Featured Stories
University of Nebraska: Nama Advances Software to Expand Ultrasound's Role in Medicine
LINCOLN, Nebraska, Aug. 19 -- The University of Nebraska posted the following news:
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Nama advances software to expand ultrasound's role in medicine
By Tiffany Lee, Research and Innovation
Ultrasound has long enabled doctors to peer inside the body and treat certain conditions without a scalpel. Now, researchers envision a next frontier of sound wave-based technologies for targeted drug delivery, blood clot dissolution, surgeries that spare healthy tissue and beyond.
But first, they must answer the longstanding question of how complex fluids inside the human body behave under the influence
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LINCOLN, Nebraska, Aug. 19 -- The University of Nebraska posted the following news:
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Nama advances software to expand ultrasound's role in medicine
By Tiffany Lee, Research and Innovation
Ultrasound has long enabled doctors to peer inside the body and treat certain conditions without a scalpel. Now, researchers envision a next frontier of sound wave-based technologies for targeted drug delivery, blood clot dissolution, surgeries that spare healthy tissue and beyond.
But first, they must answer the longstanding question of how complex fluids inside the human body behave under the influenceof sound waves.
Nitesh Nama of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will help answer that question with a five-year, nearly $550,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program. Drawing on his diverse expertise in applied mathematics and mechanical and biomedical engineering, Nama will develop open-source computational software that accurately captures how biological fluids respond to ultrasound. The software will help researchers design more sophisticated ultrasound-based medical treatments by improving their understanding of how sound waves interact with the fluids carrying energy and medicine through the body.
The resource would be one of the first platforms offering the scientific community a rapid, low-cost pathway for generating and testing hypotheses and improving medical devices.
"To this point, most of the research on ultrasound has been done with regular fluids, like water or diluted polymers," said Nama, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering. "But this is not representative of actual use scenarios. In reality, you would be working with blood, mucus or the synovial fluids that fill joint spaces, which don't flow like water. They are fundamentally different fluids, and we are developing models that account for these differences."
The gap between research and reality stems, in part, from the cost and complexity of working with the microchannel devices that mimic the human body's tiny structures like blood vessels, capillaries and spaces inside tissues. Making these human hair-width devices to test ultrasound technologies requires clean room facilities and thousands of dollars.
Conducting experiments with the viscoelastic liquids found in the body -- which behave partly like a liquid and partly like a stretchy solid -- poses an additional challenge because these fluids often clog channels and leave residues.
"A persistent bottleneck I see in ultrasound research is that reliable, well-characterized experiments of even the most basic setups cost a lot of money," Nama said.
His CAREER research will help researchers clear that hurdle. By developing computational models that represent the behavior of complex fluids, he is offering the scientific community an inexpensive avenue for experimentation.
"The goal is to have the testing done on the computer, rather than having to make microchannel devices again and again," he said.
Nama's work is a unique merger of two mature fields: complex fluids and acoustics. Though both have been studied extensively by themselves, his approach is one of the first to unite them rigorously and fully account for complex fluids' reaction to sound waves. To do this, he will first identify the mathematical equations that accurately capture the physics, then write computer codes to solve them.
Nama's project comes at a time when demand for medical ultrasound technologies is surging. Because ultrasound is safe and noninvasive, researchers see it as a key tool as medicine shifts away from one-size-fits-all treatment toward individualized and precision therapies.
For example, Nama previously worked with a team developing tiny, ultrasound-guided polymers that deliver pharmaceuticals to a small, localized region in the body. This minimizes side effects and protects healthy tissue from drug exposure. He has also provided guidance to researchers who are engineering approaches to cleaning dialysis tubes, catheters and stents with ultrasound waves, enhancing patient safety and allowing reuse and longer periods of time between replacements.
Ultrasound's portability and low cost also make it an attractive technology for point-of-care devices, which have attracted growing interest since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pocket-sized ultrasound devices could link to smartphones, providing real-time information and diagnostics.
