In the Media

Manolis Kellis, associate professor of computer science at MIT has teamed with a former CSAIL postdoc to combine work developing algorithms that predict how strands of RNA are likely to unfold with a team of computational biologists at MIT and with experimental biologists at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) to identify biologically meaningful RNA folds within living cells. Published in Nature this week, this work shows promised for understanding RNA machinery -- a major avenue towards understanding genetic and biological function in living cells.

Along with 9 other finalists, EECS graduate student Cody Gilleland presented his dream research proposal in April to Regeneron. He was named inaugural recipient, based on his presentation to essentially bring Moore's law to early stage drug delivery by designing a new system for developing and validating drug targets (prior to mouse model trials).

Detecting early-stage malarial infection of blood cells is a diagnostic that has recently come closer to reality through the work of MIT's Anantha Chandrakasan, EECS Department Head, and Subra Suresh, former MIT Dean of Engineering, now president of Carnegie Mellon University. The work, which has been published Aug. 8 in the journal Lab on a Chip, is potentially applicable to detecting other infections and diseases.

James Fujimoto, the Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT has been selected for the 2014 IEEE Photonics Award. The award, which is sponsored by the IEEE Photonics Society, is given in recognition of outstanding achievements in photonics. Prof. Fujimoto is cited “for pioneering the development and commercialization of optical coherence tomography for medical diagnostics.”

In a paper they are presenting this summer at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference, EECS graduate student Guha Balakrishnan and his advisors, both faculty members in the MIT EECS Department, John Guttag and Fredo Durand, describe a new algorithm they developed to measure the heart rates of people in video. The algorithm allows for analyzing the digital data for small imperceptible movements that are caused by the rush of blood from the heart's contractions. Data could ultimately aid in predicting heart disease.

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty members and principal investigators in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) Tim Lu and Rahul Sarpeshkar have designed cells that exploit natural integral biochemical functions to make analog circuits to perform calculations and potentially act as pathogen sensors. The researchers, including lead author MIT postdoc Ramiz Daniel and microbiology graduate student Jacob Rubens have published their work in the May 15 online edition of Nature Biotechnology.

Collin Stultz, faculty member of both the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology and MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has lead a recent study of one of the proteins associated with neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Using computational modeling, Stultz has proposed solutions to a controversy over the structure of alpha synuclein that could lead to development of new more effective treatments. Read more...

Professor Peter Szolovits has been named the recipient of the 2013 Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence. The award is presented annually by the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) in honor of Morris F. Collen, a pioneer in the field. According to the ACMI, the award is the "highest honor in informatics that is presented by the American College of Medical Informatics to an individual whose personal commitment and dedication to biomedical informatics has made a lasting impression on healthcare and biomedicine.”

Timothy Lu, MIT assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and biological engineering working with members of the Synthetic Biology Group in the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), has successfully created new synthetic biology circuits that combine memory and logic allowing potential control over production of cells to generate biofuels, drugs or other useful compounds. Read more...

With the recent launch of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, the MIT News Office provided an Institute-wide look at the ongoing medical research including the work of Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and of Health Sciences and Technology.

Anantha Chandrakasan, EECS Department Head, and two of his students in the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) have joined a team of researchers from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) to show that a natural battery in the mammalian inner ear can power an implantable electronic device. Read more...

As reported by the Champalimaud Foundation, the 2012 António Champalimaud Vision Award was given to several researchers including Professor James G. Fujimoto, Research Laboratory of Electronics affiliate Eric A. Swanson for the creation and development of optical coherence tomography (OCT). Fujimoto, the Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering, Swanson, and their collaborators were recognized for the major role that OCT now plays in the diagnosis and treatment of the most important blinding diseases of the industrialized world: macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Currently, it is estimated that more than 40 million OCT diagnostic procedures are performed worldwide annually.