massachusetts general hospital

A new microchip-based device that can discover and analyze circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, in a blood sample, could prove to be a valuable new tool for fighting cancer. CTCs, which originate in solid tumors, can be found in the bloodstream, but not too often. For every billion normal cells, you might only find one CTC.

Now scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, reporting in the journal Nature, say they've developed a nanofluidics-based device that can monitor how a patient is responding to a given cancer treatment by studying these tiny indicator cells. The technology may also help with early detection.—Gregory Mone

Via Science Daily

(Image credit: MGH BioMEMS Resource Center)

Think sports look amazing in high definition? Forget about Derek Jeter's hair follicles-wait until you see the inside of your esophagus, courtesy of the world's first high-def miniature 3-D endoscope. It captures images of tumors and other diseases in unprecedented detail and perspective, an innovation that may help physicians spot trouble they would otherwise have missed.

Almost everybody gets pleasure from some kind of pain. Some people like their food so hot it makes them sweat; others get off on the "burn" that comes from a hellacious workout. Scientists, meanwhile, are hard at work figuring out why some things hurt so good.


Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered that the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, which lights up when people feel pleasure, also does so when they feel pain. This, says David Borsook, one of the study's authors, proves that there's a bona fide intersection between pain and pleasure.