CEC Communications

George �鶹��Ƶ is launching a Space Forward Frontiers Seminar with Northrop Grumman

Domonique Hopkins — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:45:36 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ is launching a Space Forward Frontiers Seminar with Northrop Grumman Domonique Hopkins Mon, 01/26/2026 - 10:45

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Explore Mechanical Engineering

�鶹��Ƶ’s College of Science is launching the Space Forward Frontiers Seminar Series in spring 2026, in partnership with Northrop Grumman and George �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Engineering and Computing.

The one-credit, in-person seminar (PHYS 391/590, cross-listed as ME 500) is open to undergraduate and graduate students of all majors interested in the space industry.

Limited to 50 students, the Thursday afternoon seminar features weekly lectures from George �鶹��Ƶ faculty and industry professionals, offering practical and academic perspectives on today’s space sector. Topics include the space industry’s foundations, enabling technologies, policy considerations, and future directions, with the inaugural offering focusing on crowding and events in the space environment.

With no prerequisites or textbooks, the course is highly accessible and connects students to such emerging opportunities as NASA’s Landolt Mission, led by George �鶹��Ƶ faculty. The seminar also supports the university’s Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI), advancing both 21st-century education and pioneering space exploration through industry collaboration.

Topics

Aerospace

Space

College of Science

College of Engineering and Computing

mechanical engineering

innovative classes

Students

George �鶹��Ƶ team earns $2.1M to study seizure dynamics

Teresa Donnellan — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:06:52 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ team earns $2.1M to study seizure dynamics Teresa Donnellan Tue, 01/13/2026 - 10:06

In This Story

John Cressman

Parag Chitnis

Remi Veneziano

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a �鶹��Ƶ research team $2.1 million to create a system that could revolutionize the study of seizures.

The project combines the expertise of Parag Chitnis and Remi Veneziano (Department of Bioengineering), and Rob Cressman (Department of Physics and Astronomy) to develop an imaging and sensing system for identifying areas of the brain with potassium ion dysregulation.

“Potassium is one of those ions that actually inhibits activation of cells. If there's a dysfunction in those ions, you get runaway signaling. A seizure is an example of that,” said Cressman, who has studied epilepsy since his postdoctoral work. “We’re trying to develop tools that help us understand that better.”

From left, Parag Chitnis, Rob Cressman, and Remi Veneziano. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

When the biocompatible nanosensors, made of DNA and light-sensitive dye, encounter a local change in potassium concentration, they change their shape resulting in a change in their near-infrared fluorescence signal.

“We want to detect even very small changes in potassium,” said Veneziano, whose work involves synthesizing new nanomaterials from DNA particles, proteins, and lipids. “The system we’ve built is modular, versatile, and highly sensitive.”

These signals can be mapped in real-time using a near-infrared imaging device to understand dynamic changes in ion concentration.

One of the most promising applications is image-guided surgical intervention for epilepsy. By pinpointing seizure foci through potassium mapping, surgeons may be able to perform precise tissue ablation, removing only the affected areas.

“If you can identify the focus and remove that part of the tissue, you can sometimes stop the seizures,” said Cressman.

The four-year NIH-funded project, previously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), builds on years of research supported by George �鶹��Ƶ’s Center for MedTech Innovation.

“This grant allows us to translate our NSF-funded feasibility work into real-world applications,” said Chitnis, who studies brain-body interactions using light and ultrasound. “We’re not just studying disease—we’re building tools that could guide future interventions.”

The toolkit will be tested across multiple platforms—from cell cultures to brain slices to intact mammalian models—allowing researchers to study bioelectrical activity at various scales.

The team also sees potential for assessing functional recovery after traumatic brain injury. Scar tissue can disrupt potassium regulation, and the nanosensors may help identify regions at risk of developing seizure foci. As the research progresses, the team hopes to open new pathways for understanding and treating complex brain disorders.

