Author: Erika Ebsworth-Goold

Tommy John surgery, or reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the elbow, has been dubbed an epidemic among Major League Baseball pitchers. A mechanical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis plans to develop a bioinspired imaging technique to study how damage accumulates in the UCL during loading, or the stress of activating the ligament. This could provide insight into what is progressively happening to these soft tissues when pitchers throw fastballs dozens of times during a game.

Like our eyes, microscopes are limited in what they can see because of their resolution, or their ability to see detail. An engineer at Washington University in St. Louis plan to use funding from the National Science Center to build a more precise microscope.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed tools that mathematically describe the kinetics in a system right before it dissolves into randomness.

So what does the future have in store for us in regard to energy resources, consumption and technology? Aaron Bobick, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, breaks down the issue in his blog, “The Observational Engineer.”

Homeowners know that one little termite can lead to big problems: while termites are efficient at gnawing away at wood, they can do even more damage if the wood is already broken or has another defect. Mechanical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have found the same effect in some of the body’s tissue.

The seemingly unrelated conditions of hypertension, epilepsy and overactive bladder may be linked by electrical activity in a protein long studied by a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis. After new technology recently revealed the structure of the protein, his lab will collaborate with two others to take an unprecedented look into its molecular mechanisms, potentially leading to the development of new drugs for these and other conditions.

Six alumni representing a wide range of careers in the field received Achievement Awards from the School of Engineering & Applied Science on April 26 at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

This spring, two teams comprised of multidisciplinary graduate students from the Brown School, Olin Business School and the School of Law took part in the first-ever Social Innovation Initiative, tackling the problem of infant mortality in St. Louis.

Taking a biopsy of a brain tumor is a complicated and invasive surgical process, but a team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis is developing a way that allows them to detect tumor biomarkers through a simple blood test.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering & Applied Science is redefining the notion of a wisdom tooth. The team is developing technology that could someday be used to detect early signs of certain diseases in high-risk patients.