Keeping Tooth Alive After Root Canal

Biomaterial Could Keep Tooth Alive After Root Canal.  American Chemical Society/Science.  August 22, 2018. 

Only Limited Information Needed For Pinpoint Identification of People From Online Genetic Information

Web Hunt For DNA Sequences Leaves Privacy Compromised by Gina Kolata.  The New York Times.  January 17, 2013.

Using only the long string of DNA letters, age of research subject, and state of the subject, researchers have successfully identified those subjects and their families.  The ease with which this information was unearthed poses questions for privacy policy in science and has implications for the open sharing data to further genetic research.  The guarantee of privacy granted to research subjects is called into question.  Story also covered here.

MIT Lab Churns Out Companies for Cancer, Diabetes, and Other Diseases

Hatching Ideas, and Companies, by the Dozens at MIT by Hannah Seligson.  The New York Times.  November 24, 2012.

The MIT laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer has helped start 25 companies and holds 811 patents, issued or pending, to treat a wide range of diseases and conditions.  As a result Dr. Langer's laboratory has developed tremendous expertise at the intersection of academic research and the commercial market.  "His mission is to create the idea."  Pharmaceutical companies value this laboratory mission because the lab's nimble and freewheeling approach is sometimes not found in large bureaucratic organizations.   There are however dangers including conflict of interest and protecting the public good.  In a variety of lab projects sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States Army, and a variety of companies,  the common thread is MIT's historic mission of tech transfer for industrial development.