and MIT's Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award. Kaiser received his A.B. in physics at Dartmouth College in 1993, completed a Ph.D. in physics at Harvard University in 1997, and a Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard in 2000. Host(s): Dean for Student Life, Technology and Culture Forum

Engineering Systems Solutions to Real World Challenges in Healthcare

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 05:00:00 GMT

12/14/2006 4:00 PM E51-345Daniel Z. Aronzon, Pres. and CEO, Vassar Bros Med. Ctr; ; Nicholas Christiano, Jr., VP and CIO of Healthquest (parent company of Vassar Brothers); Stephen A. Katz, Chief Med Officer, Vassar Brothers Med Ctr. ; Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Chairman Emeritus, IBM Academy of Technology, and Visiting Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems DivisionDescription: The Rx for an ailing healthcare industry lies only partly with new technology, say these panelists, who report on their attempts to realize a streamlined vision of healthcare at their Hudson Valley regional hospital. Pediatrician and CEO Daniel Aronzon describes a set of organizational challenges his institution faces, including accountability, transparency, safety, capacity, efficiency and cost. Myriad small problems can add up to millions in losses, and an occasional but catastrophic error may drain hospital resources. Aronzon notes that in the U.S., 97 thousand people die in hospitals every year because of such mistakes as giving a chemotherapy drug the wrong way. To get a handle on the safety problem, Aronzon has tried to create -a non-punitive just culture," where employees who hurt patients by making -an honest mistake" are not punished. The hospital also invested in systems enhancements and prescription bar-coding technology to eliminate or mitigate such errors. To cut expenses, Aronzon tagged computerized IV pumps with RFID, which prevented hoarding by staff and unnecessary replacement of the pricey machines. He frets about the coming demand on healthcare as boomers age: -Can't you see it coming," asks Aronzon, imagining this scene: -What do you mean there's not enough nurses? I'll sit on the call bell till they all come!" After examining his hospital's business model, Nicholas Christiano says his team decided that the most robust area for change lay with nurses. -They're continually in motion," running back and forth dealing with non-clinical issues. The model is -crazy and doesn't work," says Christiano. The closest analogy to hospitals is the airline industry, where -if you make a mistake you have a catastrophic event," says Christiano. To avoid errors, the airline industry has an infrastructure -that can support and track everything in a real-time environment." Christiano proposed a wireless communication network for nurses, which he promoted through an internal marketing campaign as a way of easing nurses' workload and enhancing their interactions with patients. Despite all the technological advances, Stephen Katz believes healthcare is still informed by a 1950s culture. Medicine -hasn't had to deal with efficiencies other businesses have had to establish in the same years." But more so than other industries, -we're a people business -- people at their very worst and stressed out." The question, says Katz, is how to improve the lives of staff, with new systems and technology, -to bring them along with us for the betterment of the patients." About the Speaker(s): Irving Wladawsky-Berger is responsible for identifying emerging technologies and marketplace developments critical to the future of the IT industry, and organizing appropriate activities in and outside IBM in order to capitalize on them. He began his IBM career in 1970 at the Company's Thomas J. Watson Research Center. After joining IBM's product development organization in 1985, he continued his efforts to bring advanced technologies to the marketplace, leading IBM's initiatives in supercomputing and parallel computing. He has managed a number of IBM's businesses, including the large systems software and the UNIX systems divisions. He is a member of the University of Chicago Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratories and of the Technology Advisory Council for BP International. He was co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee, as well as a founding member of the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A native of Cuba, he was named the 2001 Hispanic Engineer of the Year. Wladawsky-Berger received an M.S. and a Ph. D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.Host(s): School of Engineering, Engineering Systems Division