Topics

Bioengineering

Research

College of Science

College of Engineering and Computing

National Science Foundation

National Institutes of Health

Groundbreaking study reveals hidden complexity in human genetics

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 18:32:03 +0000

Groundbreaking study reveals hidden complexity in human genetics Teresa Donnellan Mon, 01/12/2026 - 13:32

In This Story

Amarda Shehu

Sometimes, in genetics, two wrongs do make a right. A research team recently showed that two harmful genetic variants, when occurring together in a gene, can restore function—proving a decades-old hypothesis originally proposed by Nobel laureate Francis Crick. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), not only experimentally validated this theory but also introduced a powerful artificial intelligence (AI)-driven approach to genetic interpretation led by �鶹��Ƶ researchers.

The project began when Aimée Dudley, a geneticist at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI), approached �鶹��Ƶ Chief AI Officer Amarda Shehu after following her lab’s work on frontier AI models for predicting the functional impact of genetic variation. That conversation sparked a collaboration that married PNRI’s experimental expertise with George �鶹��Ƶ’s computational innovation to discover some surprising ways variant combinations can shape human health.

The problem

Every year one in three Americans is diagnosed with a genetic disorder. Symptoms manifest in infancy for about 70% of individuals. Sadly, 35% die before the age of 5. Advancements in clinical genomics offer hope to better understand and possibly treat these disorders.

“High-throughput genomic screening has been a wonderful feat for humanity,” said Shehu, “but one of its side effects is that it has produced massive amounts of data, outpacing our ability to interpret what that data means for health and disease.”

Research in the Shehu lab has for years focused on building frontier AI models to advance genetic interpretation, but all data available link only isolated, single variants to measured functional activity. Because each person's genome contains billions of base pairs, with about five million variants existing between two individuals’ genomes, looking at one variant at a time rather than combinations of variants could only reveal so much.

“It looked like we had hit a wall,” Shehu said, “that is, until Dr. Dudley contacted my lab more than a year ago.”

On the left, a 3D landscape derived from variant–variant measurements shows distinct functional regions emerging from pairwise interactions. On the right, these regions map onto a multimeric protein structure, where variants in separate spatial zones can be sequestered into different active sites, allowing functional recovery. This visualization captures the structural logic underlying positive epistasis and illustrates how AI-enabled analysis links genetic variation to protein function, a key, groundbreaking result Dudley and Shehu's labs published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Image provided.

The proof

Dudley’s lab was convinced that the key was to account for variant combinations in a gene, also called epistasis. They measured functional effects of variant combinations in the DNA of a key enzyme, argininosuccinate lyase (ASL), a lack of which results in urea cycle disorder, a rare but devastating condition.

The researchers tested thousands of variant combinations that resulted in no enzyme activity when on their own and found that a significant portion of them had high levels of enzyme activity when in combination with each other. In other words, two defective variants, when combined, can recover function.

“This was the most puzzling thing that I could not believe when Dr. Dudley showed it to me. Sometimes in biology, zero plus zero equals 100%,” said Shehu.

Shehu said that Crick, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962 with James Dewey Watson and Maurice Wilkins for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of DNA, had hypothesized this could happen.

“Crick had a fancy word for it—variant sequestration,” said Shehu, “But until Dr. Dudley, no one had demonstrated it.”

The progress

Once Dudley’s lab confirmed the phenomenon experimentally, George �鶹��Ƶ researchers turned to AI to see if it could predict similar effects across other genes. Using the ASL data from Dudley’s lab, George �鶹��Ƶ computer science PhD student Anowarul Kabir developed a machine learning model to predict the effects of variant combinations. Then, he applied the model to a structurally similar but evolutionarily distinct protein, fumarase (FH). The algorithm achieved 99.6 percent accuracy in predicting regained function within ASL and 91 percent accuracy in FH.

“The really cool thing about this,” said Shehu, “is that the model learned both sequence and structural patterns and was able to transfer its knowledge to another gene.”

This breakthrough suggests that with experimental data from a few genes, AI can help scale variant effect prediction to a broad set of genes. The PNAS publication estimates that as many as 4% of the genes in the human genome could have the same types of effects seen for ASL and FH.

The paradigm shift

This breakthrough marks a paradigm shift in clinical genomics for precision medicine. By considering variant combinations rather than isolated, single variants, clinicians can deliver faster, more accurate diagnoses and life-saving interventions for families facing rare diseases. They can also prioritize therapeutic treatments based on specific epistatic profiles of patients or clinical trial participants.

