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Lighting the Way |
| Engineering Professor Selim Unlu and his doctoral student Matthew Emsley (ENG'03), winner of the H.J. Berman "Future of Light" Prize in Photonics at Science Day 2001, are developing a new technology with the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of photoreceivers in optical networking and lay the basis for new developments in medical imaging. |
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Where Stars Begin |
| Marc Kassis (GRS'03) has stars in his eyes. More precisely, he is
examining M17, a molecular cloud complex more than 7,000 light years
from Earth, so massive and luminous that in 1764 Charles Messier, a
French astronomer, was able to see it with the naked eye. |
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Finding the Perfect Match |
| Researchers routinely use gel-based hybridization technologies to compare DNA sequences — a slow and tedious process. Chip-based microarray technologies now under development are expected to speed up the process, allowing hundreds, even thousands, of comparisons on a single chip. |
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Bats to the Rescue |
| The subjects of mythology and folklore, bats have traditionally been
maligned as blood-sucking harbingers of evil. In fact, bats perform a
vital economic function throughout the world, feeding on insects that
if left uncontrolled would devastate crops and threaten food production
and local economies. |
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Where's Waldo |
| Electrical and computer engineering student Lingmin Meng (ENG'01) is engaged in a sophisticated identification game — he is developing mathematical algorithms that will allow computers to differentiate faces from the background in black-and-white images. |
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Eliminating Online Congestion |
| From the beginning the Internet was dubbed the "information superhighway," and very quickly users became stuck in massive traffic jams. Many solutions have been attempted, but the unprecedented growth of Internet use has continued to outpace technology's ability to provide enough bandwidth to speed the flow of information. |
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Screeching to a Halt |
| Brakes don't stop cars, tires do. Brakes stop the car's wheels from spinning — and all too often they do so with an ear-splitting screech. Soon however, drivers and pedestrians alike may breathe a sigh of relief, thanks in part to research by J. Gregory McDaniel, an assistant professor of engineering. |
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Muscling in on Asthma |
| The prevalence of asthma has been increasing in the United States since the early 1980s, afflicting 14.6 million people in 1994 and more than 17 million people in 1998. In 1994 alone, the cost of treating this chronic lung disease was estimated at $10.7 billion. |
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Strategic Warfare |
| Two major issues under consideration are the delivery of therapeutic agents
directly to cancer cells with minimal impact on the rest of the body
and preventing recurrence of the cancer in a more resistant form after
treatment, both of which are being addressed by CAS Biology Professor David Waxman and associates. |
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Flexing Molecular Muscle |
| Astronauts have long known that protracted intervals of weightlessness
during space travel, a condition known as biomechanical unloading,
results in significant loss of strength and muscle mass. The mechanisms
that control this process, however, are not well understood. |
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A New Twist |
| Charles Cantor, ENG professor, Senior Research Associate Natalia Broude and graduate student Lingang Zhang (ENG '05) of ENG's Center for Advanced Biotechnology (CAB), with colleagues from Packard Instrument Company in Meriden, Conn., have devised a new PCR strategy that enables the amplification of multiple DNA targets with a simplified process that decreases the costs involved and makes the process more amenable to automation. |