To develop the education component of the CAREER award, Nama drew on his own experiences. He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, a master's degree in mathematics and postdoctoral experience in biomedical engineering. This cross-disciplinary resume enables his current work, he said.
"This is a field that requires you to know a bit of everything," he said. "You need to know the math, you need to know how the human body works and you need to know the engineering of devices and sound waves."
To help Husker students develop this diverse skill set, he is developing interdisciplinary modules that integrate these fields. Nama will also invite colleagues from industry to share their work on various devices, giving students a window into the commercialization process.
"This would allow them to see what goes on behind the scenes to develop a device," Nama said. "There's developing the device itself, then there is the FDA compliance side and the whole pathway to translation."
He will also work with the University of Nebraska's Young Nebraska Scientists program to introduce middle and high school students to the basic concepts of sound waves.
The National Science Foundation's CAREER award supports pre-tenure faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.
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Tiffany Lee, Senior Research Writer and Editor, Research Communications, 402-472-1808, tlee9@unl.edu
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Original text here: https://news.unl.edu/article/nama-advances-software-to-expand-ultrasounds-role-in-medicine
University of Michigan: Premium Customer, Quickest Service - Not So Fast, at Least in World of Agentic AI-driven Services
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 19 (TNSjou) -- The University of Michigan issued the following news:
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Premium customer, quickest service? Not so fast, at least in world of agentic AI-driven services
It's conventional wisdom in the business world: Premium customers get a pass to the front of the line. Think airports or amusement parks.
But new research from the University of Michigan finds the best approach--at least in the realm of data processing services--may be placing those big spenders in the "better-but-later" queue and completing the smaller jobs first.
It's especially relevant in the
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ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 19 (TNSjou) -- The University of Michigan issued the following news:
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Premium customer, quickest service? Not so fast, at least in world of agentic AI-driven services
It's conventional wisdom in the business world: Premium customers get a pass to the front of the line. Think airports or amusement parks.
But new research from the University of Michigan finds the best approach--at least in the realm of data processing services--may be placing those big spenders in the "better-but-later" queue and completing the smaller jobs first.
It's especially relevant in therealm of artificial intelligence, where data center demand driven in part by AI workloads is straining power grids and creating new capacity bottlenecks.
The challenge comes in how the providers of those services can structure their menu of options so those premium customers see the value in getting more even if they wait longer for it.
The study focused on agentic AI, though the research can apply more broadly to services in which providers can spend more processing effort to improve output quality--and that effort consumes scarce shared capacity.
Their focus, they say, speaks to a timely managerial question: How should firms design service menus when better answers take more time to produce?
The researchers from U-M's Ross School of Business found in their numerical analysis that completing smaller jobs first increases profit by 2.5% relative to first-come, first-served and by nearly 5.5% relative to conventional, high-value-first scheduling.
"When premium AI performs substantially more work, putting it first can make many smaller jobs wait," said Mojtaba Abdolmaleki, doctoral candidate at the Ross School and co-author of the study with business professors Izak Duenyas and Roman Kapuscinski. "The premium customer can still receive the more thorough result without automatically being first in line.
"Premium AI may need a quality lane, not only a fast lane."
Abdolmaleki and his co-authors offer the following example from the world of tax preparation, already a real business workflow:
A graduate student has one wage or fellowship statement, no business income and only a few supporting documents. The student selects basic preparation, and the resulting AI job occupies the compute pipeline for one minute.
A business owner has multiple entities, dozens of tax forms, income in several states, investment transactions and foreign accounts. That customer selects comprehensive preparation, which occupies the pipeline for two hours.
Now, if the longer job runs first, the shorter one waits two hours, and if the shorter one runs first, the longer one is delayed by only one additional minute. Completing the one-minute return first reduces total waiting cost by about 58%, even though the business owner is 50 times more costly to delay.
The premium job isn't delayed because the return is less important; rather, the customer selected that service because the return warrants substantially more analysis. So the service providers must clearly define quality-first service: more analysis, a better expected result and a disclosed completion window.