“Clinical genomics has been stuck in a rut for decades. We’ve shown that you need to look at combinations of variants to fully understand their impact,” said Shehu. “Our AI model expands coverage from one gene to another, accelerating interpretation and bringing us closer to true precision medicine.”

Topics

DNA

Machine Learning

Machine Learning in Health Care

Research

Artificial Intelligence

George �鶹��Ƶ student project presents sticky situation for hackers

Teresa Donnellan — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:56:10 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ student project presents sticky situation for hackers Teresa Donnellan Wed, 12/17/2025 - 15:56

When a cloud computing class at �鶹��Ƶ called for a team project, master’s student Kevin Landry saw an opportunity to share what he knew and give classmates a taste of real-world cyber defense.

A seasoned cybersecurity enthusiast, Landry introduced his team to the concept of a honeypot—a decoy system designed to lure and monitor cyber attackers. As he put it, honeypots allow you to “reach out and touch actual attackers,” bringing textbook concepts to life in a way few classroom exercises can match.

“You’ll never look at the internet the same way again after running a honeypot,” Landry said. “It’s eye-opening to see how many bots are out there scanning for vulnerabilities.”

For his teammates—many of whom had never built home labs—the project offered hands-on experience that mimicked an enterprise environment and bridged the gap between theory and practice. Honeypots aren’t just academic tools; companies maintain them to study hacker activity, identify patterns, and share intelligence that helps reveal common vulnerabilities.

Kevin Landry. Photo provided.

“It’s a low-investment, high-yield product that’s passive,” Landry explained. “You do all the coding and setup, then just let it run and watch attackers come in.”

The team deployed Cowrie, an open-source honeypot that simulates a Linux shell. But Landry didn’t settle for the default configuration.

“I changed every standard setting possible,” he said. “Fake encryption keys, fake password files, fake directories—everything to make it look like a lazy or incompetent sysadmin left the doors open.”

Those tweaks made the trap convincing enough to attract hundreds of attackers, from automated bots to human hackers.

Once customized, the honeypot started buzzing—logging intrusion attempts almost immediately. To make the experience even more interactive, the team integrated real-time alerts through Discord, receiving up to 500 notifications a day whenever an attacker engaged with the system.

At one point, the attack volume was high enough that Discord temporarily rate-limited the alerts, thinking they were automated traffic. Landry resolved the issue by rotating through multiple webhooks and fine-tuning the alert frequency to keep everything running smoothly.

Over the course of 48 days, the honeypot captured an extensive dataset. Landry even created an interactive visualization of the activity for the team’s class presentation, showing where attacks originated and how they unfolded over time.

To make the project even more aligned with industry practices, Landry’s team uploaded the attackers’ IP addresses to Gray Noise Intelligence, a company that allowed him to use its enterprise-grade platform for the project. The software analyzes IP addresses and assigns confidence levels indicating how likely each one is malicious, giving students a window into professional threat intelligence workflows.

“It makes me feel good that I’m wasting hackers’ time or bots’ time,” Landry said.

For Landry—who served ten years in the U.S. Coast Guard and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Mary Washington before pursuing his master’s in applied information technology at George �鶹��Ƶ—the honeypot was both an academic milestone and a career-building moment. He believes projects like this are essential for breaking into cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity jobs—even entry-level—want three years of experience, but you can’t get experience without getting a job,” he noted. “Home labs and projects like this help build a portfolio and show employers you can do the work.”

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, George �鶹��Ƶ’s applied approach to technology education ensures students are ready to meet them head-on. For Landry, the honeypot was not only a class assignment but also a chance to turn passion into practice—and to share that experience with others.

An image from the interactive visualization of the project. Full visualization available here: https://gemini.google.com/share/24b205428724.