Nanotechnology and the Study of Human Diseases

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 04:00:00 GMT

06/10/2006 12:00 PM KresgeSubra Suresh, ScD '81, Dean, MIT School of Engineering; Description: Subra Suresh fleshes out the promise of nanotechnology, at least in regard to our understanding of disease. His talk, which focuses on malaria and its impact on red blood cells, demonstrates how the fields of engineering, biology and medicine are converging. To function properly, he explains, a red blood cell -- eight micrometers in diameter or 1/10th the thickness of a human hair -- must be able to squeeze through three micrometer openings in blood vessels. Working with a -laser tweezer" and two tiny (nano-sized) glass beads, Suresh can apply pressure to stretch single cells so that they become thin enough to fit through small openings. He uses a computer to simulate in three dimensions how red blood cells might fold and lengthen under normal conditions in the human body. With malaria, infected red blood cells lose their ability to stretch, and Suresh can measure precisely the degree of deformation. The parasite changes the molecular structure of the cell, which -becomes stiff and sticky," unable to move through small blood vessels. So the spleen, which normally clears impurities from the body, can't do its job, and the disease progresses. With a global group of collaborators, Suresh is working on genetic manipulation of the malaria parasite to see how knocking out individual proteins might impact the structure of the infected cell. This kind of biomolecular measurement and manipulation may some day lead to new therapies for a disease that infects more than 400 million people per year. Suresh is also applying nanotech approaches to other diseases. He is looking into how cancer cells -become less stiff, move more easily, leading to metastatic invasions." This may ultimately prove useful in studying breast cancer, he says. About the Speaker(s): Subra Suresh received his Sc.D. from MIT in 1983. Prior to joining the MIT faculty in 1993 as the R. P. Simmons Professor, he was Professor of Engineering at Brown University. His current research focuses on experimental and computational studies of the mechanical responses of single biological cells and molecules and their implications for human health and diseases. Suresh is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, serving as the Vice Chair of its Materials Section Peer Committee, and a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. His recent honors include the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar award from CalTech, the Brahm Prakash Visiting Professorship from the Indian Institute of Science, selection by the Institute for Scientific Information as one of the most highly cited researchers in Materials Science, the Clark B. Millikan Visiting Professorship at CalTech, the TFR Swedish National Chair in Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Suresh has been elected a fellow of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Ceramic Society, and the American Society for Materials International, and an Honorary Member of the Materials Research Society of India. Host(s): Alumni Association, Alumni Association

Computational and Systems Approaches to Cancer

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 04:00:00 GMT

06/08/2006 8:00 AM 46-3002Michael Yaffe, Professor of Biology, MITDescription: Early on in his lecture, Michael Yaffe serves up an amazing fact: If the distance between each DNA base pair were one foot apart, then each time a cell divided, it would have to copy 568 thousand miles of DNA. This, says Yaffe, is enough to go around the circumference of the earth more than 22 times. What's more, the cell has to copy its DNA with no errors. -I don't know (if) civil engineers ... could make 10 miles of road without making single error," says Yaffe. In the 12 hours a cell takes to copy its DNA to create two daughter cells, -it goes to great pains to make sure everything is done correctly. It initiates checkpoints, like border crossings." Because everyday life exposes DNA to all kinds of damage, cells have evolved -an elaborate surveillance mechanism" to -blow the whistle, signal repair, and recruit repair machinery," or if damage is too great, essentially commit suicide. If something goes wrong with this mechanism at crucial times during cell division, cancer frequently results. Yaffe's in the business of exploring and mathematically mapping the elaborate signal pathways inside cells that sense broken DNA and coordinate damage response. While studying one such process, cell death in the colon, Yaffe found that the traditional biochemistry approach -- picking one molecule, one stimulus and one readout-- doesn't work. -It's like the blind man feeling the elephant's tail, and saying it's a long, thin animal." Yaffe learned that one signal may activate a series of proteins, triggering an amplification loop. A slight change might yield a -whopping response." Just as engineers test integrated circuits at a variety of points, Yaffe came up with a method of testing cell signaling with a variety of proteins. His team came up with 7,000 signaling measurements in 760 dimensions, and 1,400 signal responses. But this data-heavy model for predicting which molecules lead to cell death didn't satisfy Yaffe. With additional mathematical sleight of hand, Yaffe's group boiled down the cell signaling measurements to what Yaffe calls two -canonical super axes": -a global measure of cell stress and death, and another of survival signaling." He hopes to use this slimmed-down model to think about drugs targeting cancer and inflammation. About the Speaker(s): Michael Yaffe received his Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry in 1987, and an M.D. in 1989, both from Case Western Reserve University. Before MIT, he served as a surgeon in teaching hospitals in Cleveland and the Boston area, including the Harvard Medical School. He received multiple teaching awards from University Hospitals of Cleveland, and earned the 1998 Howard Hughes Physician Scientist Award, and the 1999 Burroughs Wellcome Career Development Award.Host(s): School of Science, School of Science

