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Space Exploration Initiative
Invent new tangible and embodied interactions that inspire and engage people
A new paper published by Kevin Esvelt lays out a blueprint for preventing, preparing for, and responding to future pandemics.
Engineering at the limits of complexity with molecular-scale parts
Health 0.0
Technical summary: Future of clinical development is on the verge of a major transformation due to convergence of large new digital data so…
Technical summaryUnstructured learning problems without well-defined rewards are unsuitable for current reinforcement learning (RL) approac…
Staining of tissues sections using chemical and biological dyes has been used for over a century for visualizing various tissue types and m…
Cultivating wisdom through evolutionary and ecological engineering
Open Ocean
We collaborated with NIAS (National Institute of Agricultural Science) to genetically engineer silkworms to develop new kinds of silk for f…
A transgenic chicken commercial for ovulating womenEsgtrogen Farms is a fictional company that raises genetically modified chickens that pr…
Volta Labs, co-founded by alumni Udayan Umapathi and Will Langford, has announced a $20 million Series A funding round.
The SLAS Innovation Award is a $10,000 cash prize recognizing the work behind one exceptional podium presentation.
Humanity has harnessed evolution to sculpt domesticated animals, crops, and molecules, but the process remains a black box. Which combinati…
MAS.S64 Real-world Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence and Genome Editing Technologies - Fall 2020 Online CourseWhen: Tuesdays, 3-4 …
Using a new robotic platform, researchers can simultaneously track hundreds of microbial populations as they evolve new proteins.
Spinoff Volta Labs was co-founded by Media Lab alum Udayan Umapathi and Center for Bits and Atoms alum Will Langford.
DropletIO proposes aqueous droplets as a programmable material for biology, art, and design. The DropletIO system can actuate and sense mac…
The Māori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) have a long and deep connection to their island and ocean ecosystem. Concepts such as rā…
An inventor of CRISPR-based gene drive has some advice to improve science, ethics, and the life-saving potential of these technologies.
Kevin Esvelt and other experts talk about the risks and possible benefits of using gene drives to eliminate diseases and invasive species.
Sparking discussion about the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies through design and storytelling
Revealing insights into the human condition and repairing brain disorders via novel tools for mapping and fixing brain computations
Applied computational biology discoveries vastly expand the range of CRISPR’s access to DNA sequences.
Programmable CRISPR enzymes are powerful and versatile tools for genome editing. They, however, require a specific protospacer adjacent mot…
Esvelt's career has gone from straight science into ethics and safety.
How biologist Kevin Esvelt came to know the planet, in his own words.
Pursue modular "daisy drive" platforms with the potential to safely, efficiently, and reversibly edit local sub-populations of organisms
This work is being continued through The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT.The initiative, working wi…
Unnatural Selection tackles tough questions about CRISPR gene editing, designer babies, and more.
How does one scientist deal with the potential ramifications of his own creation?
A new method for sequencing the genome of an intact single cell may help researchers understand how key autism genes are regulated.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infection in North America. People are infected when bitten by ticks; ticks are typically infe…
The menacing mites have invaded suburban backyards and even parts of Boston. And Lyme disease isn’t the only thing they carry.
Kevin Esvelt writes about the Sculpting Evolution group’s project to immunize mice against Lyme disease through gene editing.
On Should This Exist?, Sculpting Evolution head Kevin Esvelt grapples with the potential benefits and consequences of gene drive.
How will gene drive systems evolve once released into the wild? Can they be reliably overwritten and blocked by immunizing reversal drives?…
A conversation between Ed Boyden and Tyler Cowen on optogenetics and expansion microscopy to storytelling and the nature of consciousness.
Who should decide whether, when, and how to alter the environment? These are hard questions, especially when the decisions will impact peop…
In a paper published in PNAS, researchers at MIT and Harvard University describe a self-limiting gene drive system.
Scientists hope these genetically modified "gene drive" mosquitoes could help eradicate malaria.
Cummings School and MIT are working with Massachusetts citizens to deploy immune mice as frontline soldiers in the war against the disease.
iBiology features two introductory classes from CRISPR expert Kevin Esvelt, head of the Media Lab's Sculpting Evolution group.
Unlike a normal edit, gene drive systems could lastingly alter or suppress local or global populations of a target species.
We'd like to introduce you to a very special neuroscience project that we are currently conducting in the setting of a traditional fine art…
The widespread synthesis of common organic building blocks in space could have biased life beyond Earth towards chemical similarities to li…
Noah Jakimo, Pranam Chatterjee, Joseph M. Jacobson. Chimeric CRISPR guides enhance Cas9 target specificity, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/147686
The reproductive organs of the female body have long been a site of contention, where opposing ideologies in religion, politics, and cultur…
We are currently developing novel DNA editing technologies to broaden the scope of genome engineering. Our strategy is based on identifying…
Responsive Science is a way of conducting research that invites openness and community involvement from the earliest stages of each project…
Residents are invited to weigh in on a plan to release genetically-modified mice on Nantucket to combat tick-borne diseases
Black-legged ticks in forests of the Northeast and Midwest have a variety of options for the three blood meals they consume in their lifeti…
Kevin Esvelt has emerged as a leader in the debate about the ethics and politics of releasing genetically engineered animals.
Transdisciplinary artist Ani Liu spoke to us about her project as commentary on the state of reproductive rights today.
Kevin Esvelt leads the Sculpting Evolution Group at MIT. Their work explores “evolutionary and ecological engineering and responsive science
Imagine you could edit a mouse’s genes to be resistant to Lyme Disease. The mouse would breed and evolution would take its course, leading …