Topics

applied information technology graduate programs

Cybersecurity

innovative classes

Students

George �鶹��Ƶ hackathon team turns heads online with award-winning cat robot

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 14:22:27 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ hackathon team turns heads online with award-winning cat robot Teresa Donnellan Mon, 11/17/2025 - 09:22

�鶹��Ƶ’s College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) made a splash on an online stage when students from four different departments joined forces to compete at Saucethon 2025, a hardware-focused hackathon hosted by Open Sauce and the National Havoc Robot League. Their second-place finish didn’t just earn bragging rights—it highlighted the CEC’s breadth of expertise and collaborative spirit for thousands of viewers following the event online.

From left to right: Alexia Marie De Costa, Irene Hossain, Meah Chambers, and Luis Anchundia. Photo provided.

The challenge began with a $500 combat robot kit and a mission: modify the base design to complete a rescue scenario in an apocalyptic setting. YouTubers Michael Reeves and William Osman participated, filmed, and commentated throughout the event, amplifying the competition to thousands of viewers.

“Usually hackathons are software focused, so building a robot was so much fun,” said computer science major and Honors College student Alexia Marie De Costa. “The challenges were really fun as well.”

Majoring in computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and information technology, respectively, the team joined forces with two other participants, a virtual reality specialist and a programming expert, to develop a cat-themed design.

“I decided that I wanted to add cat ears just because I thought it’d be cute,” said information technology major Irene Ashma Hossain. Those playful touches evolved into practical enhancements: static paws for herding, a pan-tilt tail for maneuverability, and modified wheels for stability.

The team's robot. Photo provided.

“It ended up being really effective,” said De Costa.

The 24-hour event tested endurance and ingenuity. Against a backdrop of camera crews and livestreams, George �鶹��Ƶ’s team stood out for its creativity and adaptability. Even after a late-night power outage forced participants to improvise, the team completed two rescue runs, performing “emergency surgery” with duct tape between rounds. Their determination paid off: second place, ahead of the prominent YouTubers’ team.

“We were really just having a lot of fun building, so seeing it succeed was exciting,” said De Costa.

By blending creativity, technical skill, and resilience, the team demonstrated George �鶹��Ƶ’s interdisciplinary strength, innovative mindset, and ambition.

“This experience was really, really fun,” De Costa reflected. “We’re definitely planning to attend the next one—and maybe even host it closer to �鶹��Ƶ.”

Topics

Hackathon

CEC students

College of Engineering and Computing

Students

From �鶹��Ƶ to the majors, George �鶹��Ƶ statistics students are driving athletic success

Teresa Donnellan — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 18:08:03 +0000

From �鶹��Ƶ to the majors, George �鶹��Ƶ statistics students are driving athletic success Teresa Donnellan Fri, 11/07/2025 - 13:08

�鶹��Ƶ students are proving a statistics degree can take you all the way to the pros. Students gathered in the Johnson Center on November 5 for a Sports Analytics Networking Event to learn about how data science is transforming athletics—and how George �鶹��Ƶ students and alumni are leading the charge.

“Sports teams increasingly use data for developing strategies, boosting player performance, and improving fan engagement,” said Department of Statistics Assistant Professor Jonathan Auerbach. “Sports analytics allows students to turn their passion for sports and statistics into a high-impact and highly visible career.”

The first panel at the Sports Analytics Networking Event. From left to right: Moderator Associate Professor Brett Hunter, Cole Boller-Pinkham, David Buxton, and Abby Finch.

"The future of sports is data, and we have been working hard with our colleagues from statistics to provide new opportunities for our students,” said Sports Analytics Professor Craig Esherick.

The event, hosted by the Department of Statistics in collaboration with the School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management; �鶹��Ƶ Athletics; the �鶹��Ƶ student chapter of the American Statistical Association; and the Sport Management Society featured two panels and a networking session designed to connect students with alumni working in sports analytics and those currently helping George �鶹��Ƶ athletes thrive.

From �鶹��Ƶ to the Majors

“Every team I’ve worked on, we have a lot of data, and nobody knows what to do with it,” explained Abby Finch, an alum who worked in Baseball Technology for the New York Mets after graduating from George �鶹��Ƶ statistics, during the first panel. “Having somebody who understands the player development side of baseball as well as what these data points mean—and being able to translate that data in a way that coaches understand—has been very valuable.”