Cancer Research in the Genomic Era

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 04:00:00 GMT

06/07/2006 2:30 PM 46-3002Eric S. Lander, Professor of Biology ; Founding Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Member, Whitehead InstituteDescription: Eric Lander likens the current age of biological discovery to the days of great ocean-going exploration. After the world was mapped, no one could imagine what it was like to live -before you knew what would happen if you sailed west." Following the current revolution in biology, we -won't be able to imagine what science was like..." This transformation, claims Lander, will be complete in the next decade or so. -MIT students in 2020 will look back with a mixture of amusement and horror at the late 20th century and say, 'Imagine, people spent years looking for the gene for something.'" Lander views biology as a vast library that will soon contain information not just about the DNA sequences of species, but 'volumes' on individuals, tissues, and cells. With great effort, researchers deciphered the secrets of chromosomes, the double helix, and more recently, the human genome and that of other species. But progress in such discoveries is now moving at a much faster clip due to high-speed computing and the Internet. MIT currently sequences _ million pieces of DNA per day, says Lander. He projects this pace will quicken by 20 fold in the next several years. Fortified by this progress, Lander has compiled an ambitious 'to-do list:' identifying -everything that matters" in the human genome, from proteins to the things that control genes; knowing all human genetic variation in the population; knowing how to recognize when a cell -is thinking of one thing or another" based on how genes are turned on or off; knowing all the mechanisms that cause cancer and how to modulate all the genes. Astonishingly, he says, -This is not the to-do list of the next century, but the next decade." Lander is confident that researchers will in the not-distant future generate a catalog of the unique genetic signatures associated with -different flavors" of a type of cancer. Scientists will find patterns in diseases, genes and drug responses, and eventually assemble a list of all the genetic variants in the human genome that put individuals at risk for different diseases. These various gene databases will serve -as foundational information for biology for centuries to come," concludes Lander. About the Speaker(s): Eric Lander was a world leader of the international Human Genome Project, the effort to map the blueprint for a human being. Today, Lander is using the knowledge of the human genome to tackle the fundamental issue of medicine: to find the causes of disease. Lander received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Oxford in 1981, as a Rhodes Scholar. He joined Whitehead Institute in 1986 and founded the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990. Lander became the founding director of the newly created Broad Institute in 2003. Lander is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and U.S. Institute of Medicine. He was a MacArthur Fellow (1987-1992), and earned the Woodrow Wilson Prize from Princeton University(1998); the Baker Memorial Award for Undergraduate Teaching at MIT (1992); the City of Medicine Prize (2001); and the Gairdner International Prize (2002). Host(s): School of Science, School of Science

