DREAM tool for gene therapies uses ‘locally sourced’ components
Rice bioengineers developed a tool that activates silent or insufficiently expressed genes using human-derived building blocks and a CRISPR-based genome-targeting platform.
Two Rice bioengineers win NIH Director’s New Innovator awards
Rice bioengineers Jerzy Szablowski and Julea Vlassakis received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award for their respective research projects. Szablowski’s work seeks to develop a noninvasive method of mapping gene expression, while Vlassakis is studying complex, single-cell level processes and interactions in pediatric bone cancer.
NIH funds new Baylor/Rice genome editing testing center
A five-year, $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will help establish a joint Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University center to support the development and testing of new genome editing technologies.
Tiny CRISPR tool could help shred viruses
Rice scientists mapped out the three-dimensional structure of one of the smallest known CRISPR-Cas13 systems then used that knowledge to modify its structure and improve its accuracy.
Feds fund $45M Rice-led research that could slash US cancer deaths by 50%
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health has awarded a Rice-led team $45 million to rapidly develop an implant with sense-and-respond technology that could slash U.S. cancer-related deaths by more than 50%.
Protective particles allow engineered probiotics to report gut disease
Rice U. bioengineers developed a platform that enhances survival and function of probiotics engineered to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease in animals. The technology holds promise for minimally invasive disease monitoring and advanced smart therapeutics.
Education program tackles race-based cancer health disparities
Rice U.’s Carolyn Nichol has won a competitive 5-year, $1,038,544 NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) award to address race-based cancer health disparities by increasing underrepresented minority student populations’ engagement and participation in biosciences education.
New software designs optimized, personalized treatments for movement impairments
A team of Rice University engineers has launched open-source software that constructs and uses personalized computer models of how individual patients move to optimize treatments for neurologic and orthopedic mobility impairments.
NIH grant backs Rice lab’s sickle cell disease research
Rice University bioengineer Gang Bao and his team have won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to address critical questions surrounding the safety and efficacy of using gene editing to treat sickle cell disease.
Rice chemist wins $3.2M National Cancer Institute grant
Rice University chemist Han Xiao has won a $3.2 million research project (R01) grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop the first tissue-specific epigenetic inhibitor drug to treat bone metastasis.
Rice, Baylor developing ‘glyco-immune’ checkpoint inhibitor
Researchers from Rice and Baylor College of Medicine are developing a first-of-its-kind “glyco-immune” checkpoint inhibitor for breast cancer survivors who develop metastatic bone cancer.
Experimental model gets cells to behave as they would in utero
Rice U.’s Aryeh Warmflash wins $1.9 million NIH grant to develop experimental cell models that can shed light on critical embryonic developmental processes.
Study unlocks potential breakthrough in Type 1 diabetes treatment
Rice University scientists identified three biomaterial formulations that could help develop a more sustainable, long-term, self-regulating way to treat Type 1 diabetes using a new screening technique that involves tagging each biomaterial formulation in a library of hundreds with a unique “barcode.”
A 21st-century remedy for missed meds
Rice lab’s next-level encapsulation technology for drugs and vaccines could solve a $100 billion problem.
Fats help tag medical implants as friend or foe
Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh and collaborators found that lipid deposition on the surfaces of medical implants can play a mediating role between the body and implants, knowledge that could help scientists develop biomaterials or coatings for implants that could reduce malfunction rates.