"That doesn't mean secretly degrading the service received by a premium customer," Abdolmaleki said.
The study is under review for publication.
Study: Pricing Delayed Agentic AI Services: When High-Value Jobs Wait Longer (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6721378)
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Original text here: https://news.umich.edu/premium-customer-quickest-service-not-so-fast-at-least-in-world-of-agentic-ai-driven-services/
UVA and UVA Wise Leaders Convene for Evening of Dialogue and Discovery
WISE, Virginia, Aug. 19 -- The University of Virginia College at Wise issued the following news:
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UVA and UVA Wise Leaders Convene for Evening of Dialogue and Discovery
Dedra Duty
Yesterday, the University of Virginia (UVA) and the University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) brought together members of both university communities for an evening of dialogue and discovery featuring University of Virginia President Scott C. Beardsley and UVA Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry.
The gathering was the first of its kind jointly hosted event between UVA and UVA Wise, creating an opportunity
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WISE, Virginia, Aug. 19 -- The University of Virginia College at Wise issued the following news:
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UVA and UVA Wise Leaders Convene for Evening of Dialogue and Discovery
Dedra Duty
Yesterday, the University of Virginia (UVA) and the University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVA Wise) brought together members of both university communities for an evening of dialogue and discovery featuring University of Virginia President Scott C. Beardsley and UVA Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry.
The gathering was the first of its kind jointly hosted event between UVA and UVA Wise, creating an opportunityfor members of the shared UVA family to celebrate their connection, learn more about each institution's distinctive strengths and explore opportunities for collaboration across the Commonwealth.
Moderated by Kenyon Bonner, UVA vice president and chief student affairs officer, the conversation highlighted the relationship between UVA and UVA Wise and the institutions' shared commitment to student success, access and affordability, service to Virginia and the transformative power of higher education.
"UVA Wise holds an important and distinctive place within the University of Virginia," Bonner said. "Its history, traditions, strengths and deep commitment to Southwest Virginia are an important part of the broader University. This evening is an opportunity to celebrate that relationship and consider how UVA and UVA Wise can continue to learn from and support one another."
During the conversation, Henry and Beardsley discussed the educational experiences offered by UVA and UVA Wise and the ways those experiences contribute to the University's broader public mission.
Henry highlighted UVA Wise's close-knit educational environment, where students receive personalized attention from faculty and advisors while gaining hands-on experience through internships, undergraduate research, study abroad, community engagement, athletics and student leadership.
Beardsley shared his perspective on the distinctive educational experience that students receive at both UVA and UVA Wise, "Both institutions' approach to teaching, mentoring and student development strengthens the University's mission to serve our students and region."
A central part of the conversation also focused on UVA Wise's role in Southwest Virginia and Appalachia. The discussion explored how UVA can help support and amplify UVA Wise's impact in Southwest Virginia while creating additional opportunities for students and communities across the Commonwealth.
As UVA begins its strategic planning process, Beardsley and Henry will consider opportunities for meaningful collaboration between UVA and UVA Wise in the decade ahead. Strategic planning conversations will emphasize how the institutions can remain distinctive while strengthening their shared identity as members of one UVA family.
"UVA and UVA Wise have important differences in culture, history and setting," Henry said. "At the same time, both provide students with outstanding academic opportunities and experiences tailored to their needs and aspirations. UVA's growth in an urban setting and UVA Wise's growth in a rural region give us complementary strengths that can make the UVA family stronger."
The evening concluded with a conversation about alumni and parent connections and the importance of belonging across both institutions.
Together, UVA and UVA Wise serve students from Virginia, across the nation and beyond through educational experiences shaped by their individual missions and communities. The first joint gathering represents another step toward strengthening those connections.
"This evening is an important first," Beardsley and Henry affirmed through the conversation, as both institutions look toward a future of greater collaboration, shared opportunity and continued service to the Commonwealth.
The event is intended to be the beginning of stronger connections among UVA, UVA Wise, their alumni and families, and the communities they serve.