HIV Lymphocyte Dynamics and Implications for Therapy

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 05:00:00 GMT

03/23/2006 David Ho, Founding Scientific Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center; ; Irene Diamond Professor at The Rockefeller UniversityDescription: Few researchers become legends in their own time, but David Ho's relentless quest to understand and conquer the AIDS virus has earned him worldwide renown. He elucidates the approach his lab has taken in the last decade to understanding how HIV replicates in cells, and how effective drugs have been developed to stymie the progress of the virus once a patient is infected. Within weeks of contracting HIV, there is exponential growth of the virus, which peaks swiftly, followed by a long period where the number of virus particles produced equal the number of particles cleaned out by a patient's liver and spleen. There's a "steady flow out and a steady flow in," says Ho. During this period, which might last 10 years, the virus may not cause symptoms, but it steadily depletes the patient's supply of a type of crucial immune cell. Ho's research in the 1990s took a quantitative approach to the dynamics of viral infection. By using a drug that helped block the reproduction of the virus, Ho discovered that virus replication and clearance happened very swiftly. "Half of what's in circulation is removed in a half-hour, to be replaced by an equal amount of virus." He also measured the total virus production per day, which for an average patient, meant somewhere between 1010 and 10 12 virus particles. Ho says that one of the implications "of this relentless replication at very high levels" is a high mutation rate. HIV can shape shift and evade control by a single drug. Ho's research helped generate the AIDS cocktail -- multiple antiretroviral drugs to block the progression of HIV at different points in its replication cycle. While these therapies have diminished the AIDS mortality rate, mainly in western nations, Ho hopes to slow the spread of HIV worldwide, especially in parts of Africa where it continues to grow exponentially in the population. A vaccine that could "put more pressure on the virus," at the earliest days of infection, could potentially "cause a shut off of infection and abolish it from taking hold." About the Speaker(s): David Ho has been actively engaged in AIDS research for 24 years, and has published over 350 papers on the subject. He received his degrees from the California Institute of Technology (1974) and Harvard Medical School (1978). Subsequently, he did his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center/UCLA School of Medicine (1978-1982) and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (1982-1985), respectively. Ho has received numerous honors and awards for his scientific accomplishments. He was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1996, and was the recipient of a Presidential Medal in 2001. He has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academia Sinica (Republic of China), Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science in the United States. Ho served on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, and he currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology, and Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation. Host(s): School of Science, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and TechnologyTape #: T21078

Defining the Challenges Surrounding Innovation and Safety (Part One)

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Frank L. Douglas, Executive Director, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation; Professor of the Practice; Una Ryan, President & CEO, AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc.; Robert Tepper, President, Research and Development ; Millennium Pharmaceuticals; John A. Fallon, Chief Physician Executive and Senior Vice President, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ; Ernst R. Berndt, Louis B. Seley Professor of Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management Recent scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry -- brought into sharp focus by Merck's Vioxx trial -- is leading to some big changes in the development and marketing of drugs. This panel shares deep concerns about the direction of public opinion and policy. Una Ryan's company has cooked up cost-effective vaccines that may help prevent and treat common diseases, and which can be administered orally, with a single dose, delivering quick protection. Now, new rules may demand more elaborate testing before her drugs come to market, says Ryan, with potential clinical trials running up to half a billion dollars. She says, "If we're going to have to go through ridiculous and onerous regulatory cycles, we won't be able to sell at low prices." Robert Spiegel wonders if the new regulatory environment will continue to allow drug makers to "take chances early, and make investments taking large risks?" If the movement is "toward zero tolerance toward drug safety, and there's a frenzy to get rid of drugs with some safety issue," then the whole economic model of the industry is in peril, he says. Robert Tepper outlines the new, "post-Vioxx" pattern, "where regulators say the job of the company is to begin risk management from the lab. As soon as we see some side effect, we must build that into our development program so we understand how it plays out." This means drawing up long-term plans involving follow-up studies and registries of every patient starting the drug. "My plea, says Tepper, is "to keep this flexible 'based on science and feasibility." John Fallon worries that health plans like his will be playing catch-up to build electronic medical databases and physician-supported tools to help monitor drug reactions in large populations. Employer groups, already unhappy with the costs of health care, are now "saying to health plans 'where were you when Vioxx got into trouble?" Ernst Berndt notes that with new FDA standards involving drug surveillance, "IT and engineering are becoming an important part of the drug evaluation and monitoring process," which will mean not only that databases must be standardized nationally, but internationally as well. Host: Sloan School of Management, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation Event date: 08/18/2005

Innovation in Bio-Safety Testing from Pre-Clinical to Product Launch (part four)

