Engineering

Sample trajectories of the paths traveled by fluorescently tagged Myxococcus xanthus cells that were aggregating in mounds. The trajectories are superimposed on a fluorescent image in which the aggregates appear white. (Image courtesy of C. Cotter/UGA)

When many act as one, data-driven models can reveal key behaviors

Data science approaches can reveal subtle clues about the origins of such collective behaviors as aggregation of bacteria.

jellyfish-like, freshwater hydra

How headless hydra feel, react to prodding

Researchers identify redundant neural networks in jellyfish-like, freshwater hydra. The work is a step toward modeling how internal states and external stimuli shape the behavior of an organism with a highly dynamic neural architecture.

Moshe Vardi

Vardi wins award for social and professional responsibility

Rice computer scientist Moshe Vardi has won the 2021 Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility from IEEE's Society on the Social Implications of Technology.

Jacob Robinson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a core faculty member of Rice's Neuroengineering Initiative, discussed research with U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (middle) and his wife, Tara Crenshaw(left), during a tour of neuroengineering research laboratories following Rep. Crenshaw's third annual Healthcare Innovation Summit July 23 at Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw hosts health care summit, tours neuroengineering labs

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (left), R-Texas, hosted his third annual Healthcare Innovation Summit July 23 at Rice University's BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) in conjunction with the university's Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering.

Graduate student Madison Royse demonstrates a laboratory setup for testing blood flow through 3D-printed hydrogel scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Rice team creating insulin-producing implant for Type 1 diabetes

Rice University bioengineers are using 3D printing and smart biomaterials to create an insulin-producing implant for Type 1 diabetics.

A “high quality” 3D-printed bioscaffold as designed with help from a machine learning algorithm developed at Rice University. Scale bar equals 1 millimeter. (Credit: Mikos Research Group/Rice University)

AI could expand healing with bioscaffolds

Artificial intelligence can speed the development of 3D-printed bioscaffolds that help injuries heal, according to Rice researchers.

Patterns adorns a static model used to test Rice University’s Hyperspectral Stripe Projector, which combines spectroscopic and 3D imaging. Barcode-like black and white patterns are displayed on the DMD to generate the hyperspectral stripes. (Credit: Kelly Lab/Rice University)

3D camera earns its stripes at Rice

The Hyperspectral Stripe Projector captures spectroscopic and 3D imaging data.

Rice University bioengineers have developed hydrogels of various stiffness to see if they are more hospitable to intestinal cells and bacteria in lab experiments. The hydrogels proved far better at supporting cultures than traditional glass and plastic slides.

Pathogens get comfy in designer goo

Hydrogels developed at Rice University mimic intestines when lined with epithelial cells. A study by Rice and Baylor College of Medicine proved hydrogels in various stiffnesses are valuable for learning the dynamics of pathogens that cause diarrhea and other intestinal diseases.

At left, top and side views of the crystal structures of perovskite-derived Cs3Bi2I9, a material synthesized at Rice University that shows valleytronics capabilities. Each unit cell contains two neighboring layers with a weak van der Waals interaction in between. At right: an image shows triangles of the material on a mica substrate. (Credit: Lou Group/Rice University)

Odds are good for unique 2D compound

Rice University engineers make 2D materials for valleytronics, a platform for information processing and storage that relies on the manipulation of electrons’ positions in energetic “valleys.”

Phil Bedient standing near underpass

Phil Bedient honored by American Institute of Hydrology

Rice’s Phil Bedient has been awarded the American Institute of Hydrology's Ray K. Linsley Award in honor of outstanding contributions in surface water hydrology.

Rice University postdoctoral researcher Zhiwen Liu shows a marine fungus, Penicillium citrinum, the source of a catalytic enzyme that could simplify the development and manufacture of drugs. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Enzyme from fungi shows molecules which way to turn

A small fungal enzyme could play a significant role in simplifying the development and manufacture of drugs, according to Rice University scientists.

Vicente Ordóñez

Vicente Ordóñez joins Rice with CAREER Award

Rice computer scientist Vicente Ordóñez receives an NSF CAREER Award to advance machine-learning algorithms’ ability to recognize complex visual concepts.

Luay Nakhleh

Scientists seek details of cancer’s evolutionary tree

Rice University computer scientists will take full advantage of new technology to sequence the genome of a single cell to decode mysteries contained in tumors.

Coating ceramic schwarzites, 3D-printed lattices, with a thin polymer helps keep them from shattering under pressure, according to Rice University materials scientists.

Soft shell makes hard ceramic less likely to shatter

Coating ceramic schwarzites, 3D-printed lattices, with a thin polymer helps keep them from shattering under pressure.

The Equalizer is a synthetic circuit that assures consistent gene expression from cell to cell in laboratory-bred colonies. (Credit: Illustration by Jin Yang)

Cell-wrangling circuit simplifies genetic experiments

A Rice alumnus' work pays off with The Equalizer, a synthetic circuit that assures consistent gene expression in laboratory-bred colonies.