Prof. Doug Lauffenburger named Institute Professor. This position is MIT's highest honor, recognizing invaluable contributions across teaching, research, and service. He was the central founder of MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering. https://ow.ly/lqBK50ZqLcU

Emery Brown, Daniel Hastings, and Douglas Lauffenburger named Institute Professors

Emery Brown, Douglas Lauffenburger, and Daniel Hastings have been awarded MIT’s highest faculty honor: the title of Institute Professor.

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New MRI sensors developed in the Jasanoff Lab sensitively detect target molecules in the brain and body. Liposomal nanoparticle reporters, or LisNRs, can brighten or dim MRI signals in response to specific molecular targets. https://ow.ly/PkG650Z7JwV

Who's up at BATS? Bishal Thapa (Voigt Lab): “Engineering Radiation Tolerant Fungi for Space Biomanufacturing” Blythe Irwin (Birnbaum & DeKosky Labs): “Introducing RePLiCA: A Replication-Based Protein:Ligand Cellular Activation Assay” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Who's up at BATS? Brian Cheng (Blainey Lab): “StimDrop: High-Throughput Combinatorial Microfluidics Platform for Transcriptional Profiling” Bruce Enzmann (White & Knouse Labs): “Investigating the Signaling Mechanisms of Organ Size Control in the Liver” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

In a new study, Hansen Lab researchers have measured chromatin movement at timescales ranging from hundreds of microseconds to hours, allowing them to rigorously quantify those dynamics for the first time. https://news.mit.edu/2026/how-chromatin-movement-helps-control-gene-expression-0504

How chromatin movement helps control gene expression

For the first time, MIT researchers measured the dynamics of chromatin movement over an extended period of time, ranging from the scale of microseconds to hours. The findings offer insight into how gene expression is regulated, as well as how chromatin segments come together for other processes such as DNA repair.

news.mit.edu

Who's up at BATS? Matt Zackin (Niles Lab): “A Machine Learning Pipeline for Target-Specific Antimalarial Drug Discovery” Daniel Sellers (Ribbeck Lab): “Intestinal Mucin Architecture as a Driver of Microbial Community Health” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/ #infectiousdisease #mucin

"Ask Janina Ojeiduma ’27 to describe one of her foremost personality traits and she’ll tell you: curiosity." https://betterworld.mit.edu/spectrum/issues/spring-2026/janina-ojeiduma-27-eyes-impact-of-environmental-toxins-on-human-health/

Janina Ojeiduma ’27 Eyes Impact of Toxic Chemicals on Human Health

MIT HEALS SuperUROP Scholar Janina Ojeiduma '27 researches the impact of environmental toxins on human health

betterworld.mit.edu

Fraenkel Lab study shows that patterns of molecular activity in the blood may reveal not only a person’s fitness level, but also the biological processes that drive physical performance. https://ow.ly/1l6350YRfuj

Grateful to @natbiotech.nature.com for the opportunity to reflect on my scientific journey, including launching my lab @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social @mitcheme.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Five questions with Jessica Stark - Nature Biotechnology

A builder and problem solver at heart, she is developing technologies to understand and engineer the roles of cell-surface sugars, called glycans, in the immune system.

nature.com

Shenghao Guo (Koehler) “Discovery of FBXW7 Binders for Targeted Protein Degradation Using Small Molecule Microarray” Malik George (Voigt, Niles) “Bioprospecting and Evolving Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria for the Advancement of Microbial Biofertilizers” https://ow.ly/3Mt050YOwp9

Who's up at BATS? Rachel McGinn (Bryson Lab): “Bacterial Control of Antigen Presentation on MHC-I in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection” James Jusuf (Hansen Lab): “Genome-Wide Absolute Quantification of Chromatin Looping” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Engelward Lab research suggests that the chemical NDMA is much more likely to cause cancerous mutations after exposure early in life. https://ow.ly/LHns50YKzVM

Next BE Seminar this Thurs 4/9 at 4pm with Richard M. Murray, California Institute of Technology, 'Upscaling Engineering of Synthetic Biomachines via Synthetic Cells.' https://ow.ly/aX2850YIo1J

