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How long it takes for cells to rush to close a fruit fly’s wound can tell us a lot about the healing process in the early developmental stages of humans, and potentially lead to treatments for congenital disorders and prevent long-term damage. 

A significant amount of research suggests that obesity advances the progression of breast cancer. Exactly why it has this effect, though, isn’t well understood. 

With a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Yale is creating an interdisciplinary Ph.D. training program in the area of quantum materials science and engineering.

In plants, the cells that form the internal structure of leaves start out as tightly compacted spheres in the early stages of leaf development. As the leaf develops and expands, these cells take on new shapes and loosen up. Yet the leaf’s microstructure remains robust and intact.  

Yale researchers are part of a newly launched center that focuses on collaboration, resource sharing, and outreach for the cancer research community across six programs funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) / National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Biology (DCB).

If you take a bucket of water balloons and jostle one of them, the neighboring balloons will respond as well. This is a scaled-up example of how collections of cells and other deformable particle packings respond to forces. Modeling this phenomenon with computer simulations can shed light on questions about how cancer cells invade healthy tissue or how leaves and flowers grow.

In celebration and acknowledgment of their long intellectual and working history at Yale, the Department of Applied Physics (AP) and the School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS) have officially rejoined forces.

Among the many unknown factors in the science of COVID-19, one involves the structures of the proteins that make up the exterior of the coronavirus. A coronavirus particle has multiple proteins, including the familiar spiky structures on the outside of the spherical virus particle (aptly named “spike proteins”).

The most common way to get a picture of the atomic structures of a protein might actually cause a change in the protein’s structure, a team of researchers discovered.

Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have unusual and potentially very valuable properties. But so much is still unknown about how they form and behave that researchers have not been able to take full advantage of this relatively new class of materials.