Broad Discovery Series

The brain is all about connection and communication, with cells sharing information back and forth in a variety of ways. Breakdowns in those channels can be major contributors to conditions ranging from schizophrenia to Alzheimer's disease. In this special Broad Discovery Series x BroadIgnite event, neurobiologist Ralda Nehme will talk about new ways of exploring brain cell cross-talk in the lab, while chemical biologist Shiwei Wang will explain how cells in the brain and beyond use sugars as a messaging system, and why that matters in neurodegenerative disorders.

For this event, the Broad Discovery Series is partnering with BroadIgnite, which connects philanthropists with early-career researchers involved in high-risk, potentially high-reward projects.

Speaker

Ralda Nehme
Institute Scientist
Director, Stem Cell Program
Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research

Shiwei Wang
Graduate student, Chemical Biology
MIT and the Broad Institute

The immune system's immense variety of cells and tissues all play specific roles in defending us from pathogens, watching for tumors, keeping the system from inadvertently turning against us, and more. Its T cells in particular are famous for their ability to attack tumors, leading to immunotherapies that have revolutionized cancer treatment. But by focusing on T cells, are we missing other opportunities to combat cancer? Immunologist Lloyd Bod will take us on a tour of the immune system, and discuss new insights that may help scientists and doctors leverage its cancer-fighting capabilities more effectively.

Speaker

Lloyd Bod
Associate Member
Broad Institute

Principal investigator
Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research
Massachusetts General Hospital

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

While it's been decades since the last major therapeutic breakthroughs in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric conditions, new hope may be appearing on the horizon. Join scientists from the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and peers and family members from the community to hear how genetics and biology are shaping an improved understanding of psychiatric conditions, how that might address community concerns, and what it could mean for diagnosis and care now and in the future.

The heart uniquely straddles the world of art and science — a powerful metaphor for love and loss on the one hand, a literal life-sustaining force within each of us and an intense focus of genetic and medical research on the other. Join a Broad Discovery Series x Catalyst Conversations event addressing the heart, from the point of view of researchers who work on finding cures to heart disease and of writers and artists for whom the heart holds deeper meaning.

Host

Deborah Davidson
President and founder, Catalyst Conversations

Moderator

Tom Ulrich
Associate director for science communications, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Speakers

Daniel Chonde, MD, PhD
Assistant professor of radiology, University of Kentucky; founder, The People's heART

Meredith Goldstein
Love Letters columnist and features writer, The Boston Globe

Cate McQuaid
Arts critic, The Boston Globe

Pradeep Natarajan, MD, MMSc
Director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital; associate member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

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.