Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researcher Zhenglun “Alan” Wei is aiming to improve prenatal diagnosis of the most common cardiac birth defect by going with the flow … of blood in tiny hearts. Wei, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is leading a four-year project funded with $2,915,519 from the National Institutes of Health to develop a personalized model that will use detailed blood flow information collected from noninvasive tests to detect obstructions of the aorta in fetuses.

A new study from the University of Missouri offers hope for those who are at significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life, further establishing Mizzou as a leader in research on the most common cause of dementia.

A U.S. federal agency is investing $38 million in a provocative and potentially transformative project: AI-powered medical "digital twins" to help doctors personalize treatments for critical ill patients in hospitals. The project, led by a U. of Vermont surgeon and researcher, will help doctors treat the most challenging illnesses in the ICU—sepsis, burns, severe trauma, and disordered immune responses. The funding is from ARPA-H in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and is the largest research award in UVM's history.

Dentin formation, a crucial process during tooth development, results from the secretion of organic matrix from specialized cells called odontoblasts. However, the roles of the mechanosensitive channels Piezo1 and Piezo2 in odontoblast differentiation are unclear. Now, researchers from the University of Maryland addressed this knowledge gap using Piezo1/Piezo2 conditional knockout mice. Piezo1/Piezo2 double knockout impaired odontoblast differentiation and Wnt signaling. This study indicated that Piezo1 and Piezo2 contribute to odontoblast terminal differentiation, at least in part, by modulating Wnt signaling.