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Participants: Steven R. Tannenbaum, '58, PhD '62, Underwood-Prescott Professor of Toxicology and Chemistry; MIT Biological Engineering Division and Chemistry Department; Noubar Afeyan, PhD '87, Managing Partner and CEO, Flagship 87Ventures ; Joseph V. Bonventre, Robert H. Ebert Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital ; Linda G. Griffith, Professor, Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering ; ; James Green, Senior Vice President, Preclinical & Clinical Development Sciences, Biogen Idec "To me, systems biology is the religion you switch to when target-based drug discovery doesn't work," Noubar Afeyan states boldly. He claims that after losing billions of dollars, the pharmaceutical industry and academia are beginning to see the value in testing drugs by measuring outcomes in biological networks. He calls this systems pharmacology, where you "measure in living systems multiple analytes in the same organism, perturbing the state and taking thousands of measurements per sample." Researchers use computer images to visualize the differences and similarities in drug response across many networks, and then try to correlate these responses statistically.

The inability to predict toxicity early in drug development cost the pharmaceutical industry an astonishing $8 billion in 2003, says Joseph Bonventre, approximately one-third the cost of all drug failures. "We generally can't pick up toxicity until it's too late," he says, so key challenges are developing better preclinical studies with useful biomarkers, improved animal models, and high throughput techniques; and on the clinical side, coming up with a "safe harbor approach to amass kidney and other toxicity data," developing consortia to validate biomarkers, dealing with IP issues and building "an improved bedside to bench flow of information." Linda Griffith's vision is "building a human body on a chip." She's not talking about an individual's genome or health history, but "a living, 3D interconnected set of tissues on a chip. If you perturb it, you make it develop a disease." Such a device would enable researchers to predict negative drug interactions and even to build models of disease. Griffiths' version of liver tissue, built on a silicon scaffold, may prove especially useful for drug toxicity tests.

At Biogen, "the holy grail for any justification of a new approach or technology is that we're going to chop a significant amount off the time it takes to move a new product from bench to bedside," says James Green. He believes that "drugs and paradigms are orders of magnitude more complicated than 24 years ago." He hopes that new techniques "that take us into the genome, interpreting data as patterns" offer some promise. Host: Sloan School of Management, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation Event date: 08/18/2005

Innovation in Post-Launch Surveillance and Pharmaco-Vigilance (Part Two)

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Participants: Isaac S. Kohane, Director, Children's-HST Informatics Program; Associate Director of Bioinformatics, Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics; Nevine Zariffa, Therapy Area Director, Cardiovascular and Metabolism, Biomedical Data Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals; Randall Lutter, Acting Associate Commissioner for Policy and Planning, FDA ; Joanna F. Haas, Vice President of Pharmacovigilance, Genzyme Corporation These panelists describe struggling to transform their approach to drug safety, while acknowledging the need to regain public trust after troubling episodes involving drug side effects. Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation Event date: 8/18/2005

How Did We Get Here?

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Robert Weinberg plots the 200-year course of cancer research, finding neglected byways, wrong turns, and astonishing advances.

Bioengineering at MIT: Building Bridges Between the Sciences, Engineering and Health Care (Part One)

