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What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis
Donia Ahmed prepares tissue for imaging.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering Today

What stiffening lung tissue reveals about the earliest stages of fibrosis

A Penn Engineering team has targeted the lung’s extracellular matrix to better understand early fibrosis by triggering the formation of special chemical bonds that increase tissue stiffness in specific locations, mimicking the first physical changes that may lead to lung fibrosis.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

A generative AI model that designs new antibiotics
Pranam Chatterjee in his lab at Penn Engineering.

The lab of Pranam Chatterjee (pictured), in collaboration with the lab of César de la Fuente, developed and validated a new “diffusion model” that can generate antibiotic candidates the same way AI creates images.

(Image: Sylvia Zhang)

A generative AI model that designs new antibiotics

A research team at Penn Engineering has developed and validated a new ‘diffusion model’ that can generate antibiotic candidates the same way AI creates images.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

AI uncovers new antibiotics in ancient microbes
Cesar de la Fuente in his lab.

César de la Fuente (pictured) and his team used AI to study the proteins of hundreds of ancient microbes, searching for new antibiotic candidates.

(Image: Jianing Bai)

AI uncovers new antibiotics in ancient microbes

César de la Fuente uses AI to hunt for new antibiotic candidates in unlikely places, from the DNA of extinct organisms to the proteins of ancient microbes.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Centuries after discovery, red blood cells still hold surprises
Four microscopic views of red blood cells.

In these microscopic close-ups, samples of red blood cells aggregate from left to right, becoming more compact despite the absence of platelets, long thought essential to clotting.

(Image: Rustem Litvinov)

Centuries after discovery, red blood cells still hold surprises

In a new collaborative study, researchers at Penn turned to mechanical engineering to understand how blood clots can compact, even without platelets.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

A nature-inspired leap in water harvesting technology

A nature-inspired leap in water harvesting technology

Penn Engineering’s Shu Yang and postdoctoral fellow Yunchan Lee are working to develop a new material and device that imitate raspberries and sunflowers. Together, these bio-inspired forms make clean, sustainable water harvesting possible by using just the moisture in the air and the heat of the sun.

What ever-growing incisors can teach us about genetic disease
Microscopic view of a mouse incisor.

An image taken through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows a polished sagittal section through a mouse mandibular incisor, showing the different mineralized tissue layers.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering Today)

What ever-growing incisors can teach us about genetic disease

An interdisciplinary team of researchers approaches the question ‘How do teeth mineralize?’ by analyzing the physical, biological, and genetic properties of teeth for real-world clinical applications in the future.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

AI finds hundreds of potential antibiotics in snake and spider venom
Venom on the Fang of a Diamondback Rattlesnake

Image: McDonald Wildlife Photography Inc. via Getty Images

AI finds hundreds of potential antibiotics in snake and spider venom

Research from the lab of César de la Fuente on an AI-powered screen of global venom libraries uncovers dozens of promising drug candidates.

Eric Horvath

2 min. read

$2.6M NIH grant backs search for genetic cure in deadly heart disease

$2.6M NIH grant backs search for genetic cure in deadly heart disease

Sherry Gao, Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and in bioengineering at Penn Engineering is the co-recipient of a $2.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to develop new gene editing tools that could address one of the underlying mutations that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease that thickens the heart’s walls, making it harder for the organ to pump blood.