"We can now see biological processes at molecular resolution and at sub-millisecond time scales," said William O. Hancock, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Intercollege Graduate Program in Bioengineering. "To understand how motors work on a nanoscale and millisecond scale we need to see how the motors are walking." >>

The grant focus is on resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The goal of the research is to uncover the neural basis of resting state fMRI signal using multiple approaches in awake rats, including multi-echo fMRI, MR-compatible calcium signal recording, optogenetics and multi-laminar electrophysiology. >>

We are creatures that are born and live our lives under the sun, so it is no surprise that light, in its many forms, plays a massive role in our biological processes. But until recently, little was known about how light could be best harnessed to help our bodies heal. >>

A nanoscale product of human cells that was once considered junk is now known to play an important role in intercellular communication and in many disease processes, including cancer metastasis. Researchers at Penn State have developed nanoprobes to rapidly isolate these rare markers, called extracellular vesicles, for potential development of precision cancer diagnosis and personalized anticancer treatments. >>

Smart glass, transitional lenses and mood rings are not the only things made of liquid crystals; mucus, slug slime and cell membranes also contain them. Now, a team of researchers is trying to better understand how liquid crystals, combined with bacteria, form living materials and how the two interact to organize and move. >>  

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