The Department of Statistics recognized Abby Finch (left) and David Buxton (right) as outstanding alumni. Photo provided.

Finch's fellow panelists included Cole Boller-Pinkham, a Honors College junior majoring in statistics with a concentration in sport analytics, currently interning with the United Soccer League, and David Buxton, an alum and specialist in player information for the Milwaukee Brewers. The panelists advised students interested in sports analytics careers to focus on developing the skill of interpreting and presenting data as well as analyzing it.

"Your goal isn’t necessarily to share your statistical knowledge,” said Buxton. “It’s to change people’s actions and help them buy into data-driven decision making.”

Analytics in George �鶹��Ƶ Athletics

The second panel, moderated by Esherick, explored how George �鶹��Ƶ integrates analytics into collegiate athletics.

“We use data supported insights to guide how we develop our athletes,” said Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning Faith Brown, whose academic research focuses on load monitoring in team sports. “We look at trends over time, adjust training loads, and even analyze preseason volume and intensity to reduce injury incidence. It’s not just lifting weights—it’s everything that goes into performance.”

The second panel at the Sports Analytics Networking Event. From left to right: Moderator Professor Craig Esherick, Derek Vigon, and Faith Brown. Photo provided.

Sports psychology also plays a critical role, noted Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Sport Psychology Derek Vigon, who has consulted for the National Football League (NFL)’s Detroit Lions and worked with athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA), NFL, and MLB. “I interpret psychological data to help athletes and coaches understand stress responses and focus issues,” he said. “It’s all data, and it can be flipped to improve performance.”

Advice for Students

In addition to networking at events like this one, panelists advised students interested in sports analytics careers to be persistent and seize opportunities—such as joining George �鶹��Ƶ’s Analytics Team, participating in prediction competitions and hackathons, and exploring internships in George �鶹��Ƶ Athletics’ Patriot Performance Lab—when they come.

“If you’re passionate about it, keep moving forward and try not to take no for an answer,” advised Vigon. “Network, apply, and apply again. Eventually, it’ll happen.”

With alumni thriving in sports analytics, students contributing to cutting-edge research, and faculty integrating analytics into every facet of athletic performance, George �鶹��Ƶ is positioning itself as a leader in sports analytics education. For students who dream of turning numbers into wins, George �鶹��Ƶ can be the place where those dreams start.

More on Statistics at George �鶹��Ƶ

In This Story

Jonathan L. Auerbach

Craig R. Esherick

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Engineering better vision: George �鶹��Ƶ professors lead $1.17M NIH project

Martha Bushong — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 19:12:10 +0000

Engineering better vision: George �鶹��Ƶ professors lead $1.17M NIH project Martha Bushong Wed, 07/30/2025 - 15:12

In This Story

Ningshi Yao

Quentin Sanders

Qi Wei

Understanding and treating complex eye movement disorders like strabismus has long been a challenge for clinicians. Now, researchers at �鶹��Ƶ are pioneering a new approach using robotics and artificial intelligence to engineer a better future for vision care.

Ningshi Yao, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded a prestigious $1.17 million R01 grant to lead a groundbreaking four-year project. The award comes from the joint National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) "Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Data Science (SCH)" program.

The funded project, "Study Coordinated Human Eye Movement and Strabismus Using a Novel Artificial Muscle-Driven Robotic Eyes," will be conducted in collaboration with co-investigators Qi Wei and Quentin Sanders from George �鶹��Ƶ’s Department of Bioengineering and consultant Joseph Demer in the Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

From left: Qi Wei (Bioengineering Department), Ningshi Yao (Electrical and Computer Engineering Department), and Quentin Sanders (Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering Departments). Photo provided

At the core of the research is the creation of robotic eyes powered by artificial muscles that replicate the precise, coordinated movements of human eyes. “Strabismus affects more than 18 million Americans, yet current treatments often fall short, with success rates ranging from 30 to 80%,” said Yao. “Our goal is to use robotic systems and artificial intelligence to better understand how the eyes work—and ultimately improve how we diagnose and treat these disorders.”