Sat, 04 Jun 2005 04:00:00 GMT

Douglas A. Lauffenburger, Ford Professor and Head of the Department of Biological Engineering, MIT; Linda G. Griffith, Professor, Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering ; Angela Belcher, Germeshausen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Biological Engineering InDoug Lauffenburger's view, MIT's new bioengineering degree program is not merely justified, it is essential. Revolutionary changes in biological sciences specifically, in molecular biology and genomics have given scientists the means to understand and control both the building blocks and larger systems of living things. Now, says Lauffenburger, the "operation of biological functions needs to be understood in terms of biomolecular machines." But the hard part, he says, is "predicting what happens when you manipulate them. It's almost trial and error. That's where engineering comes in." Linda Griffith provides one paradigm for such research. She is designing a scaffold on which to grow human cells for use in tissue implants. Using a "computer controlled process that builds complex 3D objects up from scratch," Griffith creates a device that mimics the complex structures of joints and other body parts _ suited for joint repair, or bone regeneration. Her research might someday produce organs for transplant. But Griffith's grander goal involves "putting surgeons out of business," by eliminating transplants altogether. She's building a "liver on a chip" _ growing liver cells on a tiny wafer with the architecture and molecular properties of actual liver cells. This biomechanical product can be used to test drug toxicity and gene therapies, and perhaps someday to model and block the growth of cancers. Angela Belcher models her bioengineered devices on some of nature's most ingenious products, such as the incredibly strong and exquisitely structured abalone shell. She designs on a nanoscale, getting viruses and antibodies to work with inorganic materials. "How far can you push organisms?" Belcher wonders. To date, she's taught a nontoxic virus to recognize a specific metal used in a semiconductor wafer. Someday viruses could detect atomic defects in electronics. Belcher also describes virus scaffolds for growing semiconductor wires, and for generating lightweight batteries woven into soldier's uniforms. She's even looking into ways of spinning viruses, as spiders spin silk, for generating optical materials. Host(s): Alumni Association, Alumni Association Event date: 06/04/2005

Challenges to Implementation

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:00:00 GMT

08/12/2004 4:00 PM Wong AuditoriumJonathan D. Quick, President & CEO; Management Sciences for Health, Inc; Gareth O. Williams, Chartered Patent Attorney, Marks & Clerk Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys ; ; Gary S. Cooper, Associate Attorney, Goodwin Procter LLP ; Yuri Dikhanov, Economist, World Bank ; Description: In this concluding panel about international drug pricing, speakers discuss the legal pitfalls and complexities involved in global pharmaceutical trade. Gareth Williams notes that the implementation of the key TRIPS agreement (an international law that helps defend intellectual property) has been slow. The law "cannot prevent nations from taking steps to protect public health," and its implementation regarding drug patents has been delayed until 2016 for developing nations. The European Union has created a "fortress Europe," where you can't import products from outside the community. Gary Goodwin cautions conference attendees against chatting even informally about drug prices, lest they be viewed by authorities as colluding. Competition watchdogs are increasingly sensitive to the possibility that pharmaceutical industry representatives engage in price-fixing schemes whenever they meet including public forums such as this. "Any suggestion that pharmaceutical companies today should reach consensus on a pricing formula they might use or advocate, would be problematic and should not be entertained." Yuri Dikhanov describes efforts within the World Bank to create sophisticated formulas by which to calculate the wealth, income and purchasing power not only of different nations but of their citizens. One part of this enterprise is the International Comparison Project, which attempts to gauge 1000-plus prices for products and services across 150 countries. This "very complex aggregate" would form the basis for an index that might ultimately enable more equitable and realistic price-setting for medicines internationally.Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

What Can We Learn From Related Industries?

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:00:00 GMT

08/12/2004 3:15PM Wong AuditoriumScott Sarazen, Senior Vice President, Life Sciences, MassDevelopment; Andrew Parece, Vice President, Analysis Group/Economics Analysis Group, Inc; Tamsin S. Randlett, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Gap Inc. ; Stephen M. Sammut, Venture Partner, Burrill & Company Description: In some ways, the pharmaceutical industry is unique from other industries, its upfront R&D costs, for instance are extremely high. But these panelists see some commonalities with other business sectors, and offer observations and counsel to drug manufacturers. Andrew Parece focuses on the trade of high tech goods, such as software, digital cameras and DVDs. There are difficulties controlling the free flow of these goods, and their prices, across borders a challenge the drug industry also confronts today. Parece suggests that pharma companies "leverage their competitive advantage 'to differentiate products, and turn offerings into products and services such as patient assistance and education, and disease management." Tamsin Randlett of Gap, Inc. deals more with issues on the manufacturing end. The Gap outsources clothing production to companies in parts of the world where wage and labor standards lag. To respond to concerns about equity and human rights, Randlett partners with international labor organizations and NGOs. She suggests pharmaceutical industries similarly "leverage world health organizations 'to bring greater credibility to your efforts" and sit down with politicians, even those opposed to industry positions. Stephen Sammut's venture capital group invests in the biosecurity business. Just as in drug manufacturing, biosecurity involves risky and expensive R&D, licensing and liability questions, and unpredictable market size. Since "northern hemisphere concerns about biosecurity are the daily disease burden of many countries in the southern hemisphere," says Sammut, one answer to the pricing problem may be creating drugs useful for both markets simultaneously.Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management

Are We as Crazy as Mad Cows?