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Original text here: https://www.uvawise.edu/news/2026/08/uva-and-uva-wise-leaders-convene-evening-dialogue-and-discovery
San Jose State University: Researchers Respond to Technical Review of Moss Landing Battery Fire Study
SAN JOSE, California, Aug. 19 -- San Jose State University issued the following news:
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Researchers Respond to Technical Review of Moss Landing Battery Fire Study
MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- A team of San Jose State-led researchers who studied the environmental effects of the January 2025 Moss Landing battery fire have issued a response to a technical review by Terraphase Engineering hired by Vistra, the owner of the facility. The response serves as a rebuttal to specific Terraphase findings, examining the scientific validity of several methods and quantitative interpretations in the Terraphase
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SAN JOSE, California, Aug. 19 -- San Jose State University issued the following news:
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Researchers Respond to Technical Review of Moss Landing Battery Fire Study
MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- A team of San Jose State-led researchers who studied the environmental effects of the January 2025 Moss Landing battery fire have issued a response to a technical review by Terraphase Engineering hired by Vistra, the owner of the facility. The response serves as a rebuttal to specific Terraphase findings, examining the scientific validity of several methods and quantitative interpretations in the Terraphasereview.
The SJSU response comes as Monterey County evaluates a broader environmental investigation of the area surrounding the power plant.
While the Terraphase assessment concluded that the conditions measured months after the fire did not indicate an immediate threat to public health or the environment, the research team, led by Dr. Ivano Aiello, emphasizes that the two studies examined fundamentally different stages of the event.
SJSU's rapid-response investigation used pre-fire baseline data and samples collected shortly after the Jan. 16 fire to document the initial surface deposition and its rapid decline. Conversely, the Terraphase investigation examined conditions several months later, after much of the transient surface enrichment documented by Aiello's team had already dissipated, and was designed to evaluate potential longer-term risks.
Rather than viewing the findings of the two reports as contradictory, Dr. Aiello encourages Monterey County to consider them complementary. The SJSU rapid-response measurements document conditions immediately following the fire, while later sampling by Terraphase provides information about subsequent environmental conditions and potential longer-term exposure.
Integrating these datasets, Dr. Aiello said, would provide a more complete understanding of the fire -- from initial deposition and subsequent redistribution to longer-term environmental conditions and potential human and ecological impacts.
The researchers have requested that their full scientific response be posted alongside the Terraphase review as part of the public record.
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Original text here: https://blogs.sjsu.edu/newsroom/2026/researchers-respond-to-technical-review-of-moss-landing-battery-fire-study/
Rutgers Issues Q&A: Mars Attacks - How Much Dust From the Red Planet Is Safe to Breathe?
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, Aug. 19 -- Rutgers University issued the following Q&A on Aug. 18, 2026, involving Shaunna Morrison, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences:
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Mars Attacks: How Much Dust From the Red Planet Is Safe to Breathe?
A Rutgers mineralogist and planetary scientist helps NASA develop a limit for future astronauts
By Kitta MacPherson
NASA has released a report recommending an initial health standard for the Martian dust that astronauts could inhale during future missions.
Although sending people to Mars is still
... Show Full Article
NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey, Aug. 19 -- Rutgers University issued the following Q&A on Aug. 18, 2026, involving Shaunna Morrison, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences:
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Mars Attacks: How Much Dust From the Red Planet Is Safe to Breathe?
A Rutgers mineralogist and planetary scientist helps NASA develop a limit for future astronauts
By Kitta MacPherson
NASA has released a report recommending an initial health standard for the Martian dust that astronauts could inhale during future missions.
Although sending people to Mars is stillyears away, NASA needs to establish safety limits now. Spacecraft, spacesuits and crew habitats take years to design and test, and engineers need a measurable target for developing air filters, airlocks and suit-cleaning systems that will keep astronauts safe.
