Broad Institute

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was established in 2004 with the goal of enhancing human health. It focuses on genomics to deepen our knowledge of disease biology and treatment, paving the way for innovative therapies in the future.

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Potential Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic target identified in brain immune cells

2 weeks ago | broadinstitute.org | Brandon Chase

Since the 1990s, researchers have found several immune system molecules that act like “brakes” on immune responses, leading to a new class of cancer drugs. One of these “immune checkpoint” molecules, called Tim-3 has recently been linked to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but its role in the brain was unknown until now.
Scientists have developed a way to scale up spatial genomics and lower costs

3 weeks ago | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

Spatial transcriptomics technologies opened the door for new kinds of biological measurements, allowing scientists to generate detailed maps of where genes are expressed in tissue. But most methods rely on expensive and time-intensive imaging that requires specialized equipment. A new method developed by researchers at the Broad Institute promises to make spatial transcriptomics easier for scientists to use.
Why brain cancer is often resistant to immunotherapy

1 month ago | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of many cancers, but brain tumors such as gliomas remain particularly difficult to treat, in part because they potently suppress immune responses. New findings from researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) could help make immunotherapies for brain cancer more effective.
A genome-wide atlas of cell morphology reveals gene functions

2 months ago | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

In PERISCOPE, researchers introduce a library of guide RNAs targeting about 20,000 genes into cells. Next, they induce the expression of the DNA-cutting Cas9 enzyme to disable the genes targeted by the guides. They then convert the guide RNAs to complementary DNA, creating “barcodes” of the gene knocked out in each cell, which allow scientists to identify which gene has been turned off in each cell.
Study finds surprising way that genetic mutation causes Huntington’s disease, transforming understanding of the disorder

Jan 16, 2025 | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and McLean Hospital have discovered a surprising mechanism by which the inherited genetic mutation known to cause Huntington’s disease leads to the death of brain cells. The findings change the understanding of the fatal neurodegenerative disorder and suggest potential ways to delay or even prevent it.
Gene editing extends lifespan in mouse model of prion disease

Jan 14, 2025 | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed a gene-editing treatment for prion disease that extends lifespan by about 50 percent in a mouse model of the fatal neurodegenerative condition. The treatment, which uses base editing to make a single-letter change in DNA, reduced levels of the disease-causing prion protein in the brain by as much as 60 percent.
A clinical genomicist harnesses team-based science to help rare-disease patients

Jan 7, 2025 | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

In the two decades that Heidi Rehm has been a clinical genomicist, she’s accumulated a lot of stories. There’s a patient whose shortness of breath and thickened heart wall suggested a cardiac condition but genetic testing revealed a completely different diagnosis. There’s a newborn whose genomic testing revealed a mutation in BRCA2, a gene commonly linked to breast cancer, prompting family testing and a preventative mastectomy by his mother.
Feng Zhang awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Jan 6, 2025 | broadinstitute.org | Feng Zhang

In a ceremony at the White House on January 3, Feng Zhang, core institute member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s most prestigious honor for American innovators. Zhang, the James and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at MIT and a professor of brain and cognitive sciences and biological engineering, was among nine individual recipients of the award.
#WhyIScience Q&A: A computational biologist’s world travels have shaped her approach to research

Dec 11, 2024 | broadinstitute.org | Corie Lok

During her highly unusual college experience traveling the world, Wolu Chukwu saw the power of communities. She attended Minerva University, a San Francisco-based college that rotates its students to a different country each semester while they take online classes, work together on projects and experiments in the field, and learn how to live in a new environment.
Scientists find a region of the mouse gut tightly regulated by the immune system

Nov 20, 2024 | broadinstitute.org | Allessandra DiCorato

The intestine maintains a delicate balance in the body, absorbing nutrients and water while maintaining a healthy relationship with the gut microbiome, but this equilibrium is disrupted in parts of the intestine in conditions such as celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease. Scientists don’t fully understand how different regions of the organ resist or adapt to changes in the environment and how that is disrupted in disease.