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 05:00:00 GMT

03/29/2004 12:00 PM McGovernSusan L. Lindquist, Professor of Biology, MITDescription: When proteins in our body work properly, we can see, smell, consume and digest food, grow muscle and brain cells. But when these infinitely useful biological building blocks fail, the most pernicious diseases arise. Susan Lindquist has scrutinized the complex origami-like shapes of proteins and come to understand how structural mistakes can lead to a frightening class of neurodegenerative disorders, including "Mad Cow Disease." It turns out that misfolding in just one part of a protein can transform it from a helpful agent to an infectious material capable of replicating itself. Over time, these misshapen proteins, called prions, run roughshod in the brain, leaving holes where normal cells once functioned. The evolution of this disease may take decades in humans, so Lindquist has teamed up with yeast, which can produce millions of generations of cells in a short time, and provide the perfect laboratory for studying prions. In fact, says Lindquist, "yeast cells share an amazing variety of basic biology with humans as different as we are physically." Lindquist is now systematically looking in yeast for factors "that predispose proteins to get into trouble" and for chemical compounds that can reverse these malfunctions. These compounds may turn into the next generation's cure for Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.About the Speaker(s): Susan L. Lindquist is a pioneer in the study of protein folding. She works not only with bakers' yeast, but also with fruit flies, the plant Arabidopsis and mammals. Her labs use genetics, molecular and cell biology to understand the mechanisms of prion propagation, generation of diversity and human disease. Lindquist came to the Whitehead in 2001 from the University of Chicago where she was the Albert D. Lasker Professor of Medical Sciences in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1976, going to the University of Chicago as an American Cancer Society Post-doctoral Fellow before joining the faculty there in 1977. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1997, the same year she became a Fellow in American Academy of Microbiology. In 2000, she was awarded the Novartis Drew Award in Biomedical Research. Host(s): School of Science, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchTape #: T18425,

The Human Genome Project

Fri, 16 Feb 2001 05:00:00 GMT

02/16/2001 10"250Eric S. Lander, Professor of Biology ; Founding Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Member, Whitehead InstituteDescription: Dr. Lander is a geneticist, molecular biologist and a mathematician, with research interests in human genetics, mouse genetics, population genetics and computational and mathematical methods in biology. He and his research group have developed many of the tools of modern genome research including genomic maps of the human, mouse and rat genomes in connection with the Human Genome Project and techniques for genetic analyses of complex, multigenic traits. He has applied these techniques to the understanding of cancer, diabetes, hypertension, renal failure and dwarfism. About the Speaker(s): Eric Lander was a world leader of the international Human Genome Project, the effort to map the blueprint for a human being. Today, Lander is using the knowledge of the human genome to tackle the fundamental issue of medicine: to find the causes of disease. Lander received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Oxford in 1981, as a Rhodes Scholar. He joined Whitehead Institute in 1986 and founded the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990. Lander became the founding director of the newly created Broad Institute in 2003. Lander is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and U.S. Institute of Medicine. He was a MacArthur Fellow (1987"1992), and earned the Woodrow Wilson Prize from Princeton University(1998); the Baker Memorial Award for Undergraduate Teaching at MIT (1992); the City of Medicine Prize (2001); and the Gairdner International Prize (2002). Host(s): School of Science, Department of Biology

