Innovation and Research

Peter Salk was 11 years old when a University of Pittsburgh team led by his father, the late Jonas Salk, created the inactivated poliovirus vaccine. Today, at 76, he’s back in the spotlight as researchers around the world race to develop new vaccines to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Americans continue to social distance, conditions such as seasonal affective disorder could make winter especially hard, says psychology’s Kathryn Roecklein. Read about her work and her tips for taking care of yourself.

“Burden of Genius,” a documentary that came to life in Carl Kurlander’s classroom, will receive the Donate Life Hollywood Inspire Award tonight.

In addition to his research on policy and wheelchair access, Mark Schmeler recently joined the City-County Task Force on Disability to study unconscious bias toward people with disabilities.

With the help of an influential professor, Blake Dubé’s (ENGR ’17) portable oxygen company won several innovation competitions at Pitt and has now spun into a new market: helping pets.

In some patients with HIV who take medication, the virus still shows up in their blood. A study led by John Mellors has found “repliclones”—large clones of HIV-infected cells that produce infectious virus particles—are to blame.

A team of undergraduate students and faculty members is using techniques from engineering to provide a picture of how well students are complying with safety standards on the Pittsburgh campus.

A team led by Madhu Choudhary has joined a national trial testing therapies to keep COVID-19 patients out of the hospital. Funded through Operation Warp Speed, it is one of a handful of new trials at Pitt.

On World Heart Day, learn about how radiology’s Darshit Thakrar creates 3D models of children’s hearts and other organs to help surgeons better picture their procedures.

A new study co-led by Ivet Bahar uses computational modeling to address a mystery first raised in March: Why do some people with COVID-19 develop severe inflammation?