MIT, Convergence Idea Challenge
For the last few months, I’ve had the opportunity to work on an amazing national report about the Convergence of technologies in the life sciences. The goal of the report–which will be launched this coming Friday at the National Academy of Sciences, in Washington, DC– is to encourage increased funding for engineers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and information technologists for work in health and life science fields. More on the report and Convergence later this week.
For now, I want to let you know that Nobel Prize winning scientist Phil Sharp of the MIT Koch Institute has offered a $3000 award for the best Convergence idea submitted by students across the US–and that the public is invited to help choose a second, $1000 “community” winner—-by “liking” ideas submitted via on Facebook. The goal is to challenge emerging researchers to combine the life/physical sciences, information technology, social sciences, and engineering to improve human health.The voting deadline is 6 pm on Thursday, June 23, 2016.
Here’s a list of the submissions–which come from researchers across the US. More info on each idea–and “like” options– are available at https://www.facebook.com/ConvergenceIdeas/
- Hex House; a rapidly deployable, dignified home
- A Multi-disciplinary Approach to Tackling Childhood Poverty
- Biomarkers and Neural Circuits Underlying Resilience to Stress
- Neuroprosthetics in Nerve Reanimation: Implantation of Intraneural Building
- Beyond Biology Breast milk – mine of potential therapies
- Getting VacSeen-ated Mobile Screening and Diagnostics
- Engineering Pro-Regenerative Immunotherapies
- Empowering HIV-positive Youth in Swaziland, Africa: A Novel Digital Mentorship Experience
- Development of minimally invasive assessment of placenta across gestation
- An Epidemiological Cellular Automata Model of Gun Violence
- Transforming Clinical Data Into Field-Deployable Medical Apps
- Engineering a Flexible Organic Photovoltaic Cell as an Artificial Retina to Restore Sight: A Promising Vision in Bio-nanoelectronics
- Accelerating translation from bio-discovery to engineered applications by single cell niche sequencing
- Using Nature’s Fundamental Choice Against it
- Drinking Water Health – Intermittent Water Supply in Developing Countries
- “Brain train” – optogenetic cognitive-conditioning for neuropsychiatric disorders
- Sparsh- Sleeping Bag
- Quantified ethology decreases time to diagnosis of infection
- Interlocking culture system for resolvable three-dimensional cell arrangements
- A New Treatment for Depression through Modification of Semantic Networks in the Brain Using a Computer Game
–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a marketing and communications firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA.