Huaiyao Peng (Belcher Lab): “Developing Organoid Models and AI-Driven Optical Imaging for Ovarian Cancer Early Detection” Luka Karginov (Lauffenburger): “Learning Features and Paths of Vaccine-Mediated Protection in Tuberculosis via Partial Correlation” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Who's up at BATS? Amanda Chan (Birnbaum Lab): “A Library-Based Examination of T Cell Allorecognition” Qingyang Henry Zhao (Birnbaum & Wittrup): “Decoding Endogenous Anti-Tumor T Cell Responses for Polyclonal TCR-T Therapy” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/ #TCRrecognition #TILtherapy

BE Seminar Series this Thur, 4pm, 32-155 Melanie Graham, University of Minnesota "You Don’t Control the Immune System, You Design Around It” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

We have many administrative and technical open positions in BE! Learn more: https://be.mit.edu/about/open-staff-positions/

A backup survival pathway can help tumor cells resist certain lung cancer and other drugs. The Forest White Lab reveals that combining therapies may offer a solution. https://ow.ly/U1rf50YARTo

BE Seminar Series continues this Thursday at 4pm with BE alum Jennifer L. Wilson, UCLA "Turning Bugs Into Features - Modeling Drug Off-Target Effects to Understand Cancer Neurology” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Who's up at BATS? Myra Dada (Manalis & Hemann): “Investigating Cell Stiffness as a Determinant of CAR T Efficacy in B-ALL” Connie Wang (Collins & Edelman): “Nanoengineering Materials to Probe Tissue-Implant Interactions” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/ #CARTtherapy #ramanspectroscopy

Help the MIT School of Engineering empower the next generation of thinkers and doers by contributing today, during the MIT 24-Hour Challenge. https://mit24hourchallenge.mightycause.com/story/School-Of-Engineering

BE Seminar tomorrow at 4pm with Dan Dongeun Huh, University of Pennsylvania “Microengineered Mimicry of Human Health and Disease" https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Who's up at BATS? Miles George (Voigt & Niles Labs): “Containment of Engineered Bacteria by ‘Locking’ them to an Engineered Plant” Justine Shih (Blainey Lab): “Mapping Genetic Variants to Cellular Phenotypes with Targeted Optical Endogenous Sequencing (TOES)” https://ow.ly/AUip50Yn1TF

Who's up at BATS? Evan Collins (Langer & Anderson Labs): “Data-Driven Approaches for Understanding and Improving mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles” Nikita Podobedov (Blainey Lab): “Integration of Label-Free Imaging Modalities with Optical Pooled Screening” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Who's up at BATS? Anastasiya Grebin (Ribbeck Lab): “Mucus as a Host Lever in Recurrent Bacterial Vaginosis” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/ #bacterialvaginosis #Cervicovaginalmucus #Host–microbeinteractions

Who's up at BATS? Victoria Chen (Voigt Lab): “Tracking Recombinant Genes in Estonia 35 Years After Release” Rachel Myers (Belcher & Hammond Labs): “Engineering Rare Earth Nanoparticles for Early Ovarian Cancer Detection” https://ow.ly/CTAR50Y9SZH

This afternoon, Prof Doug Lauffenburger opened the BE Seminar Series Spring Term 2026 by sharing the history of BE.

Griffith Lab created a mini “liver-on-a-chip.” Tiny clusters of liver cells (shown in magenta) are embedded within a network of blood vessels (green) https://news.mit.edu/2026/new-tissue-models-could-help-researchers-develop-drugs-liver-disease-0203

New tissue models could help researchers develop drugs for liver disease

MIT engineers designed a type of tissue model that more accurately mimics the architecture of the liver, including blood vessels and immune cells, and could help researchers develop drugs for liver disease.

news.mit.edu

Scalable TCR synthesis and screening enable antigen reactivity mapping in vitiligo @cp-immunity.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful... @mbirnbaum.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social

“Here is a pathogen that has probably killed more people in human history than any other pathogen, so you want to learn how to kill it,” says Bryan Bryson about tuberculosis. https://ow.ly/yhZ750Y4Z3V