Martian dust presents an unusual challenge. It is extremely fine, can cling electrostatically to spacesuits and equipment, and may contain chemicals and minerals that could harm the lungs. Astronauts could carry it into their living quarters each time they return from working on the planet's surface. Establishing a standard now will also allow NASA to begin testing dust-control technologies well before a Mars mission launches.
Shaunna Morrison, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and a member of NASA's Mars Dust Limit Working Group, contributed her expertise in Martian mineralogy to the report. The group drew on rover and lander observations, laboratory simulations and lunar dust research to assess the risks of airborne Martian dust, which has never been brought to Earth for direct study.
Morrison, a mineralogist and planetary scientist, discusses why NASA needs a dust standard now, how the proposed limit was developed and what scientists still need to learn before astronauts travel to Mars.
What did the Mars Dust Limit Working Group recommend, and what would that limit mean in practical terms for astronauts?
The working group supported NASA's proposed initial limit of 0.1 milligram of fine Martian dust per cubic meter of air, averaged over 24 hours, for exposure scenarios lasting up to 30 days.
The limit is less about telling astronauts what to do minute by minute and more about giving engineers a measurable requirement for air handling, filtration, suit cleaning and habitat design.
In practical terms, this gives mission designers a target for how clean the air inside a Mars habitat needs to be, with particular consideration required for when astronauts come back from surface activities carrying dust on suits and equipment - likely the most common source of dust within the habitat.
Why could Martian dust pose a health risk?
Very fine dust can get deep into the lungs, where it may cause irritation or inflammation, especially if exposure is repeated or prolonged.
Martian dust may also contain reactive iron-bearing phases, hazardous chemical compounds known as perchlorates, manganese, chromium, sulfates and other components that need to be considered, although our report concluded that controlling the total amount of dust is likely the most practical and significant near-term way to protect crews.
Because no samples of airborne Martian dust have been brought to Earth, how did the group determine a safe exposure level?
NASA has built the standard from the best available evidence - lunar dust toxicology, Martian regolith, which is the fragmented rock layer covering the surface of Mars, simulant studies and rover and lander measurements of Martian chemistry and mineralogy.
NASA experts started with the existing 30-day lunar dust exposure limit of 0.4 milligram per cubic meter of air and set a lower limit for Martian dust, adding an extra margin of safety to account for what scientists still do not know about it.
What is Martian dust made of, and which ingredients concern scientists most?
Martian dust is broadly basaltic, like many volcanic materials on Earth, meaning it contains minerals like plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine, along with iron oxides, sulfates, perchlorates, and a substantial amorphous, or poorly crystalline, component.
The ingredients that need the closest attention are fine respirable particles, such as iron-bearing and nanophase materials, such as perchlorate, manganese and chromium.
Current data suggests, however, that chromium and manganese are not likely to drive risk if the overall dust limit is maintained.
How could astronauts carry dust into their living spaces, and how would a Mars habitat monitor and remove it?
Astronauts would likely bring dust into the habitat after extravehicular activities, which are any task performed by an astronaut outside a spacecraft, when dust sticks to suits, boots, tools, airlock surfaces and equipment.
Humidity will also matter. In very dry air, fine particles can stay suspended longer and become more electrostatically "sticky," while higher humidity can change how particles clump, settle, and move through a filtration system.
Each habitat would need particulate monitoring, control of humidity and airflow, suit-cleaning procedures and filtration. HEPA filtration should be effective for Martian dust, but each vehicle or habitat filtration system would have to be designed and verified to remove dust quickly enough after an exposure spike.
What do scientists still need to learn about Martian dust before people travel to Mars?
We still need to know more about the actual airborne dust that astronauts would inhale - its particle size distribution, shape, mineralogy, surface reactivity, iron chemistry, perchlorate content and how much of each component becomes biologically available in the lungs.
One especially important knowledge gap is that the dust astronauts would breathe is not necessarily identical to Martian scooped soil, bulk regolith, or rock material we've studied in Martian meteorites. The finest airborne fraction may differ in size, chemistry and surface reactivity.
