Research News

Finding Drugs for Formerly Undruggable Cancer Targets
March 2, 2022
UH Researcher Receives $2M Grant to Innovate Computer-aided Drug Discovery for Breast Cancer With a $2 million recruitment grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), a University of Houston… 		Gül Zerze, assistant professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received a $2 million grant to set up a lab to innovate computer-aided drug discovery and develop drugs that will work on traditionally undruggable targets in breast cancer.
Kourentzi receives 1st federal grant as lead, to develop test for leukemia
January 26, 2022
A research professor at the Cullen College of Engineering has received a federal grant for about $700,000  to develop a rapid screening test for a specific form of leukemia that has severe health risks without prompt detection… 		Katerina Kourentzi, Ph.D., a Research Associate Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has received nearly $700,000 in federal funding to develop a rapid screening test for a specific form of leukemia.
Benjamin receives inaugural ASEE Engineering Post Doctoral Fellowship
January 6, 2022
When Le Shorn Benjamin, Ph.D. initially saw the advertisement for a postdoctoral associate role focused on Engineering Education with Jerrod Henderson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of… 		Le Shorn Benjamin (left) will be working with Jerrod Henderson to develop the Engineering Education program at the Cullen College of Engineering.
Mapping the Complexity of T Cells to Improve Immunotherapy
November 2, 2021
It is not an exaggeration to say that immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. Nor is it boastful to say University of Houston M.D. Anderson Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Navin Varadarajan intends… 		University of Houston M.D. Anderson Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering Navin Varadarajan will use a $1.8 million grant to develop and validate what he calls Multiscale Intelligent Convergence (MusIC) to offer unprecedented insights into the function of immune cells.
COVID-19 Nasal Vaccine Candidate Effective at Preventing Disease Transmission
September 15, 2021
IN THROUGH THE NOSE... Breathe in, breathe out. That’s how easy it is for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to enter your nose. And though remarkable progress has been made in developing intramuscular vaccines against… 		UH engineering professor Navin Varadarajan.
Docking Peptides, Slow to Lock, Open Possible Path to Treat Alzheimer’s
September 13, 2021
Frustration in Amyloid Fibrils as They Form Shows it May be Possible to Stop Their Growth   Progress on treating Alzheimer’s disease has been frustratingly slow. A group of scientists in Houston suggest frustration at a very… 		Graduate student Yuechuan (Alex) Xu, left, and Professor Peter Vekilov of the University of Houston with an atomic force microscope of the sort they used to capture the growth of amyloid beta fibrils implicated in Alzheimer’s disease.
Cullen Professor Part of Fight Against Impure Honey
September 2, 2021
Adulteration and mislabeling of honey to mask its true origin has become a global issue. To evade tariffs or sanctions, some illicit importers slap fake labels on the honey, indicating it is from a different country of origin.… 		Richard Willson, Huffington-Woestemeyer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and principal investigator on the Honey DNA project, developed methods for sequencing DNA not only from whole pollen grains in unfiltered honey, but also from the small amounts of DNA leaked from broken pollen grains in filtered honey.
Karim earns NSF's Special Creativity Award
August 25, 2021
Alamgir Karim, the Dow Chairman and Welch Foundation professor of the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, has seen the potential of block copolymer when…
Cullen Alums, Prof's Smartphone-Based COVID-19 Test Hits Market
August 10, 2021
In 2020, just as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused a pandemic of respiratory illness called COVID-19, two chemical engineers and alumni of the University of Houston decided to pivot the product strategy of Luminostics, the… 		Andrew Paterson and Bala Raja, co-founders of Luminostics.
Grabow engineering dynamic solutions for carbon fiber market
July 16, 2021
Lars Grabow's Research to Bring Chemical Production and Manufacturing Together Could Revolutionize Numerous Chemical Processes You may know little to nothing about the carbon fiber market, but products produced with carbon fibers… 		Acrylonitrile is the feedstock used to make carbon fiber, which is used in the manufacturing of an array of products, from vehicles and performance sports equipment to wind turbine blades and electronics.
Does Zinc Inhibit or Promote Growth of Kidney Stones? Well, Both.
