News & Stories

Satellite-based method measures carbon in peat bogs

Peat bogs in the tropics store vast amounts of carbon, but logging, plantations, road building, and other activities have destroyed large swaths of these ecosystems in places like Indonesia and Malaysia. Peat formations are essentially permanently flooded forestland, where dead leaves and branches accumulate because the water table prevents their decomposition. The pileup of organic […]

SMART launches research group to advance AI, automation, and the future of work

The Singapore MIT-Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, has launched a new interdisciplinary research group aimed at tackling key social and institutional challenges around the rise of artificial intelligence and other new technologies. The group, known as Mens, Manus and Machina: How AI Empowers People, Institutions and the City in […]

Newly discovered bacterial communication system aids antimicrobial resistance

Researchers have discovered a new stress signaling system that enables bacteria cells to adapt and protect themselves against the immune system and certain antibiotics. An enzyme, RlmN, was observed to directly sense chemical and environmental stresses, and rapidly signal for the production of other proteins that allow the bacteria cell to adapt and survive. This […]

A novel combination therapy counters antibiotic-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus infections

Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) interdisciplinary research group at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU Singapore) and National University Hospital, have discovered a novel therapy by combining two antibiotics, rifaximin and clarithromycin, to treat Mycobacterium abscessus, a non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) […]

A new microneedle-based drug delivery technique for plants

Increasing environmental conditions caused by climate change, an ever-growing human population, scarcity of arable land, and limited resources are pressuring the agriculture industry to adopt more sustainable and precise practices that foster more efficient use of resources (e.g., water, fertilizers, and pesticides) and mitigation of environmental impacts. Developing delivery systems that efficiently deploy agrochemicals such […]

SMART researchers develop quick test to determine immunity against Covid-19

A team of scientists from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a quick test kit that can tell if a person has immunity against Covid-19 and its variants, based on the antibodies detected in a blood sample. Unlike ART […]

SMART researchers enable early-stage detection of microbial contamination in cell therapy

Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, have identified a critical quality attribute (CQA) that potentially allows the development of a rapid and sensitive process analytical technology for sterility. Specifically, this technology enables the detection of early-stage microbial contamination in human cell therapy products (CTPs). Cell therapy […]

Engineers enlist AI to help scale up advanced solar cell manufacturing

Perovskites are a family of materials that are currently the leading contender to potentially replace today’s silicon-based solar photovoltaics. They hold the promise of panels that are far thinner and lighter, that could be made with ultra-high throughput at room temperature instead of at hundreds of degrees, and that are cheaper and easier to transport […]

Ride-hailing without the traffic snarls?

In theory, competition among ride-hailing companies should be a good thing, providing more options for consumers. In practice, having too many ride-hailing vehicles adds to urban congestion. How can cities balance these factors? A new study co-authored by MIT researchers, in collaboration with the Institute for Informatics and Telematics of the National Research Council of […]

SMART researchers discover unique lysin capable of killing multidrug-resistant bacteria

Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Interdisciplinary Research Group at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, alongside collaborators at Nanyang Technological University, have identified a novel phage lysin — Abp013 — that could be used as an alternative antimicrobial agent against two of the most deadly bacteria: Acinetobacter baumannii […]