Asif Khan and Akanksha Menon have been selected to participate in the 2025 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Symposium, taking place October 20-23 in Bordeaux, France.

Hosted by the National Academy of Engineering in partnership with the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE), and supported by The Grainger Foundation, the symposium is an invitation-only gathering of approximately 60 early- to mid-career engineers from the United States and Europe. The program is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and explore emerging engineering challenges.

Participation in the EU-U.S. FOE Symposium is considered one of the most prestigious honors for mid-career engineers and is often regarded as a catalyst for future leadership roles in the field, with many past participants going on to achieve high professional distinction.

Read the full story by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

This story is shared with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign newsroom. John R. Reynolds is a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. He served as founder of the Georgia Tech Polymer Network (GTPN) and is a member of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE).

Chirality, a property where structures have a distinct left- or right- “handedness,” allows natural semiconductors to move charge and convert energy with high efficiency by controlling electron spin and the angular momentum of light. A new study has revealed that many conjugated polymers, long considered structurally neutral, can spontaneously twist into chiral shapes. This surprising behavior, overlooked for decades, could pave the way for development of a new class of energy-efficient electronics inspired by nature.

The research, a collaborative project that included researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina, and Purdue University was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

“Many molecules essential to life are chiral,” said Ying Diao, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois, who led the project. “The question that has remained a really a big fascination across the field is how chiral symmetry breaking happens in the first place: that is how life selects one handedness over the other. Our work mainly focuses on the origin of chirality: why chirality spontaneously emerges in absence of any chiral sources.” 

To answer this question, the team tested 34 different conjugated polymers. Each polymer was dissolved in a solvent, then the researchers gradually increased the polymer concentration to observe whether liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) occurred. When LLPS was detected, they used circular dichroism spectroscopy to analyze the samples, revealing a strong correlation between phase separation and the emergence of chirality. The researchers refer to this phenomenon as spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.

They found that approximately two-thirds of the polymers spontaneously formed chiral structures when their concentration in the solution increased.

“That took our community by surprise, because conjugated polymers have been studied for half a century,” Diao said. “These new chiral helical states of matter have basically been hiding in plain sight.”

To understand why some of the polymers developed chirality while others did not, Illinois chemistry professor and senior co-author Nicholas E. Jackson applied machine learning to analyze molecular features across the polymer library. The analysis, later backed up by additional testing, revealed that polymers with longer molecular chains were more likely to form chiral assemblies. Unexpectedly, the researchers also found that the presence of oxygen atoms in the side chains was a strong predictor of chiral behavior.

“Machine learning uncovered hidden patterns across dozens of conjugated polymers, relating subtle chemical details to chiral phase formation,” Jackson said. “Such insights would have been very difficult to derive by human intuition alone.”

Diao noted that the discovery not only deepens our fundamental understanding of chiral emergence but also holds significant technological promise. In nature, chiral systems – such as those involved in photosynthesis – enable highly efficient electron transport. Looking ahead, Diao said that mimicking this behavior could lead to major performance gains in electronic devices and innovation of new device types.

“We are thinking about using chirality to control conductivity – for example, in transparent conductors for phones or in solar cells that could be more stable and efficient,” she said. “In our computers, electrons bounce around and heat is a big problem. But if we make chiral versions, we think charge transfer could be extremely efficient, just like in nature.”

“What’s nice about this is, this is not the end of the story,” said Georgia Institute of Technology chemistry professor John Reynolds, a senior co-author on the study. “This work provides guidance to polymer scientists in the field for studying the many, many conjugated polymers that have been synthesized over the years, and for designing new polymers with enhanced properties.”

 

This study was supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Molecule Maker Lab Institute, and the National Science Foundation. Polymers for the study were provided by Reynolds, University of North Carolina chemistry professor Wei You, University of Illinois chemistry professor Jeff Moore, and Purdue University chemistry professor Jianguo Mei.

In addition to her appointment in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Diao is a full-time faculty member at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, holds a faculty appointment with Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and is affiliated with Materials Science & Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering. In addition to his appointment in Chemistry, Jackson is a group leader at the Beckman Institute and affiliate faculty member in the departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering.

The paper, "Ubiquitous Chiral Symmetry Breaking of Conjugated Polymers via Liquid Liquid Phase Separation," is available online at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5c07995

Neuroscience experts from across Georgia Tech will soon come together for a new interdisciplinary research institute, the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS), launched in July. Faculty in INNS are helping to solve some of neuroscience’s most pressing problems, and many have promising medical applications. One important aspect of studying the brain is understanding how the brain and the body work together. Meet the researchers who study brain-body interactions, from monitoring the neuron degradation that causes Alzheimer’s to enhancing mobility for stroke survivors, in an effort to improve the health and quality of life for millions of Americans.

