For the first time, researchers have used bacteria to “upcycle” waste polyethylene

A team led by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has 3D-printed hair follicles in human skin tissue cultured in the lab. This marks the first time researchers have used the technology to generate hair follicles, which play an important role in skin healing and function.

Intuit, Ecovative, Optum Labs, Nancy’s Specialty Foods, and Vicarious Visions, which was acquired by Blizzard Entertainment, all have something in common: they were founded by alumni of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They are also previous William F. Glaser ’53 Entrepreneurs of the Year through Rensselaer’s Paul J. ’69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship.

Using artificial intelligence tools to analyze years of biomedical data, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered a possible connection between sleep, gastrointestinal health, and two potentially harmful behaviors often associated with profound autism: self-injury and aggression. Their study is published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine.

From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will host the Boston Regional Inorganic Colloquium (BRIC) at the Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. The first BRIC was held in 2004 to connect inorganic chemists in academia and industry and to promote community and collaboration. BRIC has since expanded beyond Boston to include all of New England.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Mattheos Koffas, Ph.D., Dorothy and Fred Chau ʼ71 Constellation Professor in Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, has won the inaugural June Wispelwey Bio Leadership Fellowship. The fellowship provides a grant “to assist scientists and engineers in spearheading projects that may lead to important technical, business, or community advancements in the biological engineering field.”

ChatGPT has fascinated the public as we begin to explore how generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be useful in our everyday lives. On the back end, scientists are continually advancing AI for potential applications so vast that it may change life as we know it by accelerating scientific and technological developments.

With daylight savings time ending soon, we anticipate a change in the timing of daylight hours with the sunrise occurring earlier in the morning. Already, too many of us get far too little sleep, and disruptions to our circadian cycles like those caused by daylight savings time transitions may make us feel more than tired and out of whack. In the end, there is significant medical data that shows that sudden day/night-time changes may even make us sick.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has established the Office of Strategic Alliances and Translation, a new area within the university that incorporates a number of key translational activities at RPI, including intellectual property and technology licensing, large-scale corporate partnerships, initiation and growth of start-up ventures, and translational campuses, including the Rensselaer Technology Park, as well as translational activities in New York City.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Steven Cramer, William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering, and Todd Przybycien, professor of chemical and biological engineering, will contribute to a three-year research program led by faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that aims to design the world’s first fully integrated, continuous mRNA manufacturing platform. Both Cramer and Przybycien are members of Rensselaer’s Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. The platform is part of an $82 million effort funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.