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

man standing on stairs with arms crossed

Listening in on the Conversations of Fat Cells

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.
DST Launch Seed Grants 2022

School of Medicine Faculty Win 2022 DST Launch Seed Grants

Five School of Medicine faculty were among the recipients of funding from the inaugural Duke Science and Technology (DST) Launch Seed Grant Program. The Duke Office for Research & Innovation awarded grants to eight interdisciplinary projects, selected from among 61 finalist proposals for high-impact projects that could lead to additional external funding.  

Duke Research and innovation DST sparks seed grants 2022

Four School of Medicine Faculty Win DST Spark Seed Grants

Four School of Medicine faculty were among the nine winners of inaugural Duke Science and Technology (DST) Spark Seed grants named by the Office for Research & Innovation on July 20. The awards recognize best-in-class research projects proposed by early- to mid-career faculty from across campus and the School of Medicine. The nine awardees were selected from a pool of 52 finalists for delivering innovative and creative ideas in pursuit of new directions and enhancement of research and scholarship at Duke. 

Z. Josh Huang, PhD

Huang Elected to Academy of Arts & Sciences 

Huang, who was recruited to Duke as a Duke Science and Technology Scholar in August of 2020, studies the development and function of cortical circuits underlying motor control and cognitive processing. He is a co-leader of a massive effort to map the brain in new detail.   
woman in lab

A Fountain of Youth for the Brain

Wisdom may come with age, but young people have the advantage when it comes to learning. Duke neurobiologist Lindsey Glickfeld, Ph.D., wants to know why. More to the point, she wants to know how. What are the mechanics in the brain and how do those mechanics change from childhood to adulthood? What she discovers could one day help older people regain some ease of learning. Perhaps it could even lead to a treatment that could help stroke survivors relearn important early skills, like walking and talking.
Chantel Evans, PhD

Evans Named a 2022 Sloan Research Fellow

Chantell Evans, PhD, an assistant professor of cell biology in the School of Medicine, has been selected to receive a 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.