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MIT CSAIL researchers developed a tool that can model the shape and movements of fetuses in 3D, potentially assisting doctors in finding abnormalities and making diagnoses. Originally published by Alex Shipps | MIT CSAIL in MT News, on September 15, 2025 Fetal SMPL was trained on 20,000 MRI volumes to predict the location and size of a fetus and create sculpture-like 3D representations. The approach could enable doctors to precisely measure things like the size of a baby’s head and compare these metrics with healthy fetuses at the same age. Credits: Image: Alex Shipps and Yingcheng Liu/MIT CSAIL    For pregnant women, ultrasounds are an informative (and sometimes necessary) procedure . They typically produce two-dimensional black-and-white scans of fetuses that can reveal key insights , including biological sex, approximate size, and abnormalities like heart issues or cleft lip. If your doctor wants a closer look , they may use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) , which us...

Originally published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on September 28, 2023 Credit: Wikimedia Commons Alzheimer's disease affects more than 6 million people in the United States, and there are very few FDA-approved treatments that can slow the progression of the disease. In hopes of discovering new targets for potential Alzheimer's treatments , MIT researchers have performed the broadest analysis yet of the genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic changes that occur in every cell type in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Using more than 2 million cells from more than 400 postmortem brain samples , the researchers analyzed how gene expression is disrupted as Alzheimer's progresses . They also tracked changes in cells' epigenomic modifications , which help to determine which genes are turned on or off in a particular cell. Together, these approaches offer the most detailed picture yet of the genetic and molecular underpinnings of Alzheimer'...