January 2008

As Anna Dhody tells it, sometime in 2000 or 2001 she and her supervisor Steven LeBlanc, director of collections at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, were discussing ways to obtain ancient DNA from secondary archeological finds over lunch. Recalling her training as a forensic anthropologist, Dhody, now curator of the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, mentioned how things like cigarette butts or discarded coffee cups from crime scenes

Lacayote squash Credit: Courtesy of Thomas Andres" />Lacayote squash Credit: Courtesy of Thomas Andres Last fall, Thomas Andres was wandering around New York City's Chinatown when he happened upon the subject of his doctoral dissertation: the lacayote, Cucurbita ficifolia, a South American squash rarely sold in the United States. He was happy to shell out $6 for the mottled green gourd. Twenty-five years ago, he had dreamed of discovering its wild ancestor on some scrubby hillside in

Epidemiologist Anne Rimoin (left) investigates a case of monkeypox in Lomela, Congo. The patient eventually died from monkeypox-related complications. Credit: © Lynn Johnson / National Geographic" />Epidemiologist Anne Rimoin (left) investigates a case of monkeypox in Lomela, Congo. The patient eventually died from monkeypox-related complications. Credit: © Lynn Johnson / National Geographic For University of California, Los Angeles, epidemiologist Anne Rimoin, 2007 was a ro

Two images of the nisin PLA polymer, outer surface (left) and cross-sectional (right) views. Nisin is evenly distributed, ensuring its slow but continuous release. Credit: Courtesy of Tony Jin" />Two images of the nisin PLA polymer, outer surface (left) and cross-sectional (right) views. Nisin is evenly distributed, ensuring its slow but continuous release. Credit: Courtesy of Tony Jin Food scientist Tony Jin's dissertation had something most don't: A picture of a Jack in the Box rest

Three primary human neutrophils within a microfluidic channel responding to a gradient of Interleukin-8 (labeled with a green fluorophore) by chemotaxing to a higher concentration (left). Panels are frames from a movie, taken 10 minutes apart. Credit: Courtesy of Mary Lokuta / University of Wisconsin, Madison" />Three primary human neutrophils within a microfluidic channel responding to a gradient of Interleukin-8 (labeled with a green fluorophore) by chemotaxing to a higher concentration (left)

Innovative solutions with small-scale microfluidics.

Phase contrast image of human microvascular epithelial cells grown in a single layer microfluidic cell culture chip under constant perfusion. Credit: Courtesy of Divya Nalayanda and Fizan Abdullah / Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, Md." />Phase contrast image of human microvascular epithelial cells grown in a single layer microfluidic cell culture chip under constant perfusion. Credit: Courtesy of Divya Nalayanda and Fizan Abdullah / Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, Md.

A confocal image of endothelial cells cultured in one of the microcapillaries of the biochip. Credit: Cellix Ltd." />A confocal image of endothelial cells cultured in one of the microcapillaries of the biochip. Credit: Cellix Ltd. User: Garry Walsh, University of Aberdeen School of Medicine, Scotland. Project: Examining adhesion of eosinophils under conditions of blood flow in the lungs. Problem: Eosinophils are relatively rare and difficult to