MIT Biology

The MIT Department of Biology is known globally for its cutting-edge research, pioneering collaborations, commitment to instruction, and mentoring.

[MIT Biology @MITBiology]

Ever wonder how to streak for singles in a biology lab?

[MIT Open Learning @mitopenlearning]

One of the main goals for microbiologists in an experiment is to connect a cell genotype with a specific phenotype. To do this, they need to start with a single cell.

@MITBiology researcher Yashna Thepetta explains how you get there, through a process called "streaking for singles."

Wonder what else you can learn? Visit https://t.co/Ra69l1UzIP.

[MIT Picower Institute @MIT_Picower]

Congratulations to three students who have earned MIT HEALS Graduate Fellowships! Jessie Xiao (studying alpha synuclein in Parkinson's disease), Evan Ruesch (developing tools for optical physiology), & Emma Ibanez (studying sensory neurons in reproductive system). #neuroscience

[Avik Roy @Avik]

When I was in college @MITBiology, I worked in the @WhiteheadInst lab of the scientist, Bob Weinberg, who discovered the very first oncogene, ras. Decades later, a drug targeting ras has finally made historic progress in pancreatic cancer. A great moment.

[MIT Open Learning @mitopenlearning]

One of the main goals for microbiologists in an experiment is to connect a cell genotype with a specific phenotype. To do this, they need to start with a single cell.

@MITBiology researcher Yashna Thepetta explains how you get there, through a process called "streaking for singles."

Wonder what else you can learn? Visit https://t.co/Ra69l1UzIP.

[MIT Open Learning @mitopenlearning]

🏈 What can a ball toss teach us about visual processing and autism?

Tune in to the Beyond Biology podcast to hear @MITBiology Professor Pawan Sinha discuss the science of vision, his research into brain plasticity, and share the inspirational journey behind his nonprofit, Project Prakash.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on MIT Learn: https://t.co/aDkHRhZldx

[Andrew Savinov @bioSavinov]

Interested in genetically encodable inhibitors of your favorite biomolecular condensate? Excited to announce our latest work, w/ @jibin_sadasivan, @GeneWeiLiLab, & @LindsayCase19, on protein fragments as generalizable regulators of phase separation. (1/n)
https://t.co/6IMkrTP3ZQ

[MIT.nano @mit_nano]

Ribosomes, the cellular machines that assemble proteins, are made from dozens of proteins and RNA molecules. Putting all of those pieces together is a complex puzzle — one that @MITBiology Associate Professor Joey Davis PhD ’10 revels in trying to solve. https://t.co/nkON8SZPzY

[Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) @MIT]

Joey Davis' work has helped reveal that unlike building a house, which happens in a prescribed sequence of steps — pouring the foundation, building the frame, putting on the roof — ribosomes can be assembled in a more flexible way.

Understanding how these structures form and later break down could help researchers learn more about how disruptions of these fundamental processes can lead to disease. https://t.co/p3LyPhsphf

[MIT Picower Institute @MIT_Picower]

Happy "Cat-sual Fur-day"! The lab of Professor Myriam Heiman treated our whole building to a cat cafe featuring Torbie, Cleo, and Kinje. Hoomans also got Boba tea!

[McGovern Institute @mcgovernmit]

Congrats to MIT scientists Sven Dorkenwald and Whitney Henry for being named 2026 Searle Scholars, an award given annually to 15 exceptional early-career researchers in the fields of biomedical sciences and chemistry!

https://t.co/H4Kuo879Ol

[Pearl Freier @PearlF]

Cancer biologist Bob Weinberg & @WhiteheadInst
@MITBiology research on molecular & biochem. determinants of neoplastic cell transformation led 2 discovery of the 1st functionally validated human oncogene (Ras) '79-'81. Paved the way 4 this wk’s Phase 3 #pancreaticcancer #pancsm data re: daraxonrasib $RVMD. ≈ 90% of pancreatic cancer cases are KRAS-driven. Amgen’s sotorasib (Lumakras) FDA approval in 2021 was the 1st FDA-approved KRAS inhibitor. Dr. Bob Weinberg is arguably the most influential cancer biologist of the last 50 yrs.

[Whitehead Institute @WhiteheadInst]

MicroRNAs fine-tune gene activity but how do cells control their lifespan?

New study out of the Bartel Lab, in collaboration with @MPI_Biochem, reveals a “two-factor authentication” system that selectively eliminates specific microRNAs: https://t.co/JigMehYn4S

[Whitehead Institute @WhiteheadInst]

When closely related species mate, their offspring sometimes survive but can’t reproduce.

New work from @yamashitaflylab shows that in hybrid male fruit flies, large Y-chromosome genes fail during RNA processing preventing sperm development: https://t.co/eWQZM81meq

[Whitehead Institute @WhiteheadInst]

Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman joins the newly funded ILLUMINE team to tackle the “dark proteome” — proteins expressed by cancer cells that don’t map to known genes.

Their goal? Opening doors to new treatments for hard-to-treat cancers: https://t.co/7BDzEvbWQW

[Whitehead Institute @WhiteheadInst]

Stem cells can renew themselves and give rise to cells that differentiate into specialized types.

A new study out of the Yamashita Lab uncovers how cells are able to preserve stem cell potential while adopting distinct identities: https://t.co/ZJDhJ9umr0

[HHMI @hhmi_science]

Hibernation is a biological superpower that can extend lifespan. What if we could harness it? #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Siniša Hrvatin has ID'd the neural trigger that induces key features of the state, which could transform how we treat disease, injury & aging: https://t.co/Z1vENgPl7e.

[Whitehead Institute @WhiteheadInst]

Fatigue, appetite loss, and poor sleep — are they just side effects of being sick? Whitehead Institute Member Zuri Sullivan and colleagues argue they may be part of a coordinated immune strategy that helps us fight infection.

https://t.co/xrOLbQms2x

[MIT Biology @MITBiology]

Pursuing scientific interests ranging from molecular mechanisms to the impact of environment on inheritance, the 4th annual Catalyst Symposium has brought eight outstanding postdocs trained across the globe to engage with members of our community.

[MIT.nano @mit_nano]

What if the Trojan horse had been pulled to pieces, revealing the ruse and fending off invasion, just as it entered Troy? That’s an apt description of a newly characterized bacterial defense system that chops up foreign DNA. Read more from @MITBiology⤵️ https://t.co/2GkDULIw8z

[Ragon Institute @ragoninstitute]

This past weekend, Ragon founding director Bruce Walker and core member Hernandez Moura Silva joined the Brasil Project at Harvard & MIT for a panel titled "How Breakthroughs Happen: Lessons from HIV for Global Health."

Learn more: https://t.co/PHN1DwiD7h

#immunology #brazil