Innovation & Research

The immune system
In a collaborative study, Pitt researchers discovered that global sepsis deaths are twice as high as previously believed. Most of the cases occur in children in poor areas.
Meital Rosenberg
With support from an Honors College alumnus and political science professor, Meital Rosenberg (A&S ’17) recently earned first-author credit in Nature Sustainability for her undergraduate research on gender dynamics and electricity access in India.
Conell in a burgundy jacket and cream-colored blouse in front of a large painting
Using digital analyses, PhD candidate Sarah Reiff Conell examines cults in medieval Europe, sculptors working for French royalty and, in a first, collections at the National Gallery of Art. Her work could help museums display more diverse works of art.
Andrea La Nauze
For every 1,000 solar panels installed in Australian neighborhoods, seven percent of the neighbors will switch from skepticism to belief in climate change, a recent study by Assistant Professor of Economics Andrea La Nauze found.
JoAnne Flynn
As part of the global push to prevent tuberculosis, Distinguished Professor JoAnne Flynn and a group of Pitt and National Institutes of Health researchers have discovered that intravenously injecting the standard tuberculosis vaccine could boost its power.
Illustration in blue and black duotone of young boy in wearing leg braces and using crutches
 In "Polio Pioneers," the latest episode of Pitt Medcast, the audience will hear from people who grew up in the shadow of a crippling disease—among them, schoolkids from the clinical trials of Jonas Salk’s killed-virus polio vaccine. Their accounts tell the story of how ordinary people helped win the struggle against one of the most crippling diseases in history.  
Researchers from the Swanson School of Engineering and the Learning Research and Development Center discuss the promises and challenges that lie ahead for artificial intelligence.
a sketch of the backpack in stretcher mode, with a person/dummy lying on it
A multidisciplinary team led by Ron Poropatich is working on a specialized medical backpack for the U.S. Army that could help injured patients in the field survive until they reach a fully staffed hospital.
Portrait of Tagbo Niepa, wearing safety glasses, with lab equipment on shelves in background
Tagbo Niepa of the Swanson School of Engineering researched a process that would send a weak electrical current through an implant, such as a dental implant used in his study. The current does not harm the patient or healthy tissue surrounding the implant, but is shown to weaken bacteria and other microorganisms to the point that antibiotics would eradicate them with ease.
Dennis Stark, in light blue Pitt T-shirt sitting in a plaid yellow armchair, placing pills into a pill counter placed on a white table. A prescription pill bottle is on the table.
The goal of the new center is to use the best in modern medical research to improve the care, health and quality of life of all persons with disabilities and the families and caregivers who support them.