MIT Technology Review names five under-35 biotech innovators
MIT Technology Review published its 2026 35 Innovators Under 35 list. Nine of this year's honorees work in biotech, and the outlet's newsletter The Checkup singled out five of their projects.
Paschal Kija, 28, from Tanzania, built the Mkanda Salama (Swahili for "Safe Wrap"), a device that treats postpartum hemorrhage, a birth complication that contributes to around 29% of maternal deaths in his home country. The device costs $70. A study found it stopped postpartum bleeding in 73% of women within 20 minutes.
Xiao Yang, 34, is developing ultra-small, flexible brain electrodes designed to cause less damage to surrounding tissue than existing implants; they are shaped to resemble actual neurons. She has also built sheets of electrodes for studying brain cells in the lab, using a honeycombed, spiral-basket structure inspired by kirigami, the Japanese paper-cutting art.
Sarah Grandinette, 26, was part of the team that designed an entirely new, personalized gene-editing therapy for Kyle "KJ" Muldoon Jr., who was born in 2024 with a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder. Grandinette created cells carrying KJ's genetic variant to screen possible editing approaches, then tested candidate treatments in mice and monkeys. KJ received his first dose of the resulting therapy at about seven months old, responded well, and was discharged from hospital. Grandinette says he is "doing pretty great."
Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu, 34, and his colleagues published a 2020 study showing that a cell reprogramming therapy, which resets cells toward a more embryonic-like state, reversed vision loss in aged, blind mice. An almost identical version of that therapy is now being tested in people with eye disease; Life Biosciences, the company developing the drug, dosed its first human volunteer in June.
Samuel King, 27, used a generative AI model last year to design new genetic blueprints for bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, then had those blueprints printed as strands of DNA. In his experiments, the AI-designed viruses were able to make copies of themselves, burst out of bacterial cells, and infect other nearby bacteria. King hopes AI-designed life forms could eventually be used to make drugs or clean up pollution.
Key facts
- MIT Technology Review's 2026 35 Innovators Under 35 list includes nine biotech researchers; the outlet profiled five of them.
- Paschal Kija, 28, built the $70 Mkanda Salama device, which stopped postpartum bleeding in 73% of women within 20 minutes in a study, addressing a complication linked to around 29% of maternal deaths in Tanzania.
- Sarah Grandinette, 26, helped design a personalized gene-editing therapy for baby KJ, born in 2024 with a rare genetic disorder; he got his first dose at about seven months old and is now, in her words, doing pretty great.
- Yuancheng (Ryan) Lu's 2020 study showed a cell-reprogramming therapy reversed vision loss in blind mice; Life Biosciences dosed the first human volunteer with a similar eye-disease therapy in June.
- Samuel King used a generative AI model to design new bacteriophage genomes that, once synthesized as DNA, replicated and infected bacteria in his experiments.
Why it matters
The piece is MIT Technology Review's annual check-in on young researchers whose work is close to reaching patients rather than staying theoretical. Two of the five profiles already involve real people: Kija's device has been tested in a clinical study, and Grandinette's gene-editing therapy has already treated one infant. A third, Lu's reprogramming therapy, has moved from mice to a first human volunteer. The fifth, King's AI-designed bacteriophages, points at a newer question: whether generative models can design living systems, not just text or images.
Who it affects
Kija's device targets postpartum hemorrhage patients, a leading cause of maternal death in Tanzania and elsewhere. Grandinette's therapy was built for a single patient, KJ, whose case is often cited as an early example of individualized gene editing. Lu's and Life Biosciences' work targets people with age-related eye disease. Yang's electrodes are aimed at researchers studying brain activity and neurological disorders, and eventually at patients who receive brain implants. King's bacteriophage work is aimed at researchers exploring AI-designed biological tools, with drug production and pollution cleanup floated as long-term uses.
How to use it
None of the five is a consumer product. Kija's Mkanda Salama is the furthest along commercially, at a stated cost of $70 per device. Grandinette's therapy was custom-built for one patient and is not a general-purpose product. Life Biosciences' reprogramming drug is still in early human testing, having dosed its first volunteer in June. Yang's electrodes remain lab research tools for studying brain cells. King's AI-designed bacteriophages exist only as experimental results; the source does not describe any path to a released tool or drug.
How solid is it
The article is a profile from an established, ongoing MIT Technology Review franchise (35 Innovators Under 35), not a single unverified claim. Kija's device has a specific, cited study result (73% success within 20 minutes) and a market price ($70). Lu's mouse study was published in 2020, and Life Biosciences has confirmed dosing a first human volunteer. King's bacteriophage results are described as his own reported experiments. The source does not give the location, phase, or publication venue of the Mkanda Salama study, nor the institution where Yang works.
Risks and caveats
The source names only five of the nine biotech honorees on this year's list; the other four and their work are not described here. Details that would help assess maturity are missing: no trial phase or publication venue is given for the Mkanda Salama study, no year is stated for Life Biosciences' first human dosing beyond "June," and no institution is named for Yang's electrode research. King's virus-design work is an early-stage lab result, not a therapy or product, and the source does not say whether the AI-designed bacteriophages have been tested for safety outside the lab.
“doing pretty great”
— Sarah Grandinette, on KJ's response to the gene-editing therapy