Laura Castañón - News @ Northeastern

They want to reveal the chemistry of every enzyme ever

Using a combination of computational predictions and experimental testing, Northeastern researchers are trying to predict the function of an enzyme by looking at the individual amino acids that make up its structure.

by Laura Castañón August 20, 2019

AirDrop is making your iPhone vulnerable to attackers

A team of researchers from Northeastern University and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany have uncovered a series of flaws that make Apple’s AirDrop and similar services vulnerable to attack. The researchers found design flaws and implementation bugs that would allow an attacker to crash devices, track users, and intercept files.

by Laura Castañón August 19, 2019

In this photo taken Wednesday, May 30, 2018, a healthcare worker from the World Health Organization prepares vaccines to give to front line aid workers, in Mbandaka, Congo. For the first time since the Ebola virus was identified more than 40 years ago, a vaccine has been dispatched to front line health workers in an attempt to combat the epidemic from the onset. AP Photo/Sam Mednick

Can the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo be stopped?

The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a year. The use of disease-forecasting models and distribution of an experimental vaccine have helped, but civil unrest in the area makes containing the outbreak a challenge.

by Laura Castañón August 14, 2019

Sarah Ostadabbas, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and doctoral student Shuangjun Liu use a manikin to test their camera setup. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

They know how you’ve been sleeping

The positions we take in our sleep can have implications for our health, including affecting the symptoms of conditions like sleep apnea or carpal tunnel syndrome. Sarah Ostadabbas, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern, and her team built a data set of sleeping positions and used it to train algorithms to recognize and identify the pose of a sleeping person.

by Laura Castañón August 8, 2019

They’re ensuring that quality medication gets to the patients who need it

Northeastern’s Biopharmaceutical Analysis Training Laboratory, which trains individuals in manufacturing and regulating drugs, has received a $4.3 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Science Center. The laboratory will open a new facility this September.

by Laura Castañón August 8, 2019

Why do hormones affect a woman’s ability to recover from PTSD?

Rebecca Shansky, an associate professor of psychology at Northeastern, is trying to understand the connection between the amount of an estrogen hormone in a woman’s system and her ability to respond to treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder by mapping the brain signals of female rats. She hopes her findings will lead to more effective treatments for women.

by Laura Castañón July 25, 2019

This salamander can regenerate limbs like Deadpool. Can it teach us to do the same?

Scientists are studying how the axolotl can regrow injured or lost body parts flawlessly, and without scarring, to see if humans could develop the same regenerative ability.

by Laura Castañón July 22, 2019

Here’s hope for those who hate the wait at the security line in airports

For many people, the worst part of air travel is the security line at the airport. Researchers at Northeastern are working to build a system that could keep travelers moving and cut down on those long wait times.

by Laura Castañón July 17, 2019

They know what astronauts are going to need once we put them on Mars

A drill to extract frozen water from beneath the planet’s surface. A rover to accompany astronauts as they work. The Northeastern students who designed and built this technology will be showing off their work at Boston’s Museum of Science this weekend.

by Laura Castañón July 15, 2019

Northeastern joins with universities from US, UK, and Japan to tackle international cybersecurity challenges

The International Cybersecurity Center of Excellence will serve as a hub for international cybersecurity research, advocacy, and education. Its members will help governments to develop global cybersecurity standards, conduct research to stay ahead of evolving threats, and train students to handle cybersecurity threats in the future.

by Laura Castañón July 11, 2019

Posts by Laura Castañón