Rice Neuroengineering Initiative

Congratulations to @riceneuro.bsky.social investigator Jerzy Szablowski on this well-deserved recognition from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation!

See the full press release from Rice News: bit.ly/4awPTvW

Congratulations to awardees, @jerzyszablowski.bsky.social Christina Tringides, Kevin McHugh, and Juliane Sempionatto!
Looking forward to seeing how these collaborative grants with our partners in the Texas Medical Center #TMC build new directions for research in brain health.

bit.ly/4aX3bni

Read more in today's Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

The mechanisms by which reward-based behaviors are learned are poorly understood. Using Voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging, researchers at @riceneuro.bsky.social and @uthealthhouston.bsky.social have found that an extensive neuronal network may be involved in longer-term reward-based learning.

Congratulations to @riceneuro.bsky.social Christina Tringides, who has received "The Distinguished Scientist Award" by the Sontag Foundation for her work with hydrogel implants designed to enhance clinicians' ability to monitor and treat #glioblastoma🎖️

Read More: bit.ly/4rBjeNh

How can serum marker tests be made more sensitive? The lab of @jerzyszablowski.bsky.social shows that editing markers in vivo to reduce their half-life can provide more sensitive measurement of gene expression dynamics. Read more:

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Divergent prefrontal cortex circuits regulate cued food seeking under distinct metabolic or emotional states - Nature Communications The rat prefrontal cortex has been implicated in cued food-seeking behaviour. Here, the authors identify two parallel prefrontal pathways: one that suppresses food seeking during potential threat...

Utilizing microendoscopic imaging, a team of core and affiliate faculty from @riceneuro.bsky.social has published their work in @nature.com, which illuminates the neural mechanisms that modulate certain aspects of cued food-seeking behavior in animals.

Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@riceuniversity.bsky.social launched the Amyloid Research Center today, led by biophysicist Pernilla Wittung. A fantastic and important addition to the continued expansion of neuro-research on our campus!

news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...

Big news coming out of Rice University. The Rice Brain Institute has launched to foster new collaborative research on our campus! A new era of research in brain health that links Biosciences, Engineering, Social Science, with Government Policy.
bit.ly/4oAE6C0

Is Psychiatry Ready for Closed-Loop Invasive Neuromodulation? This Viewpoint discusses closed-loop invasive neuromodulation treatment for neurological or psychiatric disorders resistant to conventional therapy.

Read more (subscription required) jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

In this month's @jamapsychiatry.com Rice NEI faculty members @sameershethmd.bsky.social and Wayne Goodman examine the recent approval of adaptive #DBS for Parkinson's and whether closed-loop neuromodulation strategies are ready for clinical practice in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Is Psychiatry Ready for Closed-Loop Invasive Neuromodulation? This Viewpoint discusses closed-loop invasive neuromodulation treatment for neurological or psychiatric disorders resistant to conventional therapy.

Read more (subsription required) jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Cool work coming out of Mechanical Engineering here at Rice that could advance medical engineering news.rice.edu/news/2025/ri...

This work provides insights into CSF flow patterns that may play a role in brain waste clearance and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms as we age, paving the way for improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Read more: pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10....

Researchers from the joint @riceneuro.bsky.social and Houston Methodist Center for Neural Systems Restoration recently developed an approach to noninvasively measure CSF dynamics along blood vessels using advanced MRI and image processing techniques.

Traditional implantable devices with more electrodes also entail more wires and invasive surgeries. A new system from Robinson Lab offers a distributed network where implants are individually programmable and respond to unique digital instructions from a single transmitter.
bit.ly/4pTHIAS

A wonderful write-up in the Fall Rice Research Review outlining a few of our initiatives' ongoing projects in the areas of neural recording, synthetic serum biomarkers, and other brain research from the NEI and across campus.

