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Designing cleaner, greener concrete
Masoud Akbarzadeh holding up one of the fabricated materials.

The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.

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Designing cleaner, greener concrete

Penn engineers, materials scientists, and designers have developed a 3D-printed concrete solution based on diatomaceous earth that has enhanced carbon capture, is stronger, and uses fewer materials like cement.

6 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.

Can data from the Large Hadron Collider snap string theory?
Close-up of ATLAS detector at CERN.

ATLAS’s wheel-like end-cap reveals the maze of sensors primed to catch proton smash-ups at the LHC. Researchers comb through billions of events in search of fleeting “ghost” tracks that might expose cracks in string theory.

(Image: Courtesy of CERN)

Can data from the Large Hadron Collider snap string theory?

Theoretical physicist Jonathan Heckman of the School of Arts & Sciences has put a spin on ideas related to testing string theory: Rather than looking to verify it, he and his collaborators sought a novel way to falsify it. Heckman and Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Hicks explain string theory, researchers’ quest to unify physics, and what their new paper puts forward.

10 min. read

Irina Marinov: How to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate
Irina Marinov

Irina Marionov is a climate scientist and a associate professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Irina Marinov: How to prepare for the impacts of a changing climate

Irina Marinov, associate professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, leads a research community focused on understanding global climate impacts, risks, and vulnerabilities to enable local action.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

2 min. read

Penn engineers turn toxic fungus into anti-cancer drug
Qiuyue Nie and Maria Zotova, from left, purify samples of the fungus in a lab.

First author Qiuyue Nie (left) and coauthor Maria Zotova purify samples of the fungus.

(Image: Bella Ciervo)

Penn engineers turn toxic fungus into anti-cancer drug

Penn-led researchers have isolated a new class of molecules from Aspergillus flavus, a toxic crop fungus, and modified it into a promising cancer-killing compound

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

Decoding ancient immunity networks
Hand holding a blood vial that reads "complement (C3 + C4)"

A collaborative team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that acts like the body’s bouncer, “deciding” which foreign materials get degraded by immune cells and which are allowed entry.

(Image / iStock Md Saiful Islam Khan)

Decoding ancient immunity networks

A collaborative team from Penn Medicine and Penn Engineering have  unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that “decides” which foreign materials are friend or foe.

Nathi Magubane , Ian Scheffler , Holly Wojcik , Matt Toal

5 min. read

Native plants from afar
A diagram of areas where marigolds are native plants.

Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News

Native plants from afar

In a course led by 2024-25 McHarg Fellow Leah Kahler, students explored the movement of plants across cultures and climates, as well as the relationships between recreational and productive landscapes.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Ants and naked mole-rats and societal roles
Leafcutter ants moving around a bright green leaf.

In eusocial superorganisms like leafcutter ant colonies, labor is divvied up according to body shape and size, but PIK Professor Shelley Berger and her team discovered that molecular signals can override that blueprint. Their findings reveal how simple neuropeptides can reprogram ant behavior, reshuffling roles in nature’s most disciplined workforce.

(Image: Courtesy of Tierney Scarpa)

Ants and naked mole-rats and societal roles

PIK Professor Shelley Berger and colleagues explored the genetic basis of labor distribution in communal-dwelling species and discovered that pathways dating back hundreds of millions of years are conserved across animal kingdoms. Their findings offer fundamental insights into complex social behaviors.

5 min. read

AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows collaborate across disciplines
Sibe-by-side portraits of Brynn Sherman, on left, and Kieran Murphy, right.

Penn’s AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows Program is breaking down traditional scientific boundaries by integrating artificial intelligence across diverse research fields. Less than a year in, the program is already paying dividends in the form of new collaborations and research publications for inaugural fellows like Brynn Sherman (left) of the School of Arts & Sciences and Kieran Murphy (right) of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

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AI x Science Postdoctoral Fellows collaborate across disciplines

The new fellowship program, offered through the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, offers mentorship and peer engagement opportunities.

5 min. read