Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

In this lecture, we will provide an overview of how Intellia is leveraging its CRISPR-based technologies to develop novel, potentially curative therapeutics. To fully realize the transformative potential of CRISPR-based technologies, Intellia is pursuing two primary approaches. The company’s in vivo investigational programs use intravenously administered CRISPR as the therapy, in which proprietary delivery technology enables highly precise editing of disease-causing genes directly within specific target tissues. Intellia’s investigational ex vivo programs use CRISPR to create the therapy by using engineered human cells to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

Have you ever wondered why forgetting is so common? Why you can be confident about a past event, yet wrong about the details? Why you can study hard for an exam yet be unable to retrieve the content? Why you can forget someone’s name almost as soon as they’ve told it to you?

This talk, by Professor Elizabeth Kensinger, Chairperson of the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Boston College, will explain why these occurrences are so common, and may challenge some of your ideas about why we forget.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

Why do we age? Does every living thing age? How can some organisms live for over a century while others die in mere weeks? These questions have been on the minds of almost every natural philosopher for the past few thousand years, but modern advances in evolutionary biology and gerontology have only just given us satisfactory explanations. In this presentation, I will share some of the insights that brought aging from the realm of the supernatural to the realm of science. I’ll also talk about some remarkable organisms that appear not to age at all and what these organisms may be able to teach us about our own chances at combating the diseases of aging.

Christopher Rodriguez, Graduate Student, Reddien Lab, Whitehead Institute

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Join faculty from the Office of Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School for a lunch discussion on the importance of diversity inclusion in medical and STEM professions, hear about the strategies to strengthen educational and career pathways, as well as priorities for future action.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Koch Institute cancer research spans all stages of the research pipeline—from bench to bedside. Our researchers ask fundamental questions about basic biological processes and invent new technologies to address critical cancer challenges. They launch startups as well as partnering with clinicians and companies to translate groundbreaking research into transformative tools and treatments.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Human longevity potential colliding with our adoption and use of AI, automation and other technologies is collectively disrupting how we live, work, learn, and play. In this session at the Cambridge Senior Center, join MIT AgeLab researchers for a discussion exploring our current understanding of the evolution of the longevity economy. They will share key insights from existing projects focused on topics like the adoption of smart technologies for aging-in-place, research with the ‘oldest old’ of older adults and family caregivers, and use of an age empathy suit for education and learning. Learn from MIT-driven insight to maximize your 100 years of life. Light refreshments will be provided.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

In this workshop participants will learn how to understand and be able to respectfully use terminology relevant to gender identity, gender expression, and sexuality. Additionally, participants will learn tools for advocating for queer, trans, and gender diverse youth & adults. Participants will leave the workshop with a list of resources to further their education.

*** Attendees should provide their own lunch. ***

MIT Assistant Professor Marzyeh Ghassemi has been at the forefront of bias in medical machine learning for several years. In this talk, she covers how we can prevent artificial intelligence (AI) from replicating the inequities and harms of human biases and why we shouldn’t be afraid of AI in health.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

Join us as we explore the intersection of science, innovation, and ethics. Genetics research is progressing at a feverish pace and increasingly impacting people’s lives and society as a whole. Can gene editing technology improve health equity or will it worsen existing inequalities? What is the impact of altering microbial, plant, animal, and human DNA on global health challenges?

Speakers from the Personal Genetics Education Project at Harvard Medical School will address the risks and rewards of using gene editing tools to change the world around us.

Join us for the unveiling of Multiplicities: An Artistic Exploration of Racial Disparities in Cancer Outcomes, a new art exhibit supported by the MIT Koch Institute and the health equity organization Nucarta. 

Research has shown that Black, Brown and minority communities hold the highest cancer burden of all racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. The exhibit consists of thought-provoking artworks that speak to the current state of cancer inequities and starts the conversation about how to eradicate health disparities in our communities. 

