In 2015 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Chinese scientist Youyou Tu for her discovery of a novel malaria treatment rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. Tu isolated the drug artemisinin from an herb used to treat malaria in China for more than 2,000 years.

Researchers have found evidence that a natural fruit extract is capable of dissolving calcium oxalate crystals, the most common component of human kidney stones. This finding could lead to the first advance in the treatment of calcium oxalate stones in 30 years.

Finding improved methods for drug delivery is a hot topic among researchers all over the world. One method in particular, which utilizes polymeric micelles to carry and deliver drug molecules to their intended targets inside of the body, has had very promising results in recent years.

This month, four UH Cullen College of Engineering professors earned a four-year grant amounting to almost $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to pursue their nanopatterning discovery that could lead to next-generation transistors for integrated circuitry, among other advanced nanodevices.

Patrick Cirino, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH Cullen College of Engineering, earned a three-year, $300,000 National Science Foundation grant to continue developing and implementing genetic tools that advance synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

The U.S. Department of Energy sponsored a 2013 workshop in Berkley, California, that brought together 15 of the nation’s top crystallization researchers to discuss the rapidly emerging but still obscure area of nonclassical crystallization.

A combination of nine university professors and industry professionals is joining the Cullen College of Engineering faculty at the University of Houston this semester. The majority are biomedical engineers with expertise ranging from brain-machine interfaces for control of prosthetic limbs to cell membrane research for diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer.

Researchers have created a new method for screening cells used in immunotherapy cancer treatments, allowing high-performing immune system cells to be studied in isolation and potentially expanding  the number of patients for whom the breakthrough treatment proves successful.

The 2015 Research & Innovation magazine exemplifies the University of Houston’s revolutionary scientific discoveries, scholarship and ingenuity.