415 Main Street, Cambridge

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is an independent, nonprofit research center established in 2004 to investigate the applications of genomics to human health. In the Discovery Center, facing Main Street, the institute shares exhibits designed to explain the technologies researchers at the Broad and its partner institutions are developing and the new treatments they’re exploring in areas such as cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, and psychiatric conditions. For example, the Broad played a crucial role during the Covid-19 pandemic, partnering with MIT, the City of Cambridge, and other organizations to use Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR diagnostic assays to test more than 37 million nasal swab samples for the SARS-CoV-2 virus; one exhibit in the Discovery Center tells that story, with help from a video interview with Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui.

Guest speaker

Namrata Sengupta, Associate Director of Scientific Public Engagement and Broad Discovery Center, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard