Broad Discovery Series

Patients' experiences have long told us that not all type 2 diabetes is the same. Genetics is now starting to help doctors and scientists grasp why that is, and what it might mean for patients. In this Broad Discovery Series event, physician-geneticist Miriam Udler and computational and cellular biologist Melina Claussnitzer will discuss what genetics is teaching us about the subtypes of type 2 diabetes, and how researchers can use that understanding as a springboard for learning how this disease really works — and what to do about it.  

This lecture is presented in memory of Eliana Hechter and is supported by the Eliana Hechter Memorial Fund.
 

Spurred by the development of CRISPR for genome editing, researchers have for 10 years been working to engineer modular, "programmable" treatments that accurately and consistently strike at the root causes of diseases. In this Broad Discovery Series event, molecular biologist and CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang will invite past and present members of his lab to reflect on how the genome editing toolkit has expanded over the last decade, discuss other ways of developing programmable medicines, and talk about what gets them most excited about these technologies' potential. 

Early-career scientists often have the most game-changing ideas. Join five emerging scientific visionaries as they talk about their efforts to move the needle on neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases, sudden cardiac death, infectious disease diagnosis and surveillance, and rare genetic disorders.

This Broad Discovery Series event is being held in collaboration with BroadIgnite, an institute program that partners rising philanthropists with early-career researchers involved in high-risk, potentially high-reward projects.

Biomedical science and data analysis technologies have both experienced revolutions in the 21st century. Join Caroline Uhler to learn how these two fields are coming together — and how today’s biological questions are motivating new developments in machine learning to help find answers.

The next breakthrough in science often comes from looking at a problem from a new angle and with new facts. In the inaugural talk of the Broad Discovery Series, Paul Blainey and Alex Shalek will share how taking an engineering approach can allow scientists to make new types of biological measurements that help answer important questions about cells and tissues, and can yield new, otherwise unseeable perspectives about how living systems work.