Research

Wyatt Shields receives Grubstake Award to advance treatment toward clinical use

Susan Glairon — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 21:06:34 +0000

Wyatt Shields receives Grubstake Award to advance treatment toward clinical use Susan Glairon Thu, 01/22/2026 - 14:06

Assistant Professor Wyatt Shields

High-grade serous carcinoma is the deadliest form of ovarian cancer, and while a drug called olaparib can help prevent the cancer from returning, it often causes serious side effects. To address this challenge, Wyatt Shields, assistant professor in �� Boulder’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Benjamin Bitler, associate professor in the �� Anschutz Division of Reproductive Sciences and �� PhD Student Courtney Bailey have developed a new way to deliver the drug more safely. Their approach uses tiny, biodegradable particles carried by immune cells to deliver treatment directly to tumors, helping reduce harmful effects on the rest of the body. Funding totaling $300,000 from the Gates Institute at University of Colorado Anschutz, in partnership with �� Anschutz Innovations, will support the next steps to move this technology closer to clinical use.

Read more at University of Colorado Anschutz News...

Assistant Professor Wyatt Shields along with other researchers have developed a safer, targeted way to deliver an ovarian cancer drug using immune cell–carried particles, supported by $300,000 in Gates Institute funding to advance it toward clinical use.

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Chemical and Biological Engineering welcomes two new faculty

Susan Glairon — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:53:05 +0000

Chemical and Biological Engineering welcomes two new faculty Susan Glairon Tue, 01/20/2026 - 11:53

Susan Glairon

Meet the department's newest faculty, Assistant Professors Cody Ritt and Antonio Del Rio Flores.

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Researchers create shape-shifting, self-navigating microparticles

Susan Glairon — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 21:17:52 +0000

Researchers create shape-shifting, self-navigating microparticles Susan Glairon Wed, 01/14/2026 - 14:17

�� researchers have created shape-shifting microparticles that change their shape in response to environmental factors for self-directed propulsion and navigation.

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Scientists use ultrasound to soften and treat cancer tumors without damaging healthy tissue

Susan Glairon — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:42:18 +0000

Scientists use ultrasound to soften and treat cancer tumors without damaging healthy tissue Susan Glairon Wed, 12/10/2025 - 09:42

A �� Boulder team has invented a sound-wave technique that softens dense tumors so chemotherapy can penetrate more deeply. The discovery could boost treatment effectiveness and make cancer therapies safer for patients.

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New lightweight polymer film can prevent corrosion

Susan Glairon — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:19:38 +0000

New lightweight polymer film can prevent corrosion Susan Glairon Wed, 11/12/2025 - 11:19

Cody Ritt, an MIT postdoctoral researcher who will join �� Boulder's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering as an assistant professor in January, is one of the lead authors of a paper recently published in the journal Nature.

In the study, researchers developed a polymer coating that is nearly impermeable to gases, which could help prevent corrosion in solar panels and slow the aging of packaged food and medicines.

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In the study recently published in the journal Nature, researchers developed a polymer coating that is nearly impermeable to gases, which could help prevent corrosion in solar panels and slow the aging of packaged food and medicines.

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Electric fields steered nanoparticles through a liquid-filled maze – this new method could improve drug delivery and purification systems

Susan Glairon — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 15:24:17 +0000

Electric fields steered nanoparticles through a liquid-filled maze – this new method could improve drug delivery and purification systems Susan Glairon Wed, 11/12/2025 - 08:24

A new �� Boulder study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals how electric fields control nanoparticle movement through porous materials, enabling independent control of speed and direction. This finding could advance nanorobot technologies for applications like tumor detection, drug delivery and environmental cleanup of toxic chemicals.

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Shields Lab and SPUR student team up to advance microrobot drug delivery

Susan Glairon — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:46:07 +0000

Shields Lab and SPUR student team up to advance microrobot drug delivery Susan Glairon Fri, 10/03/2025 - 14:46

SPUR student Joshua Smith joined researchers in the Shields Lab to develop microrobots that actively deliver drugs to the lungs—an innovative approach that could transform treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

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Scientists develop method to build tiny custom microrobots

Susan Glairon — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 23:04:14 +0000

Scientists develop method to build tiny custom microrobots Susan Glairon Mon, 07/07/2025 - 17:04

Photo caption: Stencil printed with a ��-shaped cutout for controllably depositing metal onto the particle that is underneath

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research.