June 14, 2021
First Study to Validate Conflicting Theories A funny thing happened on the way to discovering how zinc impacts kidney stones - two different theories emerged, each contradicting the other. One: Zinc stops the growth of the… 		Jeffrey Rimer, Abraham E. Dukler Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has published the first study that offers some resolution to the differing hypotheses of the role of zinc in kidney stones.
Examining the One-Two Punch of Malaria Drugs
May 5, 2021
When a mosquito begins to nibble on you, it is not merely feeding on your blood, it is also injecting its saliva into your skin. If that saliva happens to be full of parasites carrying malaria or other diseases from its last… 		Peter Vekilov, Moores Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston, is examining why the two drugs that most often cure malaria can also fail because they tend to fight each other.
Stanko leads multi-department research into synthesis via SLRR reaction
May 3, 2021
Cullen College of Engineering professor Stanko R. Brankovic, Ph.D., of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is the corresponding author for a new, multi-department perspective paper on potential advancements in… 		Diagram of Dr. Brankovic's work
Improved Catalyst May Translate to Petrochemical Production Gains
April 27, 2021
Aromatics are major building blocks of polymers, or plastics, that turn up as everything from PET bottles for water to breathable, wrinkle-resistant polyester clothing. These petrochemicals comprise a specialized, value-added… 		Jeffrey Rimer is the Abraham E. Dukler Professor at the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering.
Cancer ‘guardian’ breaks bad with one switch, UH, Rice researchers show
March 4, 2021
A mutation that replaces a single amino acid in a potent tumor-suppressing protein turns it from saint to sinister. A new study by a coalition of Texas institutions shows why that is more damaging than previously known.  The… 		A model produced by scientists at Rice University shows the conformational changes caused by a mutation in the cancer-fighting p53 protein. At top left, the red box highlights the aggregation-prone sequence protected by the N-terminus tail in wild-type p53 but exposed by the mutation of a single amino acid. The strongest deviation happens in the domain at the green asterisk. The other three models show “open” conformations at the C-terminus caused by the mutation. (Credit: Kolomeisky Research Group/Rice.)
UH's Orman Researching Why Antibiotic-Resistant Cells Persist
February 2, 2021
University of Houston Biomolecular Engineer Receives NSF CAREER Award to Explore Cells That Defy Efforts to Kill Them Mehmet Orman, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Houston Cullen… 		Mehmet Orman, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation to study so-called persister cells - those that go dormant and then become tolerant to extraordinary levels of antibiotics.
Grabow nets another $2M for research projects on small reactors, catalysts
January 21, 2021
A Cullen College of Engineering professor will be furthering his research into developing small, modular reactor systems and tuning the properties of catalysts after receiving a pair of grants expected to total more than $2… 		Dr. Lars C. Grabow, the Dan Luss Professor in the Cullen College of Engineering’s William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will be furthering his research into developing small, modular reactor systems and tuning the properties of catalysts after receiving a pair of grants expected to total more than $2 million in funding.
New paper from Vekilov Research Group changes fundamental thinking on crystal formation
October 29, 2020
A new paper from the Vekilov Research Group at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering is shedding light on how crystals form, and in the process, overturning a belief held for more than a century. Dr. Peter G.… 		Dr. Peter Vekilov, the John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is lead author for a new paper that changes fundamental thinking on crystal formation.
University of Houston Partners with AuraVax Therapeutics on COVID-19 Vaccine
October 12, 2020
The University of Houston has entered into an exclusive license option agreement with AuraVax Therapeutics Inc., a Houston, TX based biotech company developing novel vaccines to help patients defeat debilitating respiratory… 		Navin Varadarajan, M.D. Anderson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has created a nasal vaccine for COVID-19 and a company to market it in partnership with the University of Houston.
Faster swimming bacteria could help with spills
October 8, 2020
A new paper and research from the Conrad Research Group of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering looks at how bacteria could be used to help with… 		Narendra Dewangan, a graduate student of Dr. Jacinta Conrad, has completed work with the Conrad Research Group on how faster swimming bacteria could be used to help with removal of pollutants.