Recent Videos tagged 'Medicine' on MIT Video

Robert Langer on biomaterials for the 21st century

Cellular Injections: 2013 Koch Institute Image Awards Winner

On the Scent: 2013 Image Award Winner

A Dangerous Meeting - 2013 Image Award Winner

Cancer Deconstructed - 2013 Image Award Winner

Nikolai Begg: The 2013 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize Winner

Treating Diseases by Using RNAi Technology

Nozomi Ando's Personal Story

Targeting Ulcer-Causing H. Pylori Bacteria

Understanding Chemotherapeutic Drug Targets

Imaging Viruses with Nanoscale MRI

Labeling Tumors with Quantum Dots

Nikolai Begg Lemelson-MIT Application Video

Imaging Zebrafish at MIT

The Invention of Optical Coherence Tomography

Delivering large molecules to cells through tiny holes in membranes

Osher Clinic for Integrative Medicine

Stopping a leak the way blood does

SOLUTIONS with/in/sight: Understanding the Path to Personalized Cancer Care

David Sabatini

Douglas Lauffenburger

Forest White

Jeffrey Settleman

Benjamin Neel

Joan Brugge

Michael B.Yaffe

Michael Comb

Rudolf Jaenisch

Rune Linding

William Kaelin

MIT News at Noon with Burcu Erkmen

Missy Cummings at TEDMED

Manipulating microscopic magnetic beads at MIT

Bridge Project Workshop, May 24 2012

Protein Methyltransferase Inhibitors as Personalized Cancer Therapeutics

Sharper ultrasound images could improve diagnostics

Dr. Stephen Quake - 2012 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize Winner

Jet-injected drugs may mean the end of needles

Research & Policy Design: Part V - The First J-PAL Bihar Development Conference

Introduction to Allopathy: The unique philosophy of non-alternative medicine

Lessons from Alnylam: The Science and Business of RNAi Therapeutics

Creative Experimentation: Developing a Skill Critical for Managing Complex Operating Systems -- Steven J. Spear, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and MIT Engineering Systems Division

The Doctor Is In - KI Special Series December 2011 - Targeted Therapies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Doing double duty: MIT's Collin Stultz

RLE Investigator Profile Video Series: James G. Fujimoto

The Doctor Is In - KI Special Series November 2011 - Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging - Dr. Aubrey de Grey - Part 2 Q&A - MIT Club of Northern California

Regenerative Medicine Against Aging - Dr. Aubrey de Grey - Part 1 - MIT Club of Northern California

Inside the lab: Jacqueline A. Lees, Ph.D.

Conquering Cancer: Opening Remarks Reflections on Major Milestones in Cancer Research and Technology Development

Paradigm Shifts: From Biology to Technology to Medical Applications

Personalized Cancer Care

Rebuilding Haiti

Killian Lecture 2010: Rudolph Jaenisch

Stem cells, reprogramming and personalized medicine: promise, problems, reality

Cancer Stem Cells and Malignant Progression

Oncogenic Kras: Models and Medicines

From Targets to Drugs for Cancer Patients

Prostate Tissue Stem Cells and Cancer Progression

Recognition of Cancer Cells by Natural Killer Cells

How Can Engineers Contribute to the Fight Against Malaria?

OSF 2009: Modeling and Personalizing Cancer-Michael Yaffe

OSF 2009: Modeling and Personalizing Cancer-Michael Hemann

The Power of Basic Science Applied to Medical Progress: Past Examples and Hope for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Illness

Novel Chip for Monitoring Breast Cancer

A Musical Score for Disease

Ting Shih: ClickHealth & ClickDiagnostics

Critical Issues and Grand Challenges

Mending hearts with tissue engineering

Reflections on an MIT Education

Bridging the Delivery Gap to Global Health

Global Health Equity

Process Improvement in the Rarefied Environment of Academic Medicine

Diverse Applications of Nuclear Technology

Engineering Systems Solutions to Real World Challenges in Healthcare

Nanotechnology and the Study of Human Diseases

Computational and Systems Approaches to Cancer

Cancer Research in the Genomic Era

HIV Lymphocyte Dynamics and Implications for Therapy