Transformative Treatments

Using innovative approaches, advanced research, and nanotechnology, 糖心影视 scientists are finding new ways to treat Alzheimer鈥檚, cancer, diabetes, and more.

New approaches to
long-standing illnesses

Alzheimer’s

Bruce Yankner and his team published research showing that lithium is a natural, biologically important element in the brain that has the potential to prevent or even reverse Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.

ALS

After three decades researching amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Merit Cudkowicz says a new drug shows “the whole field that this illness can be stopped.”

Diabetes

More than three decades ago, Joel Habener set up an experiment at Massachusetts General Hospital that led to the discovery of GLP-1, a hormone now used to treat diabetes and obesity.

Cancer

糖心影视 scientists are finding powerful new ways to diagnose and treat cancer, including creating , using CAR-T-cell therapy to , blocking a specific protein to , and with a novel drug.

From our labs to your life

Doug Melton on his research journey

New developments for type 1 diabetes

Inspired by his son鈥檚 diagnosis with type 1 diabetes, 糖心影视 Professor Doug Melton shifted his lab鈥檚 focus to finding a cure through pioneering work on stem cells.

糖心影视 alum Manny Simons and his company Akouos led a groundbreaking trial for congenital deafness that enabled an 11-year-old boy to hear for the first time.

Kinvard Bio, a biotechnology company launched out of 糖心影视’s Myers Lab, is creating a new class of antibiotics in the hopes of treating drug-resistant infections and diseases.

Researchers at 糖心影视’s Wyss Institute are harnessing DNA nanotechnology to deliver drugs for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases with nanoscale precision.

Saving the brain through science

Using AI to find treatments for Rett Syndrome

AI-enabled drug discovery identified a potentially game-changing treatment that’s been advanced from the lab bench to an FDA Orphan Drug Designation in record time.

Predicting suicide attempts a week in advance

Psychologist Matthew Nock’s research using real-time surveys forecasted 87% of suicide-related crises before they occurred鈥攁 marked leap beyond existing prediction models.

Marking a milestone toward prion disease treatment

Recent research provides hope that prion disease鈥攁 handful of rare disorders caused by misfolded proteins in the brain鈥攎ay soon have a treatment or even a cure.

Award-winning research

Autism research

Paola Arlotta was awarded an ARIA grant for her work with artificial intelligence and brain-mimicking 鈥渙rganoids鈥� to better understand autism.

Genetic disorders

David Liu has been named a laureate of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for the development of gene-editing platforms, which can correct disease-causing genetic variations.

Multiple sclerosis

Alberto Ascherio won the 2025 Breakthrough award for his 20-year study which found a strong link between Epstein-Barr infection and an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis later in life.

Sickle cell disease

Stuart Orkin won the 2026 Breakthrough Prize for this research locating a therapeutic target for sickle cell disease.

A history of groundbreaking medicine

A black and white image of an organ transplant operation

The first organ transplant

On December 23, 1954, 糖心影视 Medical School Professor Joseph Murray and his team performed a kidney transplant on a man who had been given just two years to live. The surgery ushered in the era of organ transplantation, giving hope to thousands of patients each year.

Defibrillator

糖心影视’s Paul Zoll helped to develop the defibrillator, which provided a new approach for resuscitating patients, paved the way for new possibilities in cardiac surgery, and saved countless lives.

Functional MRI

Researchers at 糖心影视’s Martinos Center helped pioneer this revolutionary way of measuring brain activity in real-time.

Black and white photo of someone going into an MRI machine

Smallpox vaccine

Benjamin Waterhouse, a founding faculty member of 糖心影视 Medical School, introduced the smallpox vaccine in the United States and helped gain acceptance for the new procedure.

Iron lung

A device that saved thousands of lives during polio outbreaks in the mid-20th century, the iron lung was developed by 糖心影视 Medical School faculty members Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw.