On average, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, approves 20 new drugs per year for public use. Each of those drugs has been on a decade long journey of research and development that may have cost as much as $2.6 billion. The JDRD work of Constance Bailey, assistant professor of chemistry, could help reduce the time, and subsequently costs, of drug development.
Creating pharmaceuticals is a complex process that typically begins in a lab. The process of constructing drugs relies heavily on understanding how certain molecules exist in three-dimensional space, or stereochemistry. Continue reading
In 2009, the Google Self-Driving Car Project made its debut, ushering in an age of interest and research in automated vehicles. Connected and automated vehicles, CAVs, have continued to capture the attention of researchers as they attempt to address some of the fundamental problems with connective vehicle technology. Zhenbo Wang, assistant professor of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering is tackling one of these very problems
Neural networks, computational systems conceptually modeled after the brain, are an increasingly effective tool in modern data analysis. One challenge facing scientists using neural networks is the nature of their data. Different types of data require the use of different neural networks. Michela Taufer, Dongarra Professor of electrical engineering and computer science, hopes her JDRD project will make identifying the correct neural networks easier.
Materials science has played an important role in the creation of many modern technologies, from lithium-ion batteries to improved steels. The development of new materials has led to innovation in a variety of fields, but the process can be lengthy and inefficient. Mashid Ahmadi, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, hopes to contribute to a better process.
Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for between 60 and 80 percent of dementia cases. A progressive disease that attacks the human brain, symptoms include memory loss, difficulty thinking, and behavioral changes that can worsen over time. While no cure exists, researchers have begun to consider the possibility of treatment with devices using brain-computer interfaces, BCIs. Before such a treatment could be attempted, a larger body of research must be developed. Xiaopeng Zhao, professor of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering, hopes to contribute to that research.