Read more »

The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) announced the winners of the 2025 image contest. The contest, Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom, celebrates the beauty of the micro and nanoscale.

Sites from across the NNCI contributed stunning, unique, and whimsical images of the micro and nanoscale for the 2025 image contest. The public cast over 2,100 votes to determine this year’s winners. First place winning artists will receive a hoodie with their printed image, and their sites receive a framed print of their winning image. Honorable mentions will have their sites receive a framed print of their image.

View the winners on the NNCI website.

Akanksha Menon leads the “Multifunctional materials for energy-efficient buildings: from homes to data centers” research initiative for the Institute for Matter and Systems at Georgia Tech. Her research in this role focuses on advancing the efficiency and sustainability of buildings (from homes to data centers) using a materials-to-systems approach. Menon is an assistant professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

In this brief Q&A, Menon discusses her research focus, how it relates to Matter and System’s core research focuses, and the national impact of this initiative.

What is your field of expertise and at what point in your life did you first become interested in this area? 

My expertise is in energy systems and thermal science/engineering, and I direct the Water-Energy Research Lab (WERL) at Georgia Tech. In high school I read “Storms of my Grandchildren” by climate scientist James Hansen and became aware of global warming and how we are contributing to climate change. That got me interested in the field of energy systems and sustainability — in undergrad I realized that thermodynamics forms the basis of how we use/convert energy, and that heat is the most dominant end-use of energy. Since then, I have focused my research on waste heat recovery, energy storage, and advanced separations that leverage thermally responsive materials for clean energy and water. 

What questions or challenges sparked your current research? 

I am passionate about developing technology solutions to global grand challenges, and I believe that clean energy and clean water are the two critical resources that can unlock everything else. The key challenge lies in making these technologies efficient and low-cost, and this is where functional materials and novel phase transitions can play an important role. 

Matter and systems refer to the transformational technological and societal systems that arise from the convergence of innovative materials, devices, and processes. Why is your initiative important to the development of the IMS research strategy? 

My initiative focuses on the built environment, i.e., buildings ranging from homes to data centers, and this is one of the four IMS research areas. Buildings not only consume energy and water but also must maintain thermal comfort for humans and machines (servers). This requires an integrated approach of designing multifunctional materials and hybrid systems, as well as evaluating their performance in relevant operating environments. This understanding can transform buildings into dynamic systems with optimal energy-water use. 

What are the broader global and social benefits of the research you and your team conduct? 

This research contributes directly to the sustainability, efficiency, and resiliency of buildings. This is especially timely given the boom of data centers all around us that will significantly impact our energy and water resources. 

What are your plans for engaging a wider Georgia Tech faculty pool with the Institute for Matter and Systems research?

This research requires interdisciplinary expertise – from materials scientists and thermal engineers to architects and experts in manufacturing and life cycle/technoeconomic analysis. To bring these different faculty together, I will organize a series of lunch-and-learn sessions and brainstorming meetings. Given the energy and sustainability themes, I also plan to engage with SEI and BBISS to potentially grow this initiative into a program or center in the future. The growth of data centers and energy manufacturing in Georgia, as well as our unique water resources in the Southeast make this the right time and place to pursue this initiative.

Heart failure remains one of the most challenging conditions to monitor outside the clinic. Patients may experience changes in symptoms, such as fatigue or shortness of breath, between visits, yet many current devices provide limited data, leaving physicians without continuous insight into heart function.

“Despite advances in digital health, continuous monitoring of the heart’s mechanical function has remained difficult outside clinical settings,” said Omer Inan, researcher and entrepreneur at Georgia Tech. “Patients and physicians have long needed a tool that provides deeper, real-time insights into heart performance without invasive procedures. We decided to tackle that problem head-on with a wearable device.”

Read more »

On a clear polymer chip, soft and pliable like a gummy bear, a microscopic lung comes alive — expanding, circulating, and, for the first time, protecting itself like a living organ. 

For Ankur Singh, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Immunoengineering, watching immune cells rush through the chip took his breath away. Singh co-directed the study with longtime collaborator Krishnendu “Krish” Roy, former Regents Professor and director of the NSF Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies at Tech and now the Bruce and Bridgitt Evans dean of engineering and University Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt University. Rachel Ringquist, Roy’s graduate student, and now a postdoctoral fellow with Singh, led the work as part of her doctoral dissertation. 

“That was the ‘wow’ moment,” Singh said. “It was the first time we felt we had something close to a real human lung.”

Lung-on-a-chip platforms provide researchers a window into organ behavior. They are about the size of a postage stamp, etched with tiny channels and lined with living human cells. Roy and Singh’s innovation was adding a working immune system — the missing piece that turns a chip into a true model of how the lung fights disease.

