Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
April 30, 2025 April 30, 2025 | Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896

Science & Technology

NATIONAL HUMAN GENOME RESEARCH INSTITUTE / PDM 1.0 New bioinformatics software allows researchers to investigate vertebrate genomes in an efficient, organizable and accessible way. 

Insights across species: Mapping the genomes of vertebrates

By SHREYA TIWARI | February 18, 2024

Michael Schatz, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of the Department of Computer Science, collaborated with the Pennsylvania State University, Rockefeller University and various other institutions to increase the efficiency of whole genome assembly. They developed a pipeline, a software that automates critical processes for genome assembly. It is now publicly available on Galaxy, a hub for publicly storing large datasets and software for data analysis. 

JAMIE MCGARRY / CC0 1.0  Dr. Christopher Sogge, the current editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Mathematics, shared his experience working for the oldest journal published at the Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Most historical academic journal in mathematics started and continues at Hopkins

By VICKY ZHU | February 7, 2024

The Johns Hopkins University Press, established in 1878, is the oldest university press in the United States. It publishes academic journals and books, both online and in print, and advocates for the accessible distribution of various mediums of knowledge. The American Journal of Mathematics, the most historical mathematics journal in the Western Hemisphere, was founded and started publishing in the same year as the establishment of the press.

JEFF PANG / CC BY 2.0  By harnessing cloud computing methods, Berke has turned existing data sets into new results.

Seth Berke transforms genomics research through cloud computing

By ZACHARY BAHAR | February 6, 2024

Recent graduate Seth Berke didn’t expect to leave Hopkins interested in pursuing a research career but, after using cloud computing methods to analyze genomic data, that’s exactly what’s happened. Berke works with biostatistician Ingo Ruczinski where he develops more efficient methods of employing and gaining insight from preexisting data sets.

COURTESY OF SAIKAT DAN Dan discusses his research into computational mechanics in an interview with The News-Letter.

The “realness” of computer simulation: A conversation with Saikat Dan

By ANNIE HUANG | February 4, 2024

Saikat Dan is a research fellow affiliated with the Computational Mechanics Research Laboratory (CMRL) and is advised by Somnath Ghosh in the Civil Engineering Department. As a PhD student this past fall, he taught a HEART course titled Computer Simulations: How Real are They? in which he gave a high-level overview of the field as well as applications of his research.

Courtesy of Robert Johnston The Johnston Lab employed organoids to establish a relationship between red/green cone development and retinoic acid.

Hopkins lab uncovers mechanism behind cone cell development

By ZACHARY BAHAR | February 4, 2024

A recent paper published by a joint team of researchers from Hopkins and the University of Washington, Seattle used retinal cell organoids to establish that the human red and green cone cell development is regulated by retinoic acid. The paper, titled Retinoic acid signaling regulates spatiotemporal specification of human green and red cones, was published in PLOS Biology on Jan. 11, 2024.

NIH Image Gallery / CC BY-NC 2.0 In mice exposed to chronic stress, bacteria Lactobacillus in the gut microbiome reduces the differentiation of intestinal stem cells to intestinal epithelial cells with protective functions.

Science news in review: Jan. 28

By VICKY ZHU | January 28, 2024

A new semester has begun as we returned to a snowy campus. This week’s science news reveals exciting new insights that can help transition our mindset from vacation to school.

JD HANCOCK / CC BY 2.0 DEED A recent paper presented a novel spinal stimulator more efficient than traditional methods, like the one shown above.

Hopkins team develops new spinal stimulator

By RITWIK RAJ | January 22, 2024

In a giant stride toward restoring mobility to those grappling with lower limb paralysis, Hopkins scientists have unveiled promising research on a novel spinal stimulator that could potentially transform the lives of approximately the lives of 1.5 million Americans affected by paralysis due to spinal cord injuries.

NASA JOHNSON / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 A former APL scientist, Koch shared her journey to the ISS.

Astronaut Christina Koch discusses career at APL

By TARINI BASIREDDY | December 12, 2023

On Friday, Dec. 1, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) hosted a colloquium presentation featuring astronaut Christina Koch. The talk, titled “Human Spaceflight: A Mission to the International Space Station,” discussed Koch’s journey to becoming an astronaut and life in space.

