Tag Archives: broad institute

In Massachusetts, nine NIH-funded research projects in this year’s $10 million club

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So far for 2012, the NIH has approved 3,810 grants in Massachusetts – some for new projects, others for familiar, ongoing research centers. The big money is going to genetics, HIV/AIDS and biodefense. Few topped $10 million –according to NIH, the av

erage award amount nationwide was $44,642 for 2011. Among the group – genomics superstar Eric Lander, whose name cam

Here’s a look at the projects that, so far this year, have broken the $10 million mark – and a few that come close.e up during the recent presidential search at MIT and Daniel Kuritzkes at the Brigham, who got a standing ovation at the recent AIDS conference when he annouced findings on two more AIDS patinets who became virus-free after bone marrow transplants.  Also note that Harvard Med School dean Jeffrey Flier is listed as the PI on the grant to the troubled primate research center. Continue reading →

Midsummer Nights’ Science: Missed the first two? Still two more

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The Broad Institute’s Midsummer Nights’ Science is hugely popular. If you haven’t been able to make it, they’ve already got a video up on the first session– this one is on microfluids.

You can catch the last two live. Or stay tuned to their YouTube site.

Wednesday, July 25th, 6-7pm Regeneration of missing body parts: lessons from flatworms Peter Reddien, Ph.D.
The ability of some animals to regrow missing body parts following injury is one of the great mysteries of biology. Planarians are flatworms that can regenerate new heads, or any other body part, in about a week. Peter Reddien will discuss the fundamentals of planarian regeneration, and new findings that are critical for understanding their dramatic regenerative feats.

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Lander in the Times, Broad in the Globe

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The NY Times offers a flattering story about Eric Lander in this week’s science section. Read the Globe’s January story on the limits of research at the Broad Institute for a little perspective.

From the Times:

His Ph.D. is in pure mathematics, in a subfield so esoteric and specialized that even if someone gets a great result, it can be appreciated by only a few dozen people in the entire world. But he left that world behind and, with no formal training, entered another: the world of molecular biology, medicine and genomics.

As founding director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., he heads a biology empire and raises money from billionaires. He also teaches freshman biology (a course he never took) at M.I.T., advises President Obama on science and runs a lab.

Eric Lander — as a friend, Prof. David Botstein of Princeton, put it — knows how to spot and seize an opportunity when one arises. And he has another quality, says his high school friend Paul Zeitz: bravery combined with optimism.