Endowing cells with new abilities
It had been seven years since Fahim Farzadfard had last seen his family back home in Iran. Even after obtaining his green card in the middle of 2016, he had waited to finish his PhD before making the trip. Finally, last December, Farzadfard made a long-awaited visit to his hometown of Mashhad, Iran. Farzadfard had missed his family, and would have loved to stay longer to enjoy Persian cuisine, Iran’s raw beauty, and the courteous culture he grew up with. He kept his visit short, however, partly out of concerns over a possible travel ban under the new federal administration, but also because of the ongoing research at MIT that he was devoted to. Even while in Iran, he had been working on it to the best of his ability, but he soon felt pulled to return to campus. Farzadfard came to MIT almost seven years ago, after completing his undergraduate and...