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE / CC BY-SA 2.0 Lee shared his view on defining biological and artificial intelligence and its implications for AI development and regulation. 

Defining intelligence: A talk with Daeyeol Lee

By ARANTZA GARCIA | December 6, 2023

On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the student-led Artificial Intelligence Society at Johns Hopkins (HopAI) invited Daeyeol Lee, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychological Brain Sciences, to share his views on biological and artificial intelligence (AI). At the talk, Lee explored how intelligence manifests itself across biological boundaries and how the definition of intelligence can help developers and users gain a deeper understanding of AI.

LIZ WEST / CC BY 2.0 Yang discussed her work on MRI contrast agents used to detect cancers in a Nov. 29 lecture.

Jenny Yang improves methods to detect cancer progression

By TARINI BASIREDDY | December 6, 2023

On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the In-vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC) hosted a seminar featuring Regents' Professor of Chemistry at Georgia State University Jenny Yang. The talk, titled “Noninvasive Precision Imaging of Microenvironment of Cancer and Metastasis,” discussed biochemical approaches to improving magnetic resonance imaging of cancers.

DEFENSE VISUAL INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION SERVICE / PUBLIC DOMAIN Parallel Learning seeks to transform special education with virtual classroom spaces.

Diana Heldfond offers techniques to improve special education

By MOE FRUMKIN | December 5, 2023

While many first graders eagerly jump into reading, this was not the case for Parallel Learning CEO and Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Education Entrepreneur Diana Heldfond, who spoke in a Nov. 30 installment of the Leading Change: Perspectives from Outside of Medicine talk series titled "Neurodiversity and Leadership." 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / CC BY 2.0 The viral strain of new cases in the recent monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is sexually transmissible. 

Science news in review: Dec. 3

By VICKY ZHU | December 3, 2023

As we are approaching finals season, let’s take some time to acknowledge the hard work of scientists around the world and learn from their commitment to their work. This week’s science news covers new insights into the monkeypox virus in Congo, robots made of human cells, archaeological preservation in Ukraine and an AI-robot that can predict and synthesize new materials.

COURTESY OF YUCHEN YANG Yang discusses the exploitation of AI safety systems in a conversation with The News-Letter.

SneakyPrompt: Revealing the vulnerabilities of text-to-image AI

By ANNIE HUANG | December 3, 2023

In the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI), understanding and improving AI security is increasingly crucial. Yuchen Yang, a third-year doctoral student advised by Yinzhi Cao, employed an automated attack framework to reveal the vulnerabilities in text-to-image generative models such as DALL·E 3 and Stable Diffusion. The paper, “SneakyPrompt: Evaluating Robustness of Text-to-image Generative Models' Safety Filters,” formerly titled “SneakyPrompt: Jailbreaking Text-to-image Generative Models,“ will be presented at the 45th Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Symposium on Security and Privacy.

KATHERINE E. WARREN / CC BY 3.0 MRI images of a brain affected by diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an aggressive pediatric brain cancer and a focus of Craig-Schwartz’s research as an undergraduate at Hopkins.

Everything downstream: Reflections on two years of cancer research

By SHIRLENE JOHN | November 15, 2023

Craig-Schwartz works in a pediatric oncology lab under Dr. Michael Koldobskiy, whose research focuses on diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive and fatal form of brain cancer that occurs almost exclusively in children. The lab is currently working on developing new drugs to combat the tumor as well as studying the epigenetic mechanisms of how the development of the tumor is regulated. 

RAWPIXEL.COM / CC0 1.0 Peng Jiang from the Cancer Data Science Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute shared three computational models that can advance studies in cancer research. 

Peng Jiang shares the role of computational models in studying cancer

By SHREYA TIWARI | November 14, 2023

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, Peng Jiang, a Stadtman investigator for the Cancer Data Science Laboratory, held a talk discussing the role of big data approaches in studying intercellular signaling — specifically, how cancers evade immune system function in humans. The talk was titled “Big Data Approaches to Study Intercellular Signaling During Tumor Immune Evasion” and was hosted by the Institute for Computational Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Hopkins. 

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