TAMEST Member News Roundup – July 2025
TAMEST loves to share the accolades of our membership. If you have been nominated for an award, been interviewed by the media or otherwise have a reason to celebrate, please share your news with TAMEST.
TAMEST In The News
GEN: Integrative Exome Sequencing and Machine Learning Identify New Genes Contributing to Systemic Sclerosis Risk, TAMEST Past President Brendan Lee, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM), Baylor College of Medicine
Center Times Plus: Science in 60+: Glow Getters, TAMEST Member and TAMEST 2025 Annual Conference Co-Chair Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE), UT Southwestern Medical Center
The Robot Report: Celebrating 200 Podcast Episodes; Robotics Evolve in Space Exploration, TAMEST Member Robert O. Ambrose, Ph.D. (NAE), Texas A&M University
Business Wire: Accelsius Joins ARPA-E COOLERCHIPS Project to Advance Hybrid Cooling Technologies for the Data Center of the Future, TAMEST Member Dereje Agonafer, Ph.D. (NAE), The University of Texas at Arlington
Dallas Innovates: Three Healthcare Founders Win Pitch, Advance to Ignite Health’s National Accelerator, 2025 Kay Bailey Hutchison Distinguished Service Award Recipient Lyda Hill Philanthropies
Vital Record: Texas A&M Health Awarded $11.7 Million in CPRIT Funding to Advance Cancer Research and Prevention, Texas A&M University Health Science Center
Texas A&M Today: Texas A&M Research Offers Hope for Patients Facing Alzheimer’s, Texas A&M University
MSN: Scientists Discover How Solar Events Affect the Velocity of Helium Pickup Ions, Southwest Research Institute
Member Briefs
Texas Engineer Nicholas A. Peppas Awarded Northwestern’s Kabiller Prize
TAMEST Member Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D. (NAM, NAE), The University of Texas at Austin, has won the Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine from Northwestern University’s International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN). The $250,000 Kabiller Prize is the largest monetary award in the field and part of the 2025 international Kabiller awards. The biennial awards recognize three top scholars – one pioneer and two rising stars – at the cross-section of nanoscience, technology, biology and medicine. Read More
Rice’s Antonios Mikos Elected to the European Academy of Sciences
TAMEST Member Antonios G. Mikos, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE), Rice University, has been elected to the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC), an international body that recognizes excellence in scientific research and technological innovation. A global leader in biomaterials and tissue engineering, Dr. Mikos is widely known for his groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine, controlled drug delivery, gene therapy and disease modeling. He will be formally inducted at the EURASC Annual Symposium and Ceremony Dec. 17-18 at CERN in Geneva. Read More
University of Houston Scientists Recharge Battery Potential
For decades, scientists have struggled to understand what, exactly, is happening inside a solid-state battery in real time, which has made extending its life difficult. Now, a University of Houston research team including TAMEST 2025 O’Donnell Award in Engineering Recipient Yan Yao, Ph.D., in collaboration with researchers from Brown University, are working around that problem using operando scanning electron microscopy, a powerful high-resolution imaging technique. Read More
Gene Editing Treats Smooth Muscle Disease in Preclinical Model
Using gene editing in a preclinical model, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, including TAMEST Member Eric N. Olson, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), blocked the symptoms of the rare multisystem smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (MSMDS) before they developed. Their findings, published in Circulation, could eventually lead to gene therapies for this and other genetic diseases affecting smooth muscle cells. Read More
Rice University’s OpenStax Partners with Microsoft for AI-Enhanced Learning
OpenStax, founded and directed by TAMEST Member Richard Baraniuk, Ph.D. (NAE), at Rice University, has partnered with Microsoft to integrate its trusted content into Microsoft’s latest learning innovation. Available on Microsoft Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft Learning Zone aims to provide educators and students with responsible AI technology and peer-reviewed educational content to support learning. The integration with OpenStax content means educators can safely rely on OpenStax’s digital library of 80 openly licensed titles to create effective and engaging learning experiences, without needing to source and vet content independently. Read More
Elevating UT Austin’s Research Enterprise
TAMEST Past Protégé Fernanda Leite, Ph.D. will serve as Interim Vice President for Research at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Leite brings a distinguished record of strategic decision-making and interdisciplinary collaboration. Read More
Rice’s Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative Kicks Off Seminar Series with Nobel Laureate James Allison
The Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative, an initiative of Rice University and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, launched its inaugural seminar with an invited talk from TAMEST Member and Nobel Laureate James P. Allison, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Established in 2024, the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative aims to bridge the worlds of engineering and oncology in pursuit of next-generation tools for diagnosing, monitoring and treating cancer. Read More
New Battery Prototype Facility Opens Its Doors to Energize Innovation
Local, state and federal government officials and industry partners toured The University of Texas at Dallas’ Batteries and Energy to Advance Commercialization and National Security (BEACONS) 15,000-square-foot facility. The space is designed to facilitate the development and commercialization of new battery technologies and manufacturing processes, and train workers for jobs in the energy storage industry. The U.S. Department of Defense provided a $30 million award to establish an energy storage systems campus at UT Dallas. Read More
SwRI, UTSA Selected by NASA to Test Electrolyzer Technology Aboard Parabolic Flights
The project, known as the Mars Atmospheric Reactor for Synthesis of Consumables (MARS-C), led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), will receive a $500,000 award from NASA’s TechLeap Prize program to flight test novel electrolyzer technology designed to improve the production of propellants and life-support compounds on the Moon, Mars or near-Earth asteroids. Read More
Andrea Ballabio Awarded Beth Levine, M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research from UT Southwestern
Andrea Ballabio, M.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has devoted his career to elucidating the mechanisms underlying genetic diseases, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Beth Levine, M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research. The award was created in honor of the late TAMEST Member Beth Levine, M.D. (NAM), UT Southwestern Medical Center. Read More