As a result, we still need to understand how easily it enters or clears from the lungs.
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Original text here: https://www.rutgers.edu/news/mars-attacks-how-much-dust-red-planet-safe-breathe
Michigan Medicine: How a Common Virus's Hijack of Cell Repair Processes May Promote Cancer
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 19 (TNSjou) -- Michigan Medicine, the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, issued the following news release:
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How a common virus's hijack of cell repair processes may promote cancer
A deeper look into how Epstein-Barr virus' reactivates from latent infection
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Most people will become infected with Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, at some point in their lives.
In addition to being an extremely common herpes virus, EBV persists in its host for life as a "quiet" or latent infection.
While EBV infection may have no symptoms, it often causes mild illnesses
... Show Full Article
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 19 (TNSjou) -- Michigan Medicine, the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, issued the following news release:
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How a common virus's hijack of cell repair processes may promote cancer
A deeper look into how Epstein-Barr virus' reactivates from latent infection
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Most people will become infected with Epstein-Barr virus, or EBV, at some point in their lives.
In addition to being an extremely common herpes virus, EBV persists in its host for life as a "quiet" or latent infection.
While EBV infection may have no symptoms, it often causes mild illnessessuch as mononucleosis (known as the "kissing disease", because EBV spreads through saliva).
In rarer instances, EBV plays a surprising critical role in multiple sclerosis and nearly 2% of all cancers.
A new paper from the University of Michigan looks at details surrounding EBV's reactivation from latent infection, known as the lytic phase of viral replication.
During lytic EBV infection, the virus co-opts the host cell's own DNA damage repair machinery to make more virus.
"It's a very damaging and traumatic event for the host cell," said Elliott SoRelle, Ph.D., of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
"Normally an event that dramatic would cause the cell to arrest and die. The virus has to solve this problem: keep the host cell alive so that it can still hijack the cell's metabolites and machinery to complete the later stages [of replication]."
Just how the virus keeps the cell alive despite generating widespread host DNA damage has been a mystery.
By screening EBV-infected immune cells called memory B-cells fixed in different stages of the lytic process, the team generated an atlas of more than 850,000 cells and applied automated single-cell image analyses to home in on when things go awry.
The innovative assay was generated by SoRelle's mentee, graduate student Dina Tekle, of the Department of Biological Chemistry.
"If you think of every cell as a snapshot in the movie of lytic infection, we capture all of these individual movie frames, but they're out of order. When we use advanced bioinformatic techniques, we can put the frames of the movie back into the right order," he explained.
Using this technique (called pseudotime analysis), they saw that lytic cells begin the early steps in the DNA damage response but interfere with its completion in later stages.
This raises an interesting possibility: "Some EBV-infected cells may start the lytic cycle and DNA damage responses but not finish them, which can dramatically reorganize the host cell genome without killing the cell," SoRelle said.
This finding has implications for EBV-associated cancers, because these cells are "genomically unstable" and may be primed for malignancy, he adds.
In future research, Tekle plans to apply the assay to study this link.
"Using our approach, I will study the dynamics between the host DNA damage response and EBV lytic factors to understand how this essential response is being dysregulated. This approach will help us to better understand the direct role or roles of lytic infection in oncogenesis."
Additional authors: Craig J. Dobry, Jonathan Z. Sexton
Funding/disclosures: This research was supported by the NIH S10 award 1S10OD034245-01A1 for the Yokogawa CellVoyager CV8000 laser-based high-content imager. D.G.T. acknowledges support from a University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School Merit Fellowship. J.Z.S. acknowledges support from a NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences R01 (R01GM152417). E.D.S. acknowledges Hypothesis Fund support, funding from a NIH National Cancer Institute K22 (1K22CA288946), and lab startup from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center (NIH P30CA046592, PI: Dr. Eric Fearon) and Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Paper cited: "Reconstructing EBV reactivation and DNA damage response kinetics in morphologic pseudotime," PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2609598123.
