Current Research

Health Sciences & Technology: HST

The Harvard/MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology brings together the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School (HMS), Harvard University, and Boston area teaching hospitals in a unique collaboration that integrates science, medicine and engineering to solve problems in human health. Through the UROP Program, HST offers opportunities for MIT undergraduates to participate in research at the interface of technology and medicine. A full listing of HST faculty and their research areas is available here.

Faculty Research Descriptions

Prof. Daniel Anderson, 76-653, x8-6843, dgander@mit.edu

Robotic methods for the development of smart biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering. Development of methods allowing rapid synthesis, formulation, analysis, and biological testing of large libraries of biomaterials for use in medical devices, cell therapy and drug delivery. Development of nanoparticles that support the therapeutic delivery of drugs and macromolecules, inside of specific cell targets, in vivo. Advanced drug delivery systems to provide new methods for nanoparticulate and microparticulate drug delivery, non-viral gene therapy, siRNA delivery, and vaccines.

Prof. Bonnie Berger, 32-G574, x3-1827, bab@mit.edu

Design of algorithms to gain biological insights from advances in automated data collection and the subsequent large data sets drawn from them. Exploration of a diverse set of problems, including network inference, protein folding, large-scale genomics, and medical genomics. Close collaborations with biologists to design experiments to maximally leverage the power of computation for biological explorations.

Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia, 76-453, x3-0893, sbhatia@mit.edu

The research in the Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies is focused on the applications of micro- and nanotechnology to tissue repair and regeneration. Our long-term goals are to improve cellular therapies for liver disease, develop microtechnology tools to systematically study living cells, and design multifunctional nanoparticles for cancer applications.

Dr. Joseph V. Bonventre, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard Institutes of Medicine, 4 Blackfan Circle, Boston, joseph_bonventre@hms.harvard.edu

A major focus of the laboratory has been the study of the pathophysiology of acute renal failure and processes involved with repair. Projects include: the effects of cell cycle arrest on the development of fibrosis leading to chronic kidney disease; directed differentiation of stem cells to kidney cells; creation and study of induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with genetic diseases; the role of kidney injury molecule-1 in kidney disease; KIM-1 as a biomarker of kidney disease. Studies are done in mice, zebrafish and humans.

Prof. Emery Brown, 46-6079A, x4-1879 or 617-726-7487, enb@neurostat.mit.edu

Development of algorithms and statistical methods for the analysis of neural signals. Conducting experiments in humans and animals to understand the mechanisms of general anesthesia.

Dr. Martha L. Bulyk, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, New Research Bldg, Rm. 466d, 617-525-4725 mlbulyk@receptor.med.harvard.edu

Genomics and computational biology; DNA regulatory elements; transcriptional regulatory networks; transcription factor - DNA interactions

Dr. Deborah Burstein, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Ctr, Department of Radiology, (617) 667-3349, dburstei@bidmc.harvard.edu

The use of MRI in measuring composition and integrity of cartilage; myocardial perfusion and coronary artery flow studies with MRI.

Dr. Jane-Jane Chen, E25-421A, x3-9674, j-jchen@mit.edu

Regulation of protein synthesis by phosphorylation; structural and functional relationship of protein kinase; erythroid differentiation.

Prof. Richard J. Cohen, E25-330D, x3-7430, rjcohen@mit.edu

Cardiovascular physics, analysis of fluctuations in the mechanical and electrical activity of the heart, disturbances of heart rhythm, sudden death, cardiovascular control theory, biopolymers, and antigen-antibody agglutination.

Dr. George Daly, Children's Hospital Boston, 1 Blackfan Street, Karp 7, Boston, (617) 919-2015, Daley.lab@childrens.harvard.edu

Our laboratory is a multinational group located at Children's Hospital Boston. We study development, cellular reprogramming, disease processes, and the improvement of therapeutics with an emphasis on leukemia and genetic blood disorders. These projects build upon basic studies of pluripotent stem cells, the development of blood-forming or hematopoietic tissue, epigenetic regulation, and mechanisms of cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance.

