Broad Institute

Attention science/health reporters and editors: applications are open for Broad’s 2026 Media Boot Camp! Join us in Cambridge April 30–May 1 for a deep dive into emerging stories in biomedicine. Hotel & meals provided. Apply by Friday, March 20: broad.io/mediabootcamp

The recording of "New approaches and data sources for coding variant interpretation" by @ccassa.bsky.social is now available: youtu.be/8YiHnealbEc. This talk is part of @broadinstitute.org's MPG Primer series. For more info, check out broad.io/MPGPrimer.

Microbiota-mediated induction of beige adipocytes in response to dietary cues - Nature In mice, a low-protein diet leads to a gut-microbiota-driven remodelling of adipose tissue towards brown fat, showing that gut microorganisms have a role in detecting and responding to a lack of prote...

New study, in collaboration with Kenya Honda, out now in @nature.com. We show how a low protein diet drives a microbiota-dependent induction of thermogenic brown adipocytes via FXR & FGF21 pathways.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Gut bacteria rewire fat tissue to burn more energy Study reveals how the gut microbiome and diet work together to transform white fat cells into energy-burning beige fat in mice.

New research from @thexavierlab.bsky.social finds that the gut microbiome fine-tunes fat tissue in mice in response to diet, converting it from energy-storing fat to more energy-burning fat when dietary protein is low.

Rescheduled to March 18 at 6 pm ET. Register: broadinstitute.swoogo.com/discovery26

Free genetic testing program aims to improve medical care across Alabama Led by Southern Research, MyOme, and Broad Clinical Labs, the program provides participants with personalized health insights, enabling more informed and proactive healthcare decisions.

The Catalyst program, led by Alabama nonprofit Southern Research, Broad Clinical Labs, and MyOme, Inc., provides free genetic testing to adult residents across Alabama to improve medical care and address chronic disease.

Study reveals genetic balancing act between autoimmunity and cancer risk Researchers pinpoint genetic factors linked to both higher risk of a common autoimmune disorder and lower cancer risk

Large-scale FinnGen-based study by Reeve et al., just published in Nature Genetics, provides the most detailed genetic map of autoimmune hypothyroidism to date and reveals a surprising inverse relationship between hypothyroidism risk and skin cancer risk.
www.broadinstitute.org/news/study-r...

Study reveals genetic balancing act between autoimmunity and cancer risk Researchers pinpoint genetic factors linked to both higher risk of a common autoimmune disorder and lower cancer risk

Check out this great write-up of a recent study between the
@broadinstitute.org , University of Helsinki, and other institutions which has found more than 400 genetic markers that are linked to autoimmune hypothyroidism (AIHT). (1/4)

www.broadinstitute.org/news/study-r...

An animation of DNA strand above the text: Scientists sharpen genetic maps to help pinpoint DNA changes that influence human health traits and disease risk

How do genes impact disease risk? By rapidly testing hundreds of thousands of #DNA sequences, scientists at JAX, @broadinstitute.org and @yale.edu have identified specific genetic variations that contribute to blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and more.🧪🧬

https://go.jax.org/gene-maps-health

Study reveals genetic balancing act between autoimmunity and cancer risk Researchers pinpoint genetic factors linked to both higher risk of a common autoimmune disorder and lower cancer risk

The same genetic variants that heighten the risk of autoimmune hypothyroidism — the most common autoimmune disorder — may also lower cancer risk, according to a new study led by scientists at Broad, @helsinki.fi, and @mgbresearch.bsky.social. broad.io/AIHT-news

Scientists sharpen genetic maps to help pinpoint DNA changes that influence human health traits and disease risk By rapidly testing hundreds of thousands of DNA sequences, scientists have identified specific genetic variations that contribute to blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and more.

Pinpointing the exact noncoding variants driving locus-disease associations is an enduring challenge. Using MPRA, a @jacksonlab.bsky.social, Broad & @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social team tested >220,000 variants in 5 cell types, resolving >13,000 and revealing mechanisms behind several disease traits.

Sabrina Camp, Kevin Bi and Eli Van Allen, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Research in Science Advances by @danafarbernews.bsky.social’s Sabrina Camp, Kevin Bi and Eli Van Allen, MD, revealed loss of the gene BAP1 activates a tumor-intrinsic interferon signaling program, highlighting immune evasion pathways as potential treatment targets. @broadinstitute.org bit.ly/4cEOFBl

Partially shared multi-modal embedding learns holistic representation of cell state - Nature Computational Science APOLLO is an autoencoder-based framework to integrate diverse data modalities while preserving both shared and modality-specific information. It enables predicting missing data modalities and identify...

📢Caroline Uhler and colleagues from Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center at @broadinstitute.org present APOLLO, a framework to integrate diverse data modalities, enabling predicting missing data modalities and identifying the influence of each modality on a phenotype. www.nature.com/articles/s43... 🖥️ 🧬

Identifying microbial protease allergens through protein language model-guided homology Thurimella et al. introduce a deep learning framework using protein language models to predict allergenic proteases in the microbiome. The model identified hundreds of candidate allergenic proteases i...

