@MITBiology

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

 Cambridge, MA
biology.mit.edu
Joined January 2012
  • Tweets8.1K
  • Following140
  • Followers33.8K
1.3KMedia
Ever wonder how to streak for singles in a biology lab?
MIT Open Learning
@mitopenlearningMay 20
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 learn.mit.edu.
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MIT Biology is hiring faculty positions! The department seeks candidates who are developing and using computational methods to address questions in molecular, cellular, or organismal biology. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j…
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Come join us 🤗
Yunha Hwang
@Micro_YunhaOct 14
Open faculty positions at @MITBiology! MIT Biology and Schwarzman College of Computing @MIT_SCC : One tenure-track position at the Assistant Prof level. Appointment will be in Biology and an SCC unit (EECS or IDSS). Deadline is December 1. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j… MIT Biology: Assistant Prof or Open rank. Deadline is October 20. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j…
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The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, @ChemistryMIT, @MITBiology, have launched two shared faculty searches in AI and scientific discovery. We seek candidates who develop and apply frontier computational approaches to advance biology and chemistry. ➡️ computing.mit.edu/faculty-op…
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Join us Nov. 4 for "Comparative Neuroscience: Lessons from Biodiversity," our Fall symposium! What can we learn from the differences and similarities across the diversity of nervous systems that have evolved? picower.mit.edu/events/picow… @MITBiology #neuroscience
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MIT Biology retweeted
Yunha Hwang
@Micro_YunhaOct 14
Open faculty positions at @MITBiology! MIT Biology and Schwarzman College of Computing @MIT_SCC : One tenure-track position at the Assistant Prof level. Appointment will be in Biology and an SCC unit (EECS or IDSS). Deadline is December 1. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j… MIT Biology: Assistant Prof or Open rank. Deadline is October 20. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/j…
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MIT Biology retweeted
MIT Students@MITstudentsSep 22
U.S. News names MIT the nation’s top university for 2026-2027. Congratulations, Engineers! tinyurl.com/3ha7yejm
MIT sailboat on the Charles River.

ALT MIT sailboat on the Charles River.

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Replying to @PrismScienceOrg @jhdavislab @MITBiology
Prism’s work will help reveal how a mutation shifts binding, stability, or activity, uncovering how function and disease actually work. Read more: prismscience.org/science/

Our Science

Static structures cannot tell us what makes a designed enzyme functional, what drives drug efficacy and resistance, or how to engineer motion itself.

prismscience.org
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Our team, led by @jhdavislab @MITBiology is creating new, public models for interpreting motion, and these methods will only improve with time.
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Every year, undergrads from across the country visit labs in @MITBiology and @mitbrainandcog labs (and more) to gain research experience. Learn more about the MSRP-Bio program through the lens of two students' experiences in the lab of @JTroyLittleton. youtube.com/watch?v=tpiaFedw…

Summer research in MSRP-Bio

Every year, undergraduates from all over the country visit in MIT L...

youtube.com
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MIT neurobiologists discovered that cohesin, a protein that helps shape the structure of the genome, may also be critical for establishing the identity of some neurons. mcgovern.mit.edu/2026/08/03/… @MITBiology @ScienceMIT @mitbrainandcog

DNA shaper steers nervous system development - MIT McGovern Institute

A functional nervous system depends on the cooperation of many kinds of cells. So as developing organisms build their nervous systems, their neurons must take on different forms and functions to...

mcgovern.mit.edu
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MIT Biology retweeted
Matt Jones@MattG_JonesAug 10
New paper from my group at @kochinstitute @MIT_IMES @MITBiology! I am thrilled to share that our paper describing scAmp, a new method for analyzing extrachromosomal DNA amplifications at single-cell resolution, has been published in @NatureComms. Thread below 👇
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Bacteria are some of the best cell biologists in the world. In this episode of the Beyond Biology podcast, MIT's @lamasonlab explains how pathogens hijack our cells—and what that means for the future of infectious disease research. 🎧 Listen now on MIT Learn: bit.ly/4wjo0kv @MITBiology
A person smiling in front of a blue background, speaking into a microphone. Text on the image reads, "Why are pathogens the world’s best cell biologists?"

ALT A person smiling in front of a blue background, speaking into a microphone. Text on the image reads, "Why are pathogens the world’s best cell biologists?"

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🧬 Not all mutations are harmful. So how do some mutations lead to cancer while others make us who we are? In the latest MIT Learn Beyond Biology Podcast, @MITBiology's Summer Morrill explains the biology behind cancer and why it isn't a single disease. Watch: bit.ly/4w0d8Iq
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Why are some bacterial genomes high in purines? In certain species of bacteria, the answer lies in shielding RNA transcripts from a quality-control factor called Rho (1/3).
Gene-Wei Li Lab@GeneWeiLiLabJun 17
We're excited to share our latest publication, from graduate student Julia Dierksheide in the lab! In B. subtilis, the fast-moving RNA polymerase outpaces the leading ribosome, leaving mRNA transcripts vulnerable to the transcription termination factor Rho. (1/2)
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Understanding the requirements for expressible sequences is critical for expression engineering of therapeutic agents.
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news.mit.edu/2026/why-are-so…

Why are some bacterial genes high in purines?

Some bacterial genes are high in purines to shield them from a quality-control factor called Rho, MIT biologists report. Understanding the requirements for expressible sequences is critical for...

news.mit.edu
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Rickettsia is the bacterium behind Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever—the deadliest tick-borne bacterial disease in the world. At the Lamason Lab, part of @MITBiology, researchers are working to understand how intracellular bacterial pathogens, such as rickettsia, hijack host cell processes to promote infection. Explore more learning moments: bit.ly/4vsmOLp
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Story coming soon from @LillianWEden
Rho (ring of blue and orange orbs) serves, among other roles, as something called a termination factor: a protein that halts the production of single-stranded genetic blueprints (red) that will serve no purpose. Rho’s specificity for this “transcriptional noise” was long a mystery, but researchers in the Department of Biology at MIT found that a purine bias in coding gene sequences shields productive transcripts from Rho termination.

ALT Rho (ring of blue and orange orbs) serves, among other roles, as something called a termination factor: a protein that halts the production of single-stranded genetic blueprints (red) that will serve no purpose. Rho’s specificity for this “transcriptional noise” was long a mystery, but researchers in the Department of Biology at MIT found that a purine bias in coding gene sequences shields productive transcripts from Rho termination.

Gene-Wei Li Lab@GeneWeiLiLabJun 17
We're excited to share our latest publication, from graduate student Julia Dierksheide in the lab! In B. subtilis, the fast-moving RNA polymerase outpaces the leading ribosome, leaving mRNA transcripts vulnerable to the transcription termination factor Rho. (1/2)
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MIT Biology retweeted
Gene-Wei Li Lab@GeneWeiLiLabJun 8
Excited to share our recent work expanding our understanding of transcription termination, from Jenny Cascino in the lab! Here we show that transcription termination in cyanobacteria proceeds largely outside of known, canonical mechanisms. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128… (1/2)

Canonical transcription termination mechanisms explain a minority of operons in cyanobacteria |...

Our understanding of bacterial transcription regulation is largely based on model organisms like Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, yet many of these mechanisms appear absent or divergent in...

journals.asm.org
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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
Jessie Xiao, Evan Ruesch and Emma Ibanez smile as they stand along a railing in MIT's Building 46.

ALT Jessie Xiao, Evan Ruesch and Emma Ibanez smile as they stand along a railing in MIT's Building 46.

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