African sleeping sickness is a serious infection caused by a parasitic microbe called Trypanosoma brucei.

Using an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy along with artificial intelligence, a team at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA mapped the hairlike flagellum that the microbe uses to propel itself, identifying 154 composite proteins.

Findings revealed that the parasite moves in a distinctive style, similar to a dragon boat, with unique adaptations that are essential to its ability to infect its hosts.

Using their novel FRESH 3D bioprinting technique, which allows for printing of soft living cells and tissues, Carnegie Mellon’s Feinberg lab has built a first-of-its-kind tissue model entirely out of collagen.