The human body’s mechanisms are marvelous, yet they haven’t given up all their secrets. In order to truly conquer human disease, it is crucial to understand what happens at the most elementary level. Essential functions of the cell are carried out by protein molecules, which interact with each other in varying complexity. When a virus…
How to Make Self-Driving Cars Safer on Roads
It’s a big question for many people in traffic-dense cities like Los Angeles: When will self-driving cars arrive? But following a series of high-profile accidents in the United States, safety issues could bring the autonomous dream to a screeching halt. At USC, researchers have published a new study that tackles a long-standing problem for autonomous…
LEGO-Like Components Simplify Building 3D ‘Labs-on-a-Chip’
Thanks to new LEGO-like components developed by researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, it is now possible to build a 3D microfluidic system quickly and cheaply by simply snapping together small modules by hand. Microfluidic systems are used in many fields including engineering, chemistry and biotechnology to precisely manipulate small volumes of fluids…