MIT: More collaboration is needed to fight disease

The reports focuses on three areas in need of convergence between disciplines: Brain disorders, infectious diseases and cancer research. Researchers in those fields need to collaborate with scientists and engineers who work on imaging, nanotechnology, regenerative engineering (prosthetics and organ transplants), and information technology. For instance, building artificial organs for transplants requires 3D printing expertise (below) that medical researchers don't have. Similarly, optogenetics allows neurologists to change an animal's behavior merely with light, but leans heavily on genetics and other fields. Such collaboration, which the authors refer to as the "third revolution" in science, is already commonplace, of course. Doctors are working with geneticists to stamp out viruses and immune disorders via "synthetic biology," and cancer researchers are using AI to improve patient diagnoses.