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New-Scale Biology: Massive Datasets Are Aiding the Fight Against Superbugs 

Knight Campus research could help build large biological datasets needed for machine learning to predict and prevent cancer, diseases, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria before they emerge.

Artificial intelligence relies on machine learning algorithms trained on massive datasets to make predictions — think of how ChatGPT learned language by gorging on the internet. In biology, however, scientists face a frustrating challenge — the high-quality datasets needed to train powerful artificial intelligence models are rare. Without these datasets, we can't harness machine learning to tackle our most pressing health challenges.

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A recording of the Winter 2026 Robert Family Entrepreneurship Speaker Series with Michael J. Weickert, held on Feb. 19, 2026, is now live on YouTube

The Industry, Innovation and Translation team in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation recently hosted the first Golden Egg awards to honor university innovators. Knight Campus members were recognized for the being National Academy of Inventors fellows and patent holders. 

Two bioengineers from the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact have been elected to leadership positions in the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), a group dedicated to advancing tissue engineering and regenerative medicine worldwide to improve patient outcomes globally.

The Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering is fast becoming an irresistible destination for high-performing faculty and students. Read more about all of the ways we are pushing the boundaries of discovery, innovation, and impact in the BioE Annual Report 2025.

MKS Instruments has renewed its commitment to student success with a five-year pledge to the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program’s (KCGIP) Inclusion Initiative

Get to know one of our newest hires! Therapeutic ultrasound engineer Sara Keller joined the department in January 2026, bringing new techniques and applications for image-guided therapeutic ultrasound.

Get to know one of our newest hires! Nanomaterial immunoengineer  David Peeler joined the department in January 2026, bringing research with the potential to improve antimicrobials, immunotherapies and vaccines.

The iGEM team based in the Knight Campus is seeking undergraduate students and mentors for their 2026 synthetic-biology related project. iGEM is an organization that hosts a yearly synthetic biology competition between student-led teams from around the world. Apply by January 18th!

New research from the Plesa lab offers a tool for scientists to find exact DNA sequences from large libraries in a fraction of the time.

Knight Campus graduate students Anissa Benabbas (Plesa Lab) and Malvika Singhal (Hettiaratchi Lab) took first place in the Science Coalition Student Video Challenge.