News

Bioengineering Ph.D. Student Receives National Recognition for Breakthrough Molecular Computational Tool

Nandhini Rajagopal’s accomplishments are massive even though her research focuses on small molecules. As part of biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Shikha Nangia’s research group, the Ph.D. student has focused her work on minute interactions between protein molecules in the biological cells that make up all living things. These interactions between proteins are essential since proteins are the building blocks of all living things. Rajagopal’s work is entirely computational and as part of her research she developed a new algorithm that could determine how two different protein molecules would interact. Continue Reading

Wellness day reflection: Re-Spark your joy for research

Take a few minutes on the upcoming Wellness Day to reconnect with who you are as a scientist, or of course on any day you need a moment of reflection. Get away from screens. You might go for a walk or have your favorite drink while you reflect on one of these questions. Continue Reading

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