Now, researchers can watch how lungs respond to threats, how inflammation spreads, and how healing begins.
 

The Human Stakes

For millions of people struggling with lung disease, everyday life can feel nearly impossible, whether it’s climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or even laughing too hard. Doctors and scientists have attempted for decades to unlock what really happens inside fragile lungs.

"This unique lung-on-a-chip model opens new, preclinical pathways of discovery that will allow researchers to better understand the interplay of immune responses to severe viral infections and evaluate critical antiviral treatments,” said Roy.

For Singh, the Carl Ring Family Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, this research is deeply personal. He lost an uncle when an infection overwhelmed his cancer-weakened immune system.

“That experience stays with you,” Singh reflected. “It made me want to build systems that could predict and prevent outcomes like that, so fewer families go through what mine did. I think about my uncle all the time. If work like this means fewer families lose someone they love, then it’s worth everything.”

That motivation pushed his team to reimagine what a lung-on-a-chip could do, setting the stage for the breakthroughs that followed.
 

When the Lung Fought Back

The turning point came when Roy’s and Singh’s team peered through a microscope and saw something no one had ever witnessed on a chip: blood and immune cells coursing through tiny vessel-like structures, behaving just as they do in a living lung.

For years, researchers had struggled to add immunity to organ-on-a-chip systems. Immune cells often died quickly or failed to circulate and interact with tissue the way they do in people. the team solved that problem, creating a chip where immune cells could survive and coordinate a defense.

“It was an amazing breakthrough moment,” Singh said.

The true test came when the team introduced a severe influenza virus infection. The lung mounted an immune response that closely mirrored what doctors see in patients. Immune cells rushed to the site of infection, inflammation spread through tissue, and defenses activated in response.

“That was when we realized this wasn’t just a model,” Singh said. “It was capturing the real biology of disease.”

Singh and Roy’s research is published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
 

A More Human Approach

For decades, lung research has relied on animal models. But mice don’t get asthma like children. Their bodies don’t mount the same defenses.

“Five mice in a cage may respond the same way, but five humans won’t,” Singh explained. “Our chip can reflect that difference. That’s what makes it more accurate, and why it could dramatically reduce the need for animal models.”

Krish Roy emphasized its potential.

“The Food and Drug Administration’s strategic vision on reducing animal testing and developing predictive non-animal models aligns perfectly with our work. This device goes further than ever before in modeling human severe influenza and providing unprecedented insights into the complex lung immune response,” he said.

Fighting More Than the Flu

What began with influenza now expands to a wider range of diseases. Roy and Singh believes the platform can be used to study asthma, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, and tuberculosis. The researchers are also working to integrate immune organs, showing how the lung coordinates with the body’s defenses.

The long-term vision is personalized medicine: chips built from a patient’s own cells to predict which therapy will work best. Scaling, clinical validation, and regulatory approval will take years, but Singh is undeterred.

“Imagine knowing which treatment will help you before you ever take it,” Singh said. “That’s where we’re headed.”

Where we’re headed, the future doesn’t wait for illness. Instead, it anticipates it, intercepts it, and rewrites the outcome.

 

Georgia Tech postdoctoral researcher Rachel Ringquist was the first author leading the study.

This research was supported by Wellcome Leap, with additional funding from the National Institutes of Health, Carl Ring Family Endowment, and the Marcus Foundation.

Ringquist, R., Bhatia, E., Chatterjee, P. et al. An immune-competent lung-on-a-chip for modelling the human severe influenza infection response. Nature Biomedical Engineering, September 2025 Vol.9 No.9

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01491-9

Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Professor Muhannad Bakir has been named the inaugural GlobalFoundries Termed Chair in Packaging and 3D Heterogeneous Integration.

The position was established in the spring of 2025 to be awarded to a distinguished ECE faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research and teaching in the areas of chiplet-based integrated circuit (IC) systems, 2.5D, and 3D IC technologies.

“I am grateful to GlobalFoundries for establishing this chair position in ECE, and honored to be the inaugural recipient,” Bakir said. “Advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration are a key differentiator and driver of innovation in virtually all leading-edge electronic systems from handheld devices to data centers powering AI. ECE’s partnership with GlobalFoundries will position the School for many unique research and educational programs development to support 2.5D and 3D technologies.”

3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI) is a cutting-edge technology that merges various ICs and components, including processors, memory, sensors, and RF modules, into one 3D package.

Bakir is currently the Dan Fielder Professor in ECE and the director of the 3D Systems Packaging Research Center supported by the Institute for Matter and Systems, where he oversees an interdisciplinary approach to electronic packaging research.

Read the full article