News

Keeping SARS2 Out of the Cell

As vaccines are distributed worldwide to fight the pandemic, important research at Syracuse University may uncover ways to block it and similar viruses in the future. Alison Patteson, assistant professor of physics, and Jennifer Schwarz, associate professor of physics, recently completed a study that tested the ability of certain antibodies to block SARS2 from entering cells by way of cell-surface vimentin, a protein that is also a pathway for the virus to enter the body. The study was funded by a $196,000 National Science Foundation RAPID Response Research initiative grant. Continue Reading

What Drugs Cause Birth Defects? Search for Answers Turbocharges Zhen Ma’s Bioengineering Lab

Zhen Ma arrived at Syracuse University in 2016, fresh from a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at Berkeley, to set up his own lab. Appointed assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering and the Carol and Samuel Nappi Research Scholar in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, he was attracted to the University by the growing core of faculty working on the intersection of materials and living systems. Now, his lab has attracted more than $2.7 million in prestigious grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to develop a platform and system for testing how various drugs might affect a developing human embryo. Continue Reading

Syracuse Native Finds Career in Team Science

Plansky Hoang ’15, G’20 is the youngest of seven children born to immigrant parents in Syracuse. She attended Henninger High School and came to Syracuse University as an undergraduate to major in biomedical and chemical engineering. “When I started college, my goal was to graduate and get a job in industry,” says Hoang. “I interned at a pharmaceutical company and wanted to do that kind of work.” Continue Reading

Hehnly Lab Awarded $1.2M NIH Grant to Research Critical Tissue Formation

A key process during the development of an embryo is tissue morphogenesis, where the number of cells in an organism increase through cell division and tissues begins to take shape. Heidi Hehnly, assistant professor of biology, has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for her group’s research to determine the mechanisms behind the formation of tissues with a lumen, which is a hollow passageway. Organs with these tubular passageways include the heart, kidney and gastrointestinal tract. Continue Reading

$1.5M NIH Grant Funds ALS-Linked Research in Castañeda Lab

The human body is made up of trillions of cells. Within each cell are proteins that help to maintain the structure, function and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. When cells are under stress, as in response to heat or toxins, certain proteins within the cell condense into liquid-like droplets called condensates. These droplets can be thought of as a form of quality control allowing the cell to minimize the effects of the stress condition.

Cases of abnormal condensate formation or persistence have recently been linked to neurodegenerative diseases like ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and cancer. Thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Carlos Castañeda, assistant professor of biology and chemistry, and his team will investigate the regulation and dysregulation of condensates using biophysical and cell biology approaches. This research may lead to determining what causes diseases like ALS. Continue Reading

Manning and Amack Awarded $2.1M NIH Grant to Study Causes of Congenital Heart Defects

Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, affecting nearly 1% of births in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Doctors have been unable to lower that number due to a lack of knowledge about their source. Thanks to a $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, an interdisciplinary team of researchers will work to advance the understanding of causes of birth defects.
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BioInspired Institute Awards First Six Seed Grants

Syracuse University’s BioInspired Institute announced today that it has awarded six seed grants to 12 faculty members to advance interdisciplinary, collaborative research in materials and living systems.  Seed grants provide funding for innovative ideas, producing data that can be used in future funding applications to prove that a new concept or approach is promising and attract additional research funds from outside the University. Continue Reading