Dr. Bertrand Delgutte, Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, Department of Otolaryngology and MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, (617) 573-3876, Bertrand_Delgutte@meei.harvard.edu

Auditory Neuroscience. Neural coding of sound. Cochlear implants. Neural mechanisms for hearing in everyday acoustic environments.

Prof. Elazer R. Edelman, E25-438, x3-1569, eedelman@mit.edu

Mechanism of Atherosclerosis: Research in this lab melds clinical interests in unstable coronary syndromes with scientific studies in pharmacology, biomaterials science, high resolution microscopy and image analysis, polymeric drug delivery, tissue engineering, cell and molecular biology, and biochemistry.

Prof. Lee Gehrke, E25-406B, x3-7608, lgehrke@mit.edu

Viral pathogenesis; activation of innate immune signaling by viral RNAs; global health; rapid point-of-care diagnostic devices; dengue virus.

Prof. Martha Gray, E25-406, x8-8974, mgray@mit.edu

MR imaging of cartilage and connective tissues. Effects of physical factors on cartilage repair, growth and remodeling. International multidisciplinary programs related to biomedical innovation.

Dr. Rakesh Jain, Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, 100 Blossom Street, Cox 7, Boston, jain@steele.mgh.harvard.edu, (617) 726-4083

The Steele Lab is known for its seminal discoveries in tumor biology, drug delivery, in vivo imaging, bioengineering, and bench-to-bedside-and-back translation. Research is involved in uncovering the vascular and extravascular barriers to delivery and efficacy of molecular and nano-medicines in tumors; developing new principles to overcome these, and translate these principles from bench to bedside. Steele Lab research has transformed our thinking about how molecularly targeted therapeutics work, and about optimizing them with cytotoxic therapies to improve patient survival rates.

Dr. Jeff Karp, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Room 313, Partners Research Building, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, jeffkarp@mit.edu

Stem cell engineering: towards elucidating basic mechanisms mediating the homing of mesenchymal stem cells that drive innovative engineered solutions to control the fate of cells post-transplantation. Biomaterials: studying degradable prodrug-based self-assembled hydrogels as controlled drug-delivery systems. Medical devices such as needles that sense travel through tissues, or Gecko-inspired medical adhesives that was recently selected as one of Popular Mechanic's "Top 20 New Biotech Breakthroughs that Will Change Medicine"

Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, alik@mit.edu

Development of micro- and nanoengineering approaches for controlling cell microenvironment and to use these techniques to regulate stem cell fate decisions and for tissue engineering applications.

Prof. Robert Langer, 76-661, x3-3107, rlanger@mit.edu

Enzymatic systems to remove toxic substances; inhibition of the growth of new blood vessels to solid tumors; polymer systems for the controlled release of polypeptides and other macromolecules.

Dr. Kenneth Mandl, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Kenneth_Mandl@Harvard.edu

Leading edge architectures for electronic health records and consumer-facing health IT. Population health informatics and computational approaches for supporting large scale cohort research.

Prof. Roger G. Mark, E25-505, x3-7818, rgmark@mit.edu

Our lab conducts research on improving health care through new and refined approaches to interpreting data. LCP research incorporates physiology, computer science, engineering, and applied mathematics. A major program is “Integrating Data, Models, and Reasoning in Critical Care which seeks to develop and evaluate advanced ICU patient monitoring and decision support systems that will improve the efficiency, accuracy, and timeliness of clinical decision-making in critical care. Using modern approaches to modeling, signal processing, pattern recognition, and machine learning, the lab's researchers develop and refine methods for analyzing data and for generating predictive models that will aid in patient care. (http://mimic.physionet.org).

Prof. Leonid Mirny, E25-526, x2-4862, leonid@mit.edu

Computational molecular biology, biophysics, protein-DNA interactions.