Read more: bit.ly/4gMWrsQ

Marcia O’Malley and Jeffrey Tabor elected Fellows of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering | George R. Brown School of Engineering | Rice University

Congratulations to Dr. Marcia O'Malley on this lifetime achievement!

engineering.rice.edu/news/marcia-...

This week's Engineering Minds Seminar welcomes Dr. Nanshu Lu from the @cockrellschool.bsky.social . Dr. Lu will present her lab's work developing a breakthrough e-tattoo technology that leverages automated, on-scalp non-contact printing of PEDOT: PSS-based conductive inks.

Our seminar speaker tomorrow, Dr. Seth Hays from UTDallas Bioengineering, will talk about his work with closed-loop #vagus nerve stimulation and discuss the ongoing efforts to develop and optimize a next-generation #CLV system.

Tomorrow, Dr. Bozhi Tian will discuss how his lab is expanding the frontier of electrophysiological modulation and biosensing. We look forward to his visit and discussions with our faculty and students!

Congratulations @riceneuro.bsky.social member Jessica Butts, who was funded by @apdaparkinsons.bsky.social to use
a new model that identifies and characterizes neurons in a part of the brainstem vulnerable to PD progression called the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg).
More: bit.ly/488vXjf

More funding news last month includes a collaborative grant between Chong Xie and Lan Luan from @riceneuro.bsky.social and Samuel Pfaff from @salkinstitute.bsky.social on a $750K grant, "Recording Spinal Neural Activity Across Genetic Classes During Hindlimb Motor Behaviors." 🎉

Congratulations @nicoleprovenza.bsky.social from
@bcmneurosurgery.bsky.social and @riceneuro.bsky.social
who is the recipient of a $3.7m R01 award from NIH/NIMH for her project, "Neurophysiological investigation of the approach-avoidance axis in OCD: applications to neuromodulation."🎉

@riceneuro.bsky.social researcher Jacob Robinson @jacobrobinson.bsky.social and his team are developing next-gen wireless miniature bioelectric implants that are opening doors to new treatments for a multitude of chronic conditions. Read more about their recently published work here: bit.ly/45VfTi5

Temporal coding carries more stable cortical visual representations than firing rate over time - Nature Communications Whether temporal code and rate code have different rates of representational drift over extended periods is not fully understood. Using ultraflexible electrodes, here authors show that temporal codes ...

Understanding visual representations and their longitudinal stability requires neuronal recording at multiple scales. Results published in Nature Communications indicate that temporal coding may be essential in ensuring consistent sensory experiences over time. Read more: bit.ly/3HPe7aq

Material considerations for delivering therapeutics across the blood–brain barrier Therapeutic drug delivery across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) has been a challenging feat for centuries. The intricate nature of the BBB is protected by multip

@riceneuro.bsky.social Researchers Christina Tringides and Ava Zoba have published a recent review in APL Materials discussing materials advances for therapies that are trying to address the complex challenges presented by the blood-brain barrier. Read more: pubs.aip.org/aip/apm/arti...

@riceneuro.bsky.social will again host a Neuro section at #GCURS 2025 here at Rice University. Undergraduate research in all fields of neuroengineering and neuroscience are welcome to apply. Christina Tringides, Scott Keene, David Lipshutz, Nishal Shah will be our 2025 faculty mentors.

Towards precise synthetic neural codes: high-dimensional stimulation with flexible electrodes - npj Flexible Electronics npj Flexible Electronics - Towards precise synthetic neural codes: high-dimensional stimulation with flexible electrodes

A new npj Flexible Electronics Perspective is out this month from Luan and Xie Labs at @riceneuro.bsky.social. It explores high-dimensional neural stimulation using flexible microelectrode arrays, supported by cortical simulations, to guide next-gen brain-machine interfaces.

bit.ly/3U9wlWH

New and junior researchers at Rice University and TX Medical Center affiliates are invited to register for our Fall NeuroNetworking event next month! It is a great opportunity to make new contacts in the fields of brain research and pitch your own lab's interests.