Engineers understand what it means to face a complex problem. In fact, we thrive on the search for seemingly impossible solutions. Still, it is with a heavy heart that I greet you today in the midst of a global crisis, with all of its many unknowns. While the near future of the pandemic and its effects remains unclear, of one thing I am sure: researchers of every stripe are putting their minds to the task, coordinating across disciplines and nations, sharing data, and developing strategies to bring SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) to heel in one of history's greatest scientific collaborations.
The disruption to our department cannot be overstated. Nearly all activities have been moved online, including all classes, or suspended until further notice. As of this writing, our laboratories are in the process of shutting down on-campus activities completely, following mandatory public health policies. Only a few essential operations, including critical maintenance and monitoring, will continue until such time researchers are allowed to return. Our faculty and staff have worked tirelessly to adapt in these past few weeks, and our students have responded courageously as their lives have been upended. To all of them I must take a moment to say thank you. Your humanity and your fortitude bring us all hope. And to Professor Rick Register, who has led the department as acting chair while I am away on sabbatical, and to Kate Braunstein, who has made our response possible as the department manager, this community is forever grateful for your competence and your commitment to our well-being. Thank you both.
With that said, I thought we could use a little reminder of what makes this department truly remarkable. Below you will find stories of new partnerships with drugmakers, insights into life's development, and recognition of our faculty, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students. In other words, excellence at every level.
As each of us deals with sweeping change, together and on our own terms, I hope these stories help reassure us that no matter how complex the problems, our community will find solutions.
|
|
Thanos Panagiotopoulos, Chair
Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Princeton University
|
|
Optimeos Life Sciences, a startup co-founded by Robert Prud'homme, has reached agreements with six pharmaceutical companies to develop therapeutics using a Princeton-developed drug delivery technology. The collaborations have the potential to improve the effectiveness of medications for the treatment of diseases, ranging from cancer to diabetes.
|
|
Michael A. Webb has joined the Princeton faculty as an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, bringing expertise in modeling molecular interactions important to health and energy.
|
|
|
Researchers in Stas Shvartsman's lab have revealed the inner workings of a gene repression mechanism in fruit fly embryos, adding insight to the study of human diseases. The results, published in Developmental Cell, reveal the dynamics of the Capicua protein as it binds to DNA.
|
|
Water balloons may seem like a trivial matter. A toy for mischievous kids in summer. But researchers in PT Brun's lab turned these toys into tools to establish the definitive physical rules governing capsule impact, a research area that had gone virtually unexplored until now. The results, published in Nature Physics, reveal a surprising relationship between the behavior of capsules and water droplets.
|
|
|
Akanksha Thawani, fifth-year CBE graduate student, has received a Harold M. Weintraub Award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The award recognizes Thawani's discipline-blending work on the formation of hollow protein cylinders called microtubules, which give cells their form and play a key role in cell division.
|
|
More News . . .
CBE senior Riley Wagner was awarded a fellowship from ReachOut 56-81-06, an alumni-funded effort that supports year-long public service projects after graduation.
Research seeking to harvest drinking water from the air was selected for funding by the Andlinger Center's E-ffiliates program, bringing Sankaran Sundaresan and Sujit Datta, from CBE, together with Forrest Meggers, from architecture.
Yueh-Lin (Lynn) Loo was elected a fellow of the Materials Research Society, a lifetime appointment recognizing outstanding leadership, service and research contributions to the field of materials science.
The Shvartsman lab, led by graduate student researcher Aleena Patel, created a tool combining light and a modified protein that gives an unprecedented look at cause and effect in early life.
Clifford Brangwynne received the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences, recognizing his pioneering work into the soft-matter physics of cells.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