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Original text here: https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-lab/how-common-viruss-hijack-cell-repair-processes-may-promote-cancer
KPU Biologist Rethinking Lab Tests With Worms, Not Rodents
SURREY, British Columbia, Aug. 19 -- Kwantlen Polytechnic University issued the following news:
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KPU biologist rethinking lab tests with worms, not rodents
Mice and rats have long been favoured by scientists for biomedical testing, but a new method from a Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) researcher is worming its way to the surface.
Dr. Kelsie Doering, a biology instructor and researcher at KPU's Applied Genomics Centre (AGC), supported by Genome BC, is deploying tiny roundworms to test the safety of new pharmaceutical and agricultural products. Using these worms -- known as Caenorhabditis
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SURREY, British Columbia, Aug. 19 -- Kwantlen Polytechnic University issued the following news:
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KPU biologist rethinking lab tests with worms, not rodents
Mice and rats have long been favoured by scientists for biomedical testing, but a new method from a Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) researcher is worming its way to the surface.
Dr. Kelsie Doering, a biology instructor and researcher at KPU's Applied Genomics Centre (AGC), supported by Genome BC, is deploying tiny roundworms to test the safety of new pharmaceutical and agricultural products. Using these worms -- known as Caenorhabditiselegans, or C. elegans -- Doering is developing a toxicity testing toolkit in her lab on the Richmond campus, without the need for long-tailed rodents.
"Toxicity testing is required to determine the impacts of pharmaceuticals and pesticides on human health and the environment to ensure safety," she says. "There's been a recent push to limit rodent use in toxicity testing, and C. elegans present a unique opportunity to optimize our ability to perform tests for industry and government partners in an ethical, cost effective and highly efficient way."
C. elegans are tiny nematode worms that have a lifecycle of three days and a lifespan of approximately three weeks. Mice, by comparison, have a lifecycle of two months and a lifespan of up to three years.
"These microscopic transparent nematodes only live for a few weeks, and very importantly are not toxic, not pathogenic, not infectious. So not only are they really efficient for use, but they are also very safe for research."
The worms are small enough to grow on simple Petri dishes, making them significantly cheaper to breed and care for in the lab.
"Most people understand the biggest advantage of using rodents to be their similarities to humans as mammals, yet C. elegans have a surprisingly high homology to human genes, especially in the biological systems that help cells respond to and cope with stress, where they share approximately 70 per cent of their genes with us," says Doering. "This is super important as the things we learn in the worm can be applied to human biology."
Another advantage for researchers is that experiments with these tiny worms do not require ethics approvals.
Toxicity testing in particular is also more efficient. The worms don't have a circulatory system, so any substance being tested can easily be delivered to their cells, and because of how small and fast they are, scientists can quickly test different concentrations and drug combinations. And for agricultural product testing that requires evaluating what a chemical is doing to the soil, the worms are prime test subjects as they live in soil.
Doering and her students are now putting their systems to the test by collaborating with Pan-Biome Pharmaceuticals to evaluate a newly-developed drug, and early results are promising. Once the testing toolkit has been refined, the researchers aim to work with other partners to evaluate the safety of new compounds.
"The idea is that if an industry partner has a new agricultural or pharmaceutical product, we would be able to perform a suite of toxicity tests in order to deliver them very valuable toxicity information," she says. "Ultimately we'd like to see it become a widely used screening platform that helps researchers make better-informed decisions earlier in product development."
Doering says the project, which is funded by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Genome BC, has provided plenty of research opportunities to KPU students. Everything from literature review and optimizing protocols to experiments and data analysis is being conducted by student researchers.
"This work would not be possible without our amazing student researchers, who in return get the invaluable experience of working on these projects. Providing these opportunities to both students and partners is something I am extremely proud of, and something that I hope to continue to do."
The Applied Genomics Centre is Canada's first Technology Access Centre (TAC) focused on applied research and development using genomic tools to support the agri-tech sector.
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Original text here: https://www.kpu.ca/news/2026/08/18/kpu-biologist-rethinking-lab-tests-worms-not-rodents
