News: Research

In a new paper, a UChicago PME-led team of researchers from UChicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and University of Illinois Chicago used defect-embedded colloidal nanocrystals to create a perfect mixture of tiny solids in solution, which presents a better way to integrate quantum technologies. 

On August 16, stakeholders from academia, national labs, and industry—ranging from major corporations to startups—gathered for the soft launch of the Energy Transition Network, a new collaboration aimed at shifting the world away from fossil fuels in a safe, rapid, and cost-effective manner. Led by Professors Shirley Meng and Laura Gagliardi, the project will leverage Chicago’s existing resources to transform the region into a central hub of education, innovation, and startups focused on environmental issues.

Tong Lan, a graduate student with the Bryan Dickinson lab, is first author of a new paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that presents breakthrough research on covalent macrocyclic peptides. This work is essential for the development of more effective and targeted cancer treatments. 

In an exciting development for quantum computing, researchers from the Department of Computer Science, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and Argonne National Laboratory have introduced a groundbreaking classical algorithm that simulates Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) experiments. 

The University of Chicago is celebrating a major achievement with the recent announcement of a $1 million investment from the NSF for the first year of the ambitious Quantum Advantage Computing and Technology Initiative (QACTI) project.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has created a new Energy Innovation Hub, the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), which will work to advance battery technology. Led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, ESRA aims to drive technological innovation and strengthen US economic competitiveness.

After years of preparation, the first neutrinos have been observed by the Short-Baseline Near Detector collaboration. The data SBND collects will expand our knowledge of how neutrinos interact with matter and will be used to search for evidence of new physics.

Tadpole craters on Mars, formed by ancient water outflows, provide valuable insights into the planet’s transition from a wet to an arid environment. Researchers, including those at the University of Chicago, are using these unique formations to better understand the climate changes that occurred during Mars's poorly understood late Hesperian period.
 

University of Chicago astrophysics undergrad Zewei Wu has spent his summer near Munich, Germany in “Science City,” conducting research to help unravel the story of how galaxies form and evolve. At his internship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics he has been running simulations of astrophysical plasma—the gas that composes more than half of all visible matter in galaxies, including stars and solar systems.

University of Chicago chemists developed an environmentally sustainable method of microfabrication that uses water and natural materials—including paper—to create and transfer patterns.  

A new set of electron beam measurements puts the upgraded Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the top of the list of the world’s synchrotron X-ray research facilities. The APS is a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory and is one of the most productive X-ray light sources in the world. 

Researchers at the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, including chemist Wenbin Lin, developed a nanomedicine that increases the penetration and accumulation of chemotherapy drugs in tumor tissues and effectively kills cancer cells through the activation of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway.

The startup PsiQuantum plans to build the world’s largest quantum computer at the former U.S. Steel South Works site on Chicago's South Side. UChicago professor David Awschalom, who leads the Chicago Quantum Exchange research consortium, comments on the applications of this technology.

A concerning amount of cyberattacks are targeting education service databases. In response to this challenge, Marshini Chetty, an assistant professor in UChicago's Department of Computer Science, developed a game app called Cybernaut to help young children learn to be cyber-safe.

UChicago research scientist Arjun Bhagoji and 5th year PhD student Brennan Schaffner collaborate to study content moderation across the top 43 online platforms.