New approach to global health challenges
MIT’s new Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) is tackling some of the world’s biggest health challenges through an interdisciplinary approach that will seek new ways to diagnose and treat infectious, neurological and cardiovascular diseases.Solving those challenges will require bringing together many types of expertise, said MIT President L. Rafael Reif, who urged researchers to “be bold, think big, and save the world” at an inaugural symposium, held Sept. 25, to celebrate IMES’s launch. The new institute aims to become a hub for medical research, IMES director Arup Chakraborty said, allowing MIT scientists and engineers to work more closely with hospitals, medical-device manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies in the Boston and Cambridge area.“We aim to serve as a strong integrative force across the MIT campus and bring together our work in discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship and partner with hospitals, Harvard Medical School and industry to create the future of medicine...