Could a wearable that emits ultrasound help transplant patients stave off organ rejection? Is there a better-designed ileostomy bag that could improve the fit and overall experience for wearers? Boston University graduate researchers with a penchant for innovation and entrepreneurship recently developed designs for these two medical devices—and their pitches have attracted interest and funding. They did so with the…
Researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have published additional data on several features of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in children in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. By studying 110 children aged two weeks to 21 years who tested positive for COVID-19 at MGH or urgent care clinics,…
As we interact with the world, we are constantly presented with information that is unreliable or incomplete — from jumbled voices in a crowded room to solicitous strangers with unknown motivations. Fortunately, our brains are well equipped to evaluate the quality of the evidence we use to make decisions, usually allowing us to act deliberately, without jumping to conclusions. Now,…
Scientists have developed a suite of molecular tools that increase the efficiency of a gene-editing technique called prime editing for a wide variety of cell types and target genes, expanding the scope of the technology’s therapeutic and research applications. In two new studies, the researchers used the improved prime editing systems to correct mutations linked to various neurodegenerative, metabolic, and…
Some parts of the body—our hands and lips, for example—are more sensitive than others, making them essential tools in our ability to discern the most intricate details of the world around us. This ability is key to our survival, enabling us to safely navigate our surroundings and quickly understand and respond to new situations. It is perhaps unsurprising that the…
Researchers at McLean Hospital, in collaboration with Nobilis Therapeutics, have been awarded a grant to test a novel xenon gas-based treatment for opioid use disorder. The Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer Grant was awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health under award number R41DA055403. The grant will fund tests that mimic…
Many variants in the human genome have been linked to type 2 diabetes, but because most do not lie within genes that code for proteins, it’s unclear how they might cause disease. Now an international team, including investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), has developed a resource to help uncover the impact of these genetic variants. The work, which is…
Although stem cell transplantation is the only current therapy with the potential to cure myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), it is rarely used as an initial treatment for older patients because it hasn’t been proven superior to other therapies. New research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators stands to overturn that practice. In a clinical trial involving 384 older patients with advanced MDS, researchers found that those…
A central feature of type 2 diabetes is an inability of the body’s cells to respond to insulin, a hormone that keeps blood glucose levels normal. Critical to this balance is the liver, which both stores and manufactures glucose depending on the body’s need. New research published in Cell Reports that was led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) indicates that…
Estimated to cause almost half a million infections per year, the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, also known as C. difficile or “C. diff,” can cause diarrhea and inflammation of the large intestine. Most often affecting patients who are older and/or have weakened immune systems, C. difficile infections are especially common among hospitalized patients and in patients who have recently completed a course of antibiotics. While several…