Engineering

Inner ear has a need for speed

Rice bioengineers and applied physicists, together with and colleagues at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago, have unlocked the mechanism of the fastest synapses in the human body. A previously hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain, and researchers from Rice University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago have modeled a hidden mechanism in the inner ear that helps mammals balance via the fastest-known signal in the brain.

New fluorescent dye can light up the brain

Rice chemist Han Xiao and Stanford researcher Zhen Cheng have developed a tool for noninvasive brain imaging that can help illuminate hard-to-access structures and processes. Their small-molecule dye is the first of its kind that can cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing researchers to differentiate between healthy brain tissue and a glioblastoma tumor in mice.

DARPA grant will fund hunt for drug that can keep people warm

Rice University bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski has won a prestigious DARPA Young Faculty Award to identify nongenetic drugs that can temporarily enhance the human body’s resilience to extreme cold exposure.

Rice University scientists get fungi to spill their secrets

As anyone who has ever attended a cocktail party can tell you, shedding inhibitions makes you more talkative and possibly more prone to divulging secrets. Fungi, it turns out, are no different from humans in this respect.

Daylong wastewater samples yield surprises

Rice engineers find snapshots lead to bias in testing wastewater for antibiotic-resistant genes.

Mikos wins Jensen Tissue Engineering Award

Bioengineer Antonios Mikos receives the 2023 Jensen Tissue Engineering Award.

DesRoches outlines 2023 goals to faculty

President Reginald DesRoches delivers his inaugural State of the University

Students immersed in STEM at daylong workshop

Rice hosts elementary, middle and high school students at the Fresh Start Engineering Workshop.

Pathogenic sensor’s surprising capabilities revealed

Rice synthetic biologists have uncovered new capabilities of a genetically encoded sensor that allows salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens to sicken millions of people each year.

Padgett named NSF BRITE Fellow

Rice University engineer Jamie Padgett is one of five United States researchers to be named a National Science Foundation BRITE Fellow.

US names two Rice students inaugural Quad Fellows

Two Rice graduate students are among the inaugural recipients of the Quad Fellowship.

HIV ‘drug factory’ implant promises once-a-year therapy

A Rice University lab is developing encapsulated cellular “drug factories” to treat patients with HIV through a once-a-year implant.

Eugene Ng named IEEE Fellow

Eugene Ng, a professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering, has been named an IEEE Fellow.

IEEE honors Kavraki, Richards-Kortum, Truchard

Two renowned Rice University professors and a longtime backer have won prestigious honors in the 2023 IEEE Awards.

A crystal shape conundrum is finally solved

Rice researchers learn to predict how crystals take shape from their internal chemistry, even when the crystal lacks symmetry.