The research team will build robotic eyes that closely mimic human biomechanics and use them as tools to study the underlying causes of strabismus. These systems will allow for a level of control and repeatability not possible in human subjects, offering a unique window into how eye muscles and connective tissues—especially the so-called “pulleys”—work together to guide vision.

To make the robotic system truly intelligent, the project will also apply reinforcement learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to discover how humans naturally control eye movements. By training the robots with real patient data and expert-informed objectives, the team hopes to reverse-engineer the strategies humans use—leading to better understanding and new treatment pathways.

In the final phase of the project, the team will integrate patient-specific data into the robotic system to simulate different surgical outcomes. This will allow ophthalmologists to test and refine treatment strategies before operating, increasing precision and improving long-term results.

The project’s impact extends beyond eye health. The robotic muscle actuators and control models developed here could advance robotics, AI, biomechanics, and even the design of soft, adaptive machines.

In addition to scientific discoveries, the research team will build educational tools and training platforms using the robotic eyes, helping to prepare the next generation of vision specialists.

Topics

CEC faculty research

Bioengineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

National Science Foundation

National Institutes of Health

Research

Washington Post quotes Missy Cummings on Tesla's Autopilot

Rena Malai — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:11:55 +0000

Washington Post quotes Missy Cummings on Tesla's Autopilot Rena Malai Mon, 06/12/2023 - 13:11

In This Story

Missy Cummings

A Washington Post article titled '17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla's Autopilot' quotes Missy Cummings, director of �鶹��Ƶ's Autonomy and Robotics Center, on the troubling surge in Tesla crashes.

"Tesla is having more severe — and fatal — crashes than people in a normal data set,” she said in response to the figures analyzed by The Post.

One likely cause, she said, is the expanded rollout over the past year and a half of Full Self-Driving, which brings driver-assistance to city and residential streets.

“The fact that … anybody and everybody can have it. … Is it reasonable to expect that might be leading to increased accident rates? Sure, absolutely.”

She says in the article the number of fatalities compared to overall crashes was also a concern.

Read the full article here.

Topics

In the Media

robotics and autonomous systems

�鶹��Ƶ Autonomy and Robotics Center

CyberSlam 2023 introduces area high schoolers to cyber career opportunities

Rena Malai — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 19:44:26 +0000

CyberSlam 2023 introduces area high schoolers to cyber career opportunities Rena Malai Thu, 01/12/2023 - 14:44

Students at CyberSlam 2023 were surprised to get anonymous Air Drop alerts to their phones.

High school students fly drones during CyberSlam 2023. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Luckily it was part of a test set up by U.S. Secret Service members Michael Johns, Matt O’Neil, and Michal Condor to demonstrate that cyber-related hacks can happen anytime, anywhere. They also highlighted the illicit use of cryptocurrency.

“Hopefully, what you’ll get out of this is one, don’t accept any of those Air Drops you may have been seeing, and two, watch your social media,” said O’Neil, an expert in cyber-related crimes who leads Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) and Cyber Intelligence Section (CIS).

The Secret Service members joined Homeland Security experts, high school teachers, �鶹��Ƶ faculty and more than 400 students from five counties and 22 high schools for the hands-on cybersecurity event held on Jan. 9.

Last year’s event was open to Loudoun County students, but with increased interest and participation, the Johnson Center at �鶹��Ƶ’s Fairfax Campus was the ideal venue.

Students flew drones, tested their cybersecurity knowledge, and even blocked a theoretical cyber hack. They also got career advice, including guidance on keeping their social media feeds clean.

Professor and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement in the College of Engineering and Computing Liza Wilson Durant also spoke about the importance of cybersecurity.

“You’re here because of your interest in cybersecurity,” Durant said. “We hope that for the next several years, those skills you’ve been honing develop into a real expertise that’s going to have an impact on the quality of our lives and even the security of nations around the world.”

In Virginia alone there are more than 60,000 open cybersecurity jobs right now, a number Durant said will continue to grow in the coming years.

“Energy grids, autonomous vehicles, even your doorbell, your microwave, refrigerator, think about medical systems, [all of these] are things that have to be secure now and that are vulnerable,” says Durant. “This is a critical time for the work you’re going to be doing.”