1/ Our paper is out today in @cp-cellsystems.bsky.social. We used protein language models and deep learning to identify candidate protease allergens in the human microbiome.

www.cell.com/cell-systems...

Identifying microbial protease allergens through protein language model-guided homology Emerging research links the gut, skin, and oral microbiomes to allergies, with serine proteases (SPs) identified as potential allergens. This study le…

(1/2) New paper out now in Cell Systems @cellpress.bsky.social describing development of a deep learning framework to predict allergenic microbial proteases!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@broadinstitute.org @mgbresearch.bsky.social

Due to inclement weather, the Broad Discovery Series talk scheduled for Tuesday, February 24 has been postponed.

We will share the rescheduled date soon.

Join us this Tuesday, February 24 at 6PM ET in Cambridge, MA (or online) for a Broad Discovery Series talk with Heidi Greulich and Matthew Meyerson, “The story behind a new therapy for lung cancer patients.”

Register: broadinstitute.swoogo.com/Discovery26

Can we accurately map cell family trees using mtDNA? Excited to share MitoDrift, a high-precision single-cell lineage inference tool, enabling reliable mapping of lineage history to cell phenotypes. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Joint with @gaoteng.bsky.social. @bloodgenes.bsky.social @jswlab.bsky.social🧵

Applications are open for Broad’s 2026 Media Boot Camp!

Science/health reporters and editors: Join us in Cambridge (April 30–May 1) for a deep dive into emerging stories in biomedicine.

Hotel & meals provided. Applications due March 20. Learn more here: broad.io/mediabootcamp

Clinical trial explores whether a genetic test can improve early detection of prostate cancer The low-cost method, from Broad Clinical Labs and VA scientists, could potentially identify men at high risk who may benefit from earlier prostate cancer screening.

A clinical trial is exploring whether a new genetic test can improve prostate cancer detection. Developed by Broad Clinical Labs & the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the low-cost test uses BCL’s blended genome-exome method and could help diagnose men earlier and help low-risk men avoid biopsies.

Sensitive detection of cancer antigens enabled by user-defined peptide libraries - Nature Biotechnology Insights into regulatory T cell biology are accelerating therapeutic innovation in cancer immunotherapy, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.

Sensitive detection of cancer antigens enabled by user-defined peptide libraries - @broadinstitute.org go.nature.com/4kvvwUC

On Tuesday, February 24 at 6PM ET join us in Cambridge, MA (or online) for a Broad Discovery Series talk with Heidi Greulich and Matthew Meyerson, “The story behind a new therapy for lung cancer patients.”

Register: broadinstitute.swoogo.com/Discovery26

How did the latest targeted lung cancer drug, and the first FDA-approved treatment born of Broad science, come about? Come find out at the next talk in the Broad Discovery Series!

Feng Zhang to be inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame Broad core member recognized for his innovations in gene editing and programmable therapeutics.

Congratulations to @zhangf.bsky.social for being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame!

Join us on Tuesday, February 24 at 6PM ET in Cambridge, MA (or online) for a Broad Discovery Series talk with Heidi Greulich and Matthew Meyerson, “The story behind a new therapy for lung cancer patients.” Register: broadinstitute.swoogo.com/Discovery26

How genes influence the microbes in our mouths Analysis of the now largest collection of oral microbiome profiles reveals interactions between human and bacterial DNA.

Our genes play a role in determining the microbial community living in our mouths, according to a new study that analyzed over 12,500 oral microbiome profiles. Researchers found interactions between human & bacterial DNA that could influence dental health.

AI generates short DNA sequences that show promise for gene therapies The generative AI model designed sequences that successfully reactivated a protective gene in leukemia cell lines.

A new gen-AI model, called DNA-Diffusion, creates short DNA sequences capable of turning genes on or off in specific cells. The researchers hope that the technology could one day be part of gene therapies to treat disease.

SciShow Field Trips is here!

For the first episode, we traveled to Feng Zhang's lab at the @broadinstitute.org. The MIT biochemist and HHMI Investigator is studying a set of microbial genes called TIGR, potentially the key to developing CRISPR's successor.

🎥 youtube.com/watch?v=_UimlaolxiA

Spatial transcriptomics reveals altered communities and drivers of aberrant epithelia and pro-fibrotic fibroblasts in interstitial lung diseases Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, Jaiswal et al. identify disease-associated cell communities that include aberrant transitional alveolar epithelium and pro-fibrotic fib...

Excited to share our latest study in Cell Genomics, combining single-nucleus RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and histology to dissect the molecular determinants of lung fibrosis!

www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

#fibrosis #lung #ILD

Jaida Elcock and Dr. Feng Zheng pose for a photo during their interview.

Jaida Elcock dressed in lab gear giving an expression that says "can you believe this is happening?"

Dr. Zheng and Jaida engrossed in conversation about the specifics of the lab work.

Dr. Zheng showing off how some of the lab equipment works.

First stop on our Field Trip tour is Dr. Feng Zhang's lab at the Broad Institute.

You may already be familiar with Dr. Zhang’s work if you’ve ever heard of CRISPR… but how do you follow up a hit like that?

That’s a story big enough to tell in person.
youtu.be/_UimlaolxiA?...