Biotechnology and Life Sciences

Earth First Origins Project Seeks To Replicate the Cradle of Life

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.

Interdisciplinary Team Developing Virtual Reality Technology for Training and Assessment of Colorectal Surgeons

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.

Jefferson Project Monitoring Harmful Algal Bloom on Skaneateles Lake

Lake George, N.Y. – The world’s most advanced environmental monitoring system – developed through The Jefferson Project at Lake George – is being used to understand and protect Skaneateles Lake, a central New York drinking water source now threatened by toxic algae. Building on a connection through the New York State Harmful Algal Bloom (HABs) Initiative launched in late 2017, the Jefferson Project installed a custom-designed robotic sensing platform on Skaneateles, and began collecting data just prior to an early-August HABs event this year.

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