National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient Denise Simmons of Virginia Tech has a goal to become a global leader in research that broadens the participation of students completing engineering degrees, ultimately increasing the numbers entering the technological workforce.
Virginia Tech engineering faculty member Raffaella De Vita’s work on pelvic floor disorders could potentially transform surgical reconstruction methods and post-operative rehabilitation procedures for females suffering from problems with supporting structures of the uterus and the vagina.
Teens may begin their driving habits with great caution, but as months behind the wheel pass, they begin to multi-task at higher frequency rates – dialing cell phones, eating, and talking to passengers, etc. – and therefore greatly raise their risk of accidents.
A team of scientists from the U.S., Russia, and Canada has compared fish from two Russian rivers, the Lena and the Mezen, and found mercury concentrations to be much lower than expected.
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute researchers studying life from a unique natural environment in Israel discover heat stress seems to influence a species' genetic makeup, a finding that may influence understanding of climate change.
This is a clinical trial for a new way of treating sarcoids, a benign skin tumor on horses. Testing of this treatment called H-Fire may lead to treatment of potentially deadly melanomas and squamous cell carcinomas, both skin tumors that both people and horses can develop.
A review of scientific studies show that sea-level rise and shoreline retreat will drive an increase in future flood risk from hurricanes.
The addition of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace is expected to create a billion-dollar industry in the United States in the coming years. Funding for a test range overseen by Virginia Tech and involving three states will help advance the new field.
Science can sometimes be all about serendipity. Three colleagues got together and watched a documentary on whirling dervishes. The result was a collaboration that led to simple equations that govern how fixed or free-flowing cone-shaped structures behave when rotating.
Virginia Tech's initiative will build creative and adaptive biomedical and health research teams to discover solutions to state, national, and international challenges in health.
For the past two years, Wu Feng has led a research team that has now created a new generation of efficient data management and analysis software for large-scale, data-intensive scientific applications in the cloud. “Our goal was to keep up with the data deluge in the DNA sequencing space. Our result is that we are now analyzing data faster, and we are also analyzing it more intelligently,” Feng said.
Microbes in tap water are mostly harmless, with a few exceptions. A Virginia Tech research team is investigating four harmful pathogens that have been documented in tap water and suggest a natural, probiotic way to deal with dangerous germs.
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have discovered how retinal neurons claim prime real estate in the brain by controlling the abundance of a protein called aggrecan. The discovery could shed light on how to repair the injured brain.
If the U.S. is to meet important challenges of the 21st century, a new paradigm for the building and retrofitting of critical pipeline infrastructure system will be required, one that addresses the conflicting goals of diverse economic, environment, societal, and policy interests, according to Sunil Sinha of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering who has led the development of a National Pipeline Infrastructure Database.
Nanotechnologies are growing in commercial use after more than 20 years of research. This new resource gives the public the best available look at more than 1,600 manufacturer-identified, nanotechnology-based consumer products introduced to the market.
An emerging swine virus, deadly to piglets, was first recognized in the United States in May. Researchers at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine have determined the evolution of the virus, which has already spread to at least 17 states.
More than 70 scientists from around the world and from a range of intellectual traditions will convene in Miami this week for what is believed to be the nation’s first conference on computational psychiatry, an emerging field in neuroscience.
Jellyfish are one of the most energetically efficient natural propulsors on the planet, according to Shashank Priya, professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. He led a study highlighting the motion of the jellyfish. The work appeared in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Today, Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, is receiving a National Institutes of Health (NIH) New Innovator Award valued at $2.28 million over five years, in support of her research on influenza transmission by bioaerosols. According to the NIH, the award is designed specifically to support unusually creative new investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career.
Researchers have developed a model that helps scientists and clinicians understand that complex interactions of a type of bacteria that is the leading cause of peptic ulcers. The discovery may inform changes in the ways doctors treat patients.
With advances in neurofeedback techniques, the signal-to-noise ratio of the brain activity underlying our thoughts can be remastered, according to a recent discovery by a research team led by Stephen LaConte of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.
Nearly two dozen of the world’s leading neuroscientists will gather in Switzerland next month to share their latest findings on the mysteries of how the brain processes information and makes decisions.
The future of biomedical research depends upon a sustainable and robust workforce, in which talented, well-trained scientists are best prepared to make significant contributions in academia, industry, government, business, and other venues.
Researchers from Virginia Tech, the Georg-August University of Gottingen, Germany, and the Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine, have used a special type of microscope to discover how “check valves” in wood cells control sap flow and protect trees when they are injured.
Researchers with Virginia Tech and the University of Florida undertook a study of diarrheal disease outbreaks in Botswana that relied only on the use of a simple questionnaire and existing hospital staff and infrastructure.
