Chemical Engineering

A new tool enables researchers to test millions of mutated proteins in a matter of hours or days, speeding the search for new medicines, industrial enzymes and biosensors.

All living things require proteins, members of a vast family of molecules that nature "makes to order" according to the blueprints in DNA.

Through the natural process of evolution, DNA mutations generate new or more effective proteins. Humans have found so many alternative uses for these molecules – as foods, industrial enzymes, anti-cancer drugs – that scientists are eager to better understand how to engineer protein variants designed for specific uses.

Last modified Thu, 10 Dec, 2015 at 16:25

Grants will fund groundbreaking energy research

The Precourt Institute for Energy and the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy at Stanford have awarded 12 faculty seed grants totaling $2.1 million for groundbreaking research on clean energy.  Launched in 2010, the seed-grant program funds faculty research with the potential for high impact on energy supply and use. 

Last modified Thu, 3 Dec, 2015 at 13:05

SLAC, Stanford Engineering discovery could speed important chemical reactions, such as making hydrogen fuel

Bombarding and stretching an important industrial catalyst opens up tiny holes on its surface where atoms can attach and react, greatly increasing its activity as a promoter of chemical reactions, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Last modified Thu, 3 Dec, 2015 at 9:16

Stanford engineers have created a plastic skin-like material that can detect pressure and deliver a Morse code-like signal directly to a living brain cell. The work takes a big step toward adding a sense of touch to prosthetic limbs.

Stanford chemical engineering Professor Zhenan Bao and her team have created a skin-like material that can tell the difference between a soft touch and a firm handshake. The device on the golden “fingertip” is the skin-like sensor developed by Stanford engineers. (Bao Lab)

Stanford engineers have created a plastic "skin" that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.

Last modified Mon, 9 Nov, 2015 at 16:47

Researchers stripped a virus of its infectious machinery and turned its benign core into a delivery vehicle that can target sick cells while leaving healthy tissue alone.

Stanford researchers have ripped the guts out of a virus and totally redesigned its core to repurpose its infectious capabilities into a safe vehicle for delivering vaccines and therapies directly where they are needed.

The study reported today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences breathes new life into the field of targeted delivery, the ongoing effort to fashion treatments that affect diseased areas but leave healthy tissue alone.

Last modified Mon, 28 Sep, 2015 at 9:09

Stanford scientists produced a common cancer drug – previously only available from an endangered plant – in a common laboratory plant. This work could lead to a more stable supply of the drug and allow scientists to manipulate that drug to make it even safer and more effective.

Many of the drugs we take today to treat pain, fight cancer or thwart disease were originally identified in plants, some of which are endangered or hard to grow. In many cases, those plants are still the primary source of the drug.

Last modified Fri, 11 Sep, 2015 at 7:54

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford engineers have developed a manufacturing technique that could help make polymer solar cells an economically attractive alternative to those made with much more expensive silicon-crystal wafers.

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford engineers have developed a manufacturing technique that could double the electricity output of inexpensive solar cells by using a microscopic rake when applying light-harvesting polymers.

When commercialized, this advance could help make polymer solar cells an economically attractive alternative to those made with much more expensive silicon-crystal wafers.

Last modified Thu, 3 Sep, 2015 at 9:53

Building on the success of its first year, the Innovation Transfer Program at the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy is financially supporting 11 new teams composed mostly of Stanford students and recent graduates trying to put university research to work.

Miniature ultrasound sensors embedded in windmill blades could help avoid catastrophic failures and reduce wind power costs by replacing field inspections with online monitoring.

Stanford Engineering students Alex Guo and Kevin Zheng have set out to show that their sensor system, developed in the laboratory of electrical engineering Associate Professor Boris Murmann, can be commercialized. Then they plan to develop applications for monitoring pipelines, trains, planes and other critical infrastructure.

Last modified Wed, 29 Jul, 2015 at 11:05

Stanford researchers have created a new carbon material that significantly improves the performance of batteries and supercapacitors.

Stanford University engineers have created a new carbon material that significantly boosts the performance of energy-storage technologies. Their results are featured on the cover of the journal ACS Central Science.

Last modified Fri, 29 May, 2015 at 11:34

New findings by Professor Alfred Spormann and colleagues could pave the way for microbial "factories" that produce renewable biofuels and chemicals.

Stanford University engineers have solved a long-standing mystery about methanogens, unique microorganisms that transform electricity and carbon dioxide into methane.

In a new study, the Stanford team demonstrates for the first time how methanogens obtain electrons from solid surfaces. The discovery could help scientists design electrodes for microbial "factories" that produce methane gas and other compounds sustainably.

Last modified Mon, 18 May, 2015 at 9:11