Dr. Richard N. Mitchell, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Pathology, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, New Research Building 730D, Boston, 617-525-4303, rmitchell@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Mechanisms of acute allograft rejection and transplant-associated arteriosclerosis. The work uses murine aortic and cardiac allograft models, taking advantage of mouse strains with targeted deletions of various cytokines, chemokines, or their receptors to examine the roles of selected mediators, co-stimulatory molecules, and therapeutic agents in the development of acute and chronic allograft rejection. In vitro models taking advantage of microfluidic technologies and siRNA are also increasingly being employed, allowing high-throughput screening of potential therapeutic agents.

Dr. Chi-Sang Poon, E25-250, x8-5405, cpoon@cybernet.mit.edu

Biomedical systems and control with emphases on neural network modeling of biological control systems, neurally inspired computational algorithms and their VLSI implementation for real-time system identification and adaptive control, servo-control and automation of respiratory mechanical assist in adults and newborns.

Dr. Peter J Park, Harvard Medical School, Center for Biomedical Informatics, 10 Shattuck St, Boston, (617)432-7373, peter_park@harvard.edu

Cancer genomics and epigenomics, involving large-scale computations on TB-scale datasets. In cancer genomics, we develop and apply computational and statistical methods to analyze the genomes of cancer patients.

Dr. Bruce Rosen, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Martinos Center, 617-726-3197, bruce@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu

The Athinoula A. Martinos Center is committed to developing novel techniques for imaging biological systems and biologically relevant materials, and to applying these techniques toward a more comprehensive understanding and better care of the human mind and body. This involves the development and continued improvement of new hardware, software and procedures for data acquisition, visualization and statistical analysis, and the creative application of these advancements to biologically and medically relevant investigation.

Dr. Myron Spector, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Department of Orthopedic Surgery; VA Boston Healthcare System, Tissue Engineering, (617) 699-5244, mspector@rics.bwh.harvard.edu

Injectable biopolymer gels and sponge-like scaffolds for regeneration of musculoskeletal and neural tissues, for investigation in vitro and in animal models. Nanoparticle delivery vehicles for growth factors and other regulatory molecules and their genes for incorporation into the scaffolds. Extracorporeal shock wave treatment of tissues to enhance regenerative responses. Investigation of the distribution of lubricin, a-smooth muscle actin, and basement membrane molecules in normal, degenerative, and healing musculoskeletal tissues and in in vitro models.

Prof. Collin Stultz, 36-796, x3-4961, cmstultz@mit.edu

Understanding conformational changes in biomolecules that play an important role in common human diseases. Interdisciplinary approach combining computational modeling with biochemical experiments to make connections between conformational changes in macromolecules and disease progression. Use of molecular dynamics and probabilistic modeling to develop hypotheses for experimental testing.

Peter Szolovits, 32-254, x3-3476, psz@mit.edu

Predictive models of patient state from large collections of clinical data. Natural language processing to extract meaningful facts and relationships from clinical narratives such as discharge summaries and notes. Methods of combining clinical and genomic data for improved diagnosis and therapy management. Patient-controlled life-long medical records.

Dr. Benjamin Vakoc , Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Main Campus, BAR724, (617)726-0695, bvakoc@mit.edu

Biomedical optics including technical development and translation of optical imaging and microscopies to clinical and biological applications

Prof. Martin L. Yarmush, Center for Engineering in Medicine and Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, (617) 726-3474, ireis@sbi.org

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine; applied Immunology; bioMEMS and nanotechnology; stem cell bioengineering

Dr. Seok-Hyun (Andy) Yun, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge Lab, Partners Research Building, 65 Landsdowne Street, UP-525, (617) 768-8704, syun@hms.harvard.edu

Dr. Yun and his team focus on developing new optical technologies and applying them to solve biological questions and medical problems. Primary goals include integrating their expertise in physics, photonics, and various engineering disciplines with biomedical needs and curiosities.