The exhibit’s opening night, timed to celebrate the Cambridge Science Festival’s Health Equity Day, will include talks from the artists and a chance to mingle with the artists and local scientists, engineers, health equity advocates, and health professionals.  

You get what you give. Researchers, clinicians, business leaders, and policymakers are increasingly aware of how AI learns biases from datasets. Jameel Clinic researchers discuss what we can do to reduce bias when training machine learning models in health.

Step into the world of cutting-edge biomedical research and innovation at the Broad Discovery Center, right in the heart of Kendall Square! Explore engaging exhibits, learn about the mysteries of human diseases, and witness first-hand how scientists from around the globe are joining forces to tackle psychiatric conditions, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Admission is free and no registration is required.

The lecture is an engaging exploration of the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the field of cancer research. Discover how AI is revolutionizing cancer treatment and gain insights into the groundbreaking advancements that are shaping the future of cancer therapy. Prepare to be inspired as you witness the potential of AI to revolutionize the fight against cancer.

*** Organizer will provide lunch. ***

The MIT Koch Institute Gallery celebrates our scientific research by using art to tell the story behind the science. The gallery permanently displays the annual Image Award winners’ extraordinary visuals that are produced through life sciences and biomedical research at MIT. The Koch Institute scientist/artists will be available to tell you more about their ground-breaking science and their passion for visual art.

The gallery is also hosting Multiplicities: An Artistic Exploration of Racial Disparities in Cancer Outcomes which will be showing through Dec. 8, 2023. This exhibit opens the discussion to other factors, like racial disparities, that can affect cancer treatment and patient well-being. The exhibit brings a holistic view to treating not only the diagnosis but the person and the community behind them.

Stop by the Ankyra booth as we showcase how drugs can be anchored to disease sites to improve treatment and safety.

Gene editing technology gives us the power to edit the DNA of all living things. With this power comes important questions about if, when, where, why, and how to use this technology. Many people wonder about the risks and benefits of gene editing to modify human traits, or applications in health, agriculture, and the environment. ‘Reprogrammed’ is an exhibit designed to engage attendees of all ages in thought and conversation about scientific, ethical, personal, and social issues related to gene editing technology. Meet members of the Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd) team from Harvard Medical School to play gene editing trivia and imagine your edited future with prompts on the statement scale.

Biology happens at the nanoscale. At the Cambridge Science Festival Carnival, scientists and engineers from MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine will be on hand to show you how we design tumor-fighting tools inspired by MIT research. Join us for search-and-find to learn what it’s like to be a researcher helping treat cancer. We’ll also have 3D images to help you explore the microscopic world of e.coli bacteria.

Be a scientist for a whole day! Massachusetts General Hospital is home to the largest hospital-based research program in the United States. Learn how the research taking place at the Mass General Research Institute today will lead to better care for patients—like you—tomorrow and in the future.

From a coloring book with exciting science facts to fun experiments to teach you about the human body and the fascinating way it works! Stop by our Cambridge Science Festival booth to learn from the brightest minds in scientific research who work to find solutions and treatments to help save people’s lives every day.

1.
Color your life with science!
Learn how Mass General physicians and scientists work together to understand how the human body works and how they are studying it to come up with solutions to save people’s lives via a fun coloring book!

2.
Scientist for a day!
Learn alongside Mass General Research Institute investigators and explore the science of health and medicine through fun, interactive experiments.

From germs to cells, genes to vaccines, our researchers are exploring all areas of biomedicine. Hopefully, after this, you’ll be a scientist for more than just a day!

We will bring a number of child-friendly activities that teach kids about the brain and how we read and process language. These activities may involve looking at a real-time spectrogram of a child’s voice to “see what they say” and hands-on learning activities to show parts of the brain we use for reading and language. We will also provide the opportunity for parents to learn about family-oriented resources related to speech and literacy development.

We will have several hands-on demos to explain concepts such as synthetic biology circuits, immunotherapy, and a vaccine cornhole game