�鶹��Ƶ established a first-of-its-kind cyber security engineering department in Virginia in 2020. The College of Engineering and Computing will be a key part of Fuse at �鶹��Ƶ Square (formerly Arlington Campus), which will house a mix of university R&D and related education programs, as well as corporate innovation labs, incubators, accelerators, and co-working facilities when it opens in 2025.

The event was put on with the assistance of members of �鶹��Ƶ’s Systems Engineering and Operations Research department along with teachers from Briar Woods and Loudoun County high schools.

Topics

A biofilm epic in the making

Rena Malai — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 14:09:34 +0000

A biofilm epic in the making Rena Malai Wed, 10/12/2022 - 10:09

There are a lot of ways to cut film, as many cinemas and directors can attest. But biofilms—which settle on numerous surfaces, including skin—can contain harmful bacteria and get in the way of healing wounds.

�鶹��Ƶ researchers Jeffrey Moran, Rémi Veneziano, and Monique van Hoek, Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Assistant Professors Jeffrey Moran in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Rémi Veneziano in the Department of Bioengineering at George �鶹��Ƶ have a shared interest in using nanotechnology for medical applications, as well as a shared history. Both worked as postdocs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but it wasn’t until they started working at �鶹��Ƶ that their paths crossed. Partnering up with Professor Monique van Hoek, a microbiologist in the School of Systems Biology at George �鶹��Ƶ, they applied for and recently won the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) R21 Trailblazer award.

Through the award funds, the team will use their backgrounds and spend about three years developing a brand-new technology that dissolves harmful biofilms, without harsh removal methods.

“You can think of a biofilm as a ‘city for microbes.’ Biofilms are functional communities of microorganisms, such as bacteria, encased in a slime-like matrix,” says Moran. “Bacterial biofilms often grow on catheters, IVs, open wounds, burn injuries, and more, and they play a major role in many hospital infections. We’re going to develop a safe and effective method to remove topical biofilms that doesn’t get in the way of the body’s natural healing process.”

Some biofilms are relatively benign, and many folks have them on the surfaces of their teeth. But harmful biofilms can develop throughout the body for many reasons, like on the skin surface as a result of trauma, and cause potentially fatal infections.

Moran’s primary research focus is on “nanoswimmers"—tiny particles that propel themselves in liquids or biological media. Many researchers are developing them to use in the body, to deliver therapeutic payloads (like antibiotics) to hard-to-reach locations.

“One major challenge with bacterial biofilms is how to make them disassemble," says van Hoek. “There are three major parts to a biofilm—DNA, protein, and complex sugars. Destroying any one of these three things often leads to biofilm collapse. My idea was to use a sugar cleaving enzyme to attack the sugars in the biofilm, and to attach this enzyme to the front of the nanoswimmers so that they can drill deep into the biofilm.”

“What we’re trying to do is develop self-propelled particles that penetrate deep into the thick matrix of the biofilm, dissolving it and also serving as a carrier to deliver antibiotics at the same time,” says Veneziano.

To manufacture the self-propelled particles, the team is relying on Veneziano’s specialty: DNA origami, which is a method that involves precisely assembling DNA molecules into tiny two- and three-dimensional shapes.

“With DNA origami, you have the ability to produce tailor-made particles with phenomenal control over the size, shape, and the cargo they carry," says Veneziano. "DNA origami’s versatility will enable the particles to be decorated with various cargoes, such as antibiotics or enzymes that dissolve the biofilm matrix, leaving the bacteria vulnerable to conventional antibiotic treatments.”

Although using enzymes to dissolve the biofilms isn’t new, attaching them onto DNA origami nanoparticles is, which is the trailblazing path Veneziano, van Hoek and Moran will follow.

“It all started with a ‘what if we tried this?’ type of conversation. We bounced ideas off each other, talking about ways we might make DNA nanoparticles swim, and how that capability might be useful in certain medical situations. That back-and-forth eventually led to this award,” says Moran. “We’re excited to get started.”

The R21 Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for new and early-stage investigators to pursue research programs of high interest to the NIBIB at the interface of the life sciences with engineering and the physical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk/high impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven.