Duke Science and Technology | Duke University School of Medicine

A Bold New Effort Aims to Harness the Mechanisms of Resilience

Duke University in 2019 initiated a university-wide effort to elevate and sustain excellence in the sciences with new funding for research, recruitment of nationally recognized scholars, and retainment of highly regarded scientific leaders at Duke. Launched with a $100 million investment from The Duke Endowment — divided equally between the university and the School of Medicine — Duke Science and Technology (DST) positions Duke to maximize the potential of revolutionary advances in fields such as genomics, data science, and artificial intelligence.

The effort focuses on three broad thematic pillars: Resilience: Fortifying the Body and Brain, which seeks to harness the body’s intrinsic mechanisms to fight disease; Computing, involving fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning; and Materials Science, which seeks to engineer new materials to solve challenges in disparate fields.

School of Medicine researchers are leading in efforts to advance the Body and Brain Resilience pillar, focusing on four broad areas where Duke has significant strengths: brain, cancer, immunology, and viruses. Seven DST Scholars have been recruited as faculty in the School of Medicine.

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School of Medicine DST News and Videos

Why Some Cancers Become Resistant to Therapy

older woman at a table with a handheld standing on it.

Could AI-powered Robot “Companions” Combat Human Loneliness?

July 13, 2023

Companion robots may help socially isolated people avoid the health risks of being alone.

DNA Element With a Murky Past Is Borrowing Cell’s Repair Machinery, S&T Scholar finds

July 13, 2023

Circular DNA, thought to be an accidental byproduct, is borrowing the cell’s DNA repair mechanisms to copy itself.

First Presidential Distinguished Chair Named in Honor of Chancellor Washington, Awarded to Dzirasa

June 15, 2023

Presidential Distinguished Chairs are a new class of endowed professorships, created to maximize the university’s ability to recruit and retain exceptional faculty in a wide range of disciplines, including those aligned with the Duke Science and Technology (DST) initiative.

Chantell Evans Named a HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar

May 9, 2023

Chantell Evans is one of 31 inaugural recipients of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Freeman Hrabowsky Scholarships, a new award of up to $8.6M over 10 years for outstanding early career faculty dedicated to EDI.

New DST Scholar Named to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

April 19, 2023

Amy S. Gladfelter, PhD, joined the School of Medicine faculty on April 13 and will be a full professor in the Department of Cell Biology after July 1.

Trudy Oliver Tracks a Deadly, Shapeshifting Tumor

April 12, 2023

Trudy Oliver, PhD, studies a type of cancer that has a 5-year overall survival rate of just 7%. Its biological drivers are different from most other cancers, so it’s harder to develop targeted treatments. On top of that, research into this tumor is under-funded.

Gut Microbiome May Hold the Key to Healthy Aging

March 28, 2023

The goal of Shuo Han's research is to understand the interplay between the human gut microbiota and aging.

Gift Honors Decades-Long Collaboration of Renowned Researchers

March 2, 2023

Gift by Marion Stein, MD, to support research and faculty at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.

Cold Comfort: How an Ion Channel Activates Our Response to Temperature

January 24, 2023

How our bodies sense our environment and react to it is a big question, and how we answer it can have important implications for drug development.

man standing on stairs with arms crossed

Listening in on the Conversations of Fat Cells

November 30, 2022

Rana Gupta, PhD, a professor of medicine and Duke Science and Technology Scholar, says fat is more than an energy bank: it’s “a very talkative, chatty tissue,” and what it says can tell us a lot about how fat affects heart disease, diabetes and overall health.