Los Angeles, CA, September 28, 2026 - The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has been awarded an NIH U01 research grant of approximately $6.9 million to develop a first-of-its-kind multimodal smart contact lens platform for monitoring post-traumatic stress disorder in real-world settings. The multi-institutional project brings together Principal Investigators Dr. Yangzhi Zhu of the Terasaki Institute, Dr. Nanthia Suthana of Duke University, and Dr. Ximin He of UCLA, combining complementary expertise in bioengineering, neuroscience, wearable biosensing, ocular bioelectronics, and clinical translational research. 

Waterborne pathogens remain a major threat to public health, but many current monitoring methods are too slow or too narrowly focused to provide rapid warning of emerging biological risks. A new perspective published in Biocontaminant outlines how integrated biosensing systems could move aquatic pathogen surveillance from periodic single-target testing toward rapid, online monitoring of multiple pathogens at once.

Researchers identified the first known function of a little-studied brain region that helps coordinate the body’s response to cold. The newly identified brain pathway increases both food intake and energy expenditure, while also boosting heat production and improving glucose regulation. The findings identify a potential new drug target that could one day mimic some metabolic benefits of cold exposure without requiring people to actually get cold.

UCF assistant professor and researcher at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences Cali Calarco is exploring how nicotine affects brain cells, providing insights that could ultimately help improve treatments for addiction.