Researchers have reported the first experimental evidence that supports the theory that a soccer ball-shaped nanoparticle commonly called a buckyball is the result of a breakdown of larger structures rather than being built atom-by-atom from ground up.
Researchers from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute performed what they assumed would be a routine experiment in neurodevelopment. The results, however, revealed surprising roles of an important protein and its receptors. The finding could prove useful for the development of therapies and diagnostics to combat brain disease.
This new flexible patch treatment can quicken drug delivery time while cutting waste, and can likely minimize side-effects in some cases, notable in vaccinations and in cancer therapy.
Neuroscientist William “Jamie” Tyler uses boxing as an example for how the brain is affected by mechanical impulses — such as a blow to the head — in a cover story this week in The New Scientist. While brain cells communicate along electrical and biochemical pathways, Tyler points out neurons have mechanical clockwork, too.
Research on new polymer additives that enhance the ability of orally administered drugs will result in greater effectiveness and fewer side effects, researchers say
Virginia Tech researchers integrated a specific type of sensor into a typical construction helmet to allow continuous and noninvasive monitoring of construction workers’ blood gas saturation levels. The results of their study showed that a user of this helmet would be warned of impending carbon monoxide poisoning with a probability of greater than 99 percent, and won them a Best Paper award.
The article, Dynamics of squeezing fluids: Clapping wet hands," reports on what happens to a thin film of water when it is compressed vertically. Ultimately, oil companies are interested in this research, says Virginia Tech engineering science and mechanics faculty member Sunny Jung, because of the oil separation process.
Two beachfront communities in New Jersey were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, but one fared much better than the other thanks to a long-forgotten seawall buried beneath the sand, according to Virginia Tech researchers.
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have discovered a protein that regulates synaptic ion channels that have been tied to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Virginia Tech wildlife researchers have found that tigers in central Sumatra live at very low densities, lower than previously believed.
Virginia Tech researchers developed a new microfabrication technique to develop three-dimensional microfluidic devices in polymers. The devices can be used in the analysis of cells and could prove useful in counterterrorism measures and in water and food safety concerns.
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors recently approved a resolution to create a new doctor of philosophy degree in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health. It is the first major life science program emanating from Virginia Tech’s most recent strategic plan.
Preliminary results showing an ultrahigh sensitivity using a new technology for studying protein-DNA interactions has led to the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Initiative award of $710,000 to Virginia Tech's Chang Lu of chemical engineering.
Researchers at Virginia Tech are teaming with scientists from three other groups to build a small satellite dedicated to global observations of waves generated in the atmospheric layers above the earth. The National Science Foundation funded study could help alleviate garbled signals experienced when using GPS, radar, and ham radios.
The newly redesigned Xenith X2 joined the Riddell 360, Rawlings Quantum Plus, and Riddell Revolution Speed as the only helmets with a 5 star rating awarded by the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™.
Virginia Tech researchers have identified leptospirosis as a significant health threat in Botswana. The world’s most common disease transmitted to humans by animals, according to the World Health Organization, leptospirosis is a two-phase disease that begins with flu-like symptoms but can cause meningitis, liver damage, pulmonary hemorrhage, renal failure, and even death if untreated.
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists discover that cholinesterase inhibitors allow signals to enter the brain with less background noise. And the drugs work in the sensory cortices, not the more sophisticated processing regions.
Two researchers affiliated with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering have published a paper which reports that hot water recirculating systems touted as “green,” actually use both more energy and water than their standard counterparts. The research found that the “so-called green” hot water recirculation systems used more net water than the conventional systems after accounting for water needed to produce the extra energy.
Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have invented a technique for imaging nanoparticle dynamics with atomic resolution as these dynamics occur in a liquid environment.
Virginia Tech researchers working in Botswana discovered that humans are passing antibiotic resistance to wildlife, especially in protected areas where numbers of humans are limited.
Concentrating solar power technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight to produce heat, which can then be used to produce electricity, according to Ranga Pitchumani, Virginia Tech professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Concentrating Solar Power program. These technologies present a distinct advantage over photovoltaic (PV) cells in their ability to store the sun’s energy as thermal energy, and represent a subset of the SunShot Initiative of the Department of Energy.
A 100-car naturalistic driving study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has shown that fatigue is a cause of 20 percent of crashes, rather than the 2 or 3 percent previously estimated based on surveys, simulator studies, and test tracks.
Healthy people and those with borderline personality disorder behave differently during an online strategy game. When playing people with borderline personality disorder, healthy people gave up trying to predict their partners would do next in this neuroimaging study.
Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled Cyro, a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds.
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