The study, published in Nature Communications, describes a new method of fabrication that combines high-precision 3D printing, called two-photon lithography, with a microstenciling technique. The team prints both the particle and its stencil together, then deposits a thin layer of metal, such as gold, platinum or cobalt through the stencil’s openings. When the stencil is removed, a metal patch remains on the particle.

Kendra Kreienbrink , a materials science and engineering
PhD student in the Shields Lab, is the paper's first author.

The particles, invisible to the naked eye, can be made in almost any shape and patterned with surface patches as small as 0.2 microns — more than 500 times thinner than a human hair. The metal patches guide how the particles move when exposed to electric or magnetic fields, or chemical gradients.

“The shape of surface patches gives particles information about where to go,” said Assistant Professor Wyatt Shields, one of the paper’s authors. “We've not had good methods to control the shape of those patches until now.”

With this control, these particles could potentially help improve how drugs spread through human organs, improving the drug’s overall effectiveness, or aid in the removal of pollutants from contaminated environments.

The research team includes first author Kendra Kreienbrink, a materials science and engineering PhD student in the Shields Lab, along with two undergraduate students: Zoe Cruse, majoring in chemical and biological engineering and computer science, and Alisha Kumari, in biomedical engineering.

“This paper not only represents the exciting things that can be accomplished in active particles and microrobots using non-conventional microfabrication,” Shields said, “but that the inclusion and mentorship of undergrads early in research can lead to innovative outcomes.”

The tiny particles could potentially help enhance drug distribution in human organs, improving the drug’s overall effectiveness, or aid in removing pollutants from contaminated environments.

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Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials

Susan Glairon — Fri, 30 May 2025 14:15:43 +0000

Advancing super strong and lightweight next generation carbon-based materials Susan Glairon Fri, 05/30/2025 - 08:15

Jeff Zehnder

Materials researchers are getting a big boost from a new database created by a team of researchers led by Professor Hendrik Heinz. The initiative, now available online to all researchers, is a database containing over 2,000 carbon nanotube stress-strain curves and failure properties.

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Ocean microbes offer clues to environmental resilience

Susan Glairon — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:33:39 +0000

Ocean microbes offer clues to environmental resilience Susan Glairon Fri, 05/16/2025 - 08:33

Susan Glairon

A guide RNA strand, in purple, guides CRISPR to a DNA strand. Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Andrew Hren, PhD student

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new way to identify genetic changes that help tiny oxygen-producing microbes survive in extreme environments. The findings outline a new experimental approach for learning how microbes and other types of cells, including human cells, respond and adapt to environmental stress.

Their research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will also help scientists engineer faster-growing synthetic strains of microbes that could be used to develop new bio-derived fuels, chemicals and materials.

The multidisciplinary group of engineers and biochemists used a gene silencing system called CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) to turn down the activity of every gene in the genome of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, an ocean-dwelling cyanobacteria species. Cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, much like plants.

“Because these organisms produce a large share of the Earth's oxygen, understanding how they respond to a changing climate is critical,” said Andrew Hren, a PhD student in the Fox Group and the paper’s first author.

The team explored how cyanobacteria responded to different light and temperature conditions found at various ocean depths. They discovered that making small changes in how certain genes are turned on or off can help the cells adapt better to extreme environmental conditions like heat, cold or drought.

Associate Professor Jerome Fox

"Our work shows how small genetic changes can yield large improvements in fitness when we push microbes to the edge of their comfort zone,” said Jerome Fox, an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder and a co-lead author on the study with Carrie Eckert at ORNL, a former senior scientist fellow in the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI). “Our findings also highlight the value of using CRISPRi to turn the activity of genes down, but not off, as intermediate adjustments tended to provide the greatest survival advantage in extreme conditions.”

The work was inspired by the late Jeff Cameron, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and fellow at RASEI, Fox said.

“Jeff’s enthusiasm for cyanobacteria was infectious,” Fox added “He taught us everything we know and served as a critical resource on experimental design.”

The researchers plan to continue studying cyanobacteria to further understand how the microbes absorb light and convert it into energy to develop new technologies—such as engineered microbes that produce renewable chemicals and other useful products.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method to identify genetic changes that help oxygen-producing microbes survive in extreme environments.

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