The loss of memory and cognitive function known to afflict survivors of septic shock is the result of a sugar that is released into the blood stream and enters the brain during the life-threatening condition.

Research on three mutations associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy –a disease best known for revealing itself as an unexpected, fatal heart attack during strenuous exercise – found separate mechanisms at work at the molecular level.

TROY, N.Y. — Generating comprehensive molecular images of organs and tumors in living organisms can be performed at ultra-fast speed using a new deep learning approach to image reconstruction developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research team’s new technique has the potential to vastly improve the quality and speed of imaging in live subjects and was the focus of an article recently published in Light: Science and Applications, a Nature journal.

Rensselaer is part of NASA’s new Prebiotic Chemistry and Early Earth Environments (PCE3) Consortium,one of five cross-divisional research coordination networks with the NASA Astrobiology Program. The PCE3 aims to identify planetary conditions that might give rise to life’s chemistry. 

NASA’s Astrobiology Program has awarded a $9 million grant to Earth First Origins project, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Assistant Professor Karyn Rogers, to uncover the conditions on early Earth that gave rise to life by identifying, replicating, and exploring how prebiotic molecules and chemical pathways could have formed under realistic early Earth conditions.

TROY, N.Y. — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who developed a blood test to help diagnose autism spectrum disorder have now successfully applied their distinctive big data-based approach to evaluating possible treatments.

Colorectal surgery is a hands-on activity, but in recent years the effectiveness of traditional assessment methods in evaluating surgeons’ technical skills has been called into question. A team of collaborators with ties to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is responding by pioneering the use of virtual reality technologies to train and objectively evaluate colorectal surgeons without putting any patients at risk.

Small animals at the base of the freshwater food chain can rapidly adapt to salt pollution – from sources like winter road deicing, agriculture, and mining – but at a price.

A new frontier in the science of circadian rhythms – whose disruption is linked to major diseases like cancer and diabetes – suggests a previously unknown mechanism at work in our daily biological cycle.

The Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) has recognized E. Bruce Watson, a geochemist and Institute Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with its highest honor, the Roebling Medal, bestowed for scientific eminence in the broad field of mineralogical science.