Elevate Research

A colorized image of Jezero Crater, the target for NASA’s Perseverance rover. Kirsten Siebach, a Martian geologist at Rice University, is one of 13 scientists selected to help operate the rover. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL)

Rice scientist joins next Mars adventure

A Rice University geologist is one of 13 scientists recently selected to operate the Mars rover Perseverance and analyze samples for an eventual return to Earth.

Atom-scale models by Rice University scientists based on those used to predict how proteins fold show a strong correlation between minimally frustrated binding sites and drug specificity. The funnel, a visual representation of the protein’s energy landscape as it folds, helps locate those frustrated sites. Such models could lead to better-designed drugs with fewer side effects. (Credit: Illustration by Mingchen Chen/Rice University)

Understanding frustration could lead to better drugs

Atom-scale models of proteins that incorporate ligands, like drug molecules, show a strong correlation between minimally frustrated binding sites and drug specificity. Such models could lead to better-designed drugs with fewer side effects.

The CanadArm2, a robotic manipulator, has been an essential component of the International Space Station since it was launched in 2001. The successor to the CanadArm that flew on the space shuttle is used to manipulate payloads, including satellites, docking capsules and astronauts. (Credit: NASA)

Rice Space Institute, Canada agree to collaborate

Rice Space Institute and the Consulate General of Canada in Dallas agree to collaborate on science and technology related to the space industry.

Wiess College senior Arisa Sadeghpour, Hanszen College junior Mason Reece and McMurtry College senior Carolyn Daly won the inaugural MetroLab Student Cup pitch competition.

Voter research amid pandemic wins Rice students new national award

Undergrad team wowed judges by helping secure millions for polling place safety across Harris County.

An illustration shows a major histocompatibility (grey) protein encompassing a peptide drawn from a SARS-CoV virus (pink). The complex helps trigger the activation of T cells that are part of the immune system. Rice University researchers discovered a non-anchor binding residue in the peptide that could both contribute to binding and to the T-cell activation needed to defeat the virus. (Credit: Kavraki Lab/Rice University)

Once-discounted binding mechanism may be key to targeting viruses

Researchers detail subtle stabilizing effects in cells’ ability to recognize coronaviruses that compromise the immune system. The discovery could lead to new targets to prevent disease.

Illustration by Dilip Asthagiri

Folding proteins feel the heat, and cold

A new study shows proteins that presumably evolved to avoid water as they fold may actually behave in ways scientists did not anticipate.

Malaria test as simple as a bandage

Malaria test as simple as a bandage

HOUSTON – (Nov. 2, 2020) – Testing for malaria could become as simple as putting on a bandage.

Rice University will roll up for the second international Nanocar Race with a new vehicle. The one-molecule car has a permanent dipole that makes it easier to control. (Credit: Alexis van Venrooy/Rice University)

Rice rolls out next-gen nanocars

Rice researchers continue to advance the science of single-molecule machines with a new lineup of nanocars, in anticipation of the next international Nanocar Race in 2022.

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a platform, SPOTlight, that speeds the sorting of cells while making the process more versatile. As a proof-of-concept, they created the most photostable yellow fluorescent protein yet. (Credit: Illustration by Jihwan Lee/Rice University)

SPOTlight supercharges cell studies

Researchers develop a new method to isolate specific cells, and in the process find a more robust fluorescent protein.

Dumbbell-like sequences in DNA during interphase suggest several unseen aspects of chromosome configuration and function. (Credit: Illustration by Ryan Cheng/CTBP)

At our cores, we’re all strengthened by ‘dumbbells’

Scientists at Rice’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics detail the structure of dumbbell-like sequences in DNA during interphase that suggest several unseen aspects of chromosome configuration and function.

Haotian Wang

Haotian Wang wins Packard Fellowship

Haotian Wang has been honored with a Packard Fellowship, one of 20 researchers in the nation to do so this year.

The National Science Foundation renews the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center for five years. The Engineering Research Center is dedicated to enabling access to clean water around the world.

NSF renews Rice-based NEWT Center for water treatment

The National Science Foundation renews the Rice-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center for five years. The Engineering Research Center is dedicated to enabling access to clean water around the world.

Kalil Erazo and Satish Nagarajaiah

Civil engineers Nagarajaiah, Erazo awarded Takuji Kobori Prize

Research on earthquake protection system earns prestigious award from the International Association for Structural Control and Monitoring.

Gravity waves overlap over Australia in this NASA satellite image. Defining how atmospheric gravity waves influence weather and climate is the topic of a new study funded by the National Science Foundation. (Credit: Courtesy of NASA/Visible Earth)

Literal rise of the internet enables new climate science

Collaborative National Science Foundation grants will use data from internet balloons to study atmospheric gravity waves and their influence on the weather and climate.

Kolomeisky Research Group

There’s a reason bacteria stay in shape

A primal mechanism in bacteria that keeps them in their personal Goldilocks zones -- that is, just right -- appears to depend on two random means of regulation, growth and division, that cancel each other out. The same mechanism may give researchers a new perspective on disease, including cancer.