Rice Engineering and Computing

A blood sample may soon reveal how genes behave deep inside living tissues.

Rice University Bioengineering's Jerzy Szablowski and Sho Watanabe developed a new approach for accurately mapping transcription profiles in living brain tissue using only a blood sample.

Their work marks the first demonstration of measuring transcription for targeted genes nondestructively in living tissue—an advance that could open new avenues for studying brain function, monitoring disease and evaluating therapies without invasive procedures.

Technology Networks recently highlighted the research and its potential impact.

Blood Test Method Tracks Gene Activity in Living Brain Tissue New research introduces INTACT, a tool that combines RNA sensing and blood-based reporters to track gene expression in real time. The system could eventually enable large-scale monitoring of genes across multiple tissues.

Rice researcher Alexander Davydov is helping advance safer and more intelligent self-driving technologies.

Davydov, Rice University Mechanical Engineering assistant professor, received the IEEE RA-L Best Paper Award Honorable Mention for his research at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation earlier this month.

Co-authored with Toyota Research Institute collaborators, the paper explores how autonomous vehicles can better respond in unpredictable or extreme driving conditions. Congratulations to Professor Davydov on this achievement.

Davydov receives IEEE RA-L Best Paper Award Honorable Mention | George R. Brown School of Engineering | Rice University Alexander Davydov, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received an Honorable Mention for the 2025 IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) Best Paper Award for his paper, “First, Learn What You Don't Know: Active Information Gathering for ...

Rice research using wastewater collected from a Houston-area treatment plant could lead to new innovations in healthcare and environmental remediation.

A Rice team led by Rice University Civil and Environmental Engineering's Lauren Stadler developed a new RNA-based barcoding system that uncovers previously unknown relationships between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts, offering a powerful new tool for next-generation microbiome engineering. When applied to Houston wastewater samples, the researchers identified a previously unknown bacterial host group, demonstrating the power of their approach.

The method could accelerate efforts to develop engineered phages for medicine, environmental remediation and industrial biotechnology.

RNA barcoding approach reveals previously unknown virus-host relationships An interdisciplinary team of Rice researchers has uncovered previously unknown relationships between bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts, offering a powerful new tool for next-generation microbiome engineering.

Christina Tringides has won a highly prestigious Pew Biomedical Scholar award for her research in glioblastoma.

This award from The Pew Charitable Trusts supports the development of next-generation cancer models that use hydrogels to mimic the brain’s environment, enabling a deeper exploration of how glioblastoma grows and spreads into healthy tissue.

This recognition reflects the bold, interdisciplinary research happening at Rice and the impact our faculty are making on some of the world's most urgent health challenges. Join us in celebrating Dr. Tringides and this extraordinary achievement.
https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rices-tringides-wins-prestigious-pew-biomedical-scholar-award

What can pairing a wine tasting with an AI chatbot tell us?

A lot about how AI is quietly reshaping what it means to live a fully human life.

At the Rice Global Paris “Human Flourishing in the Age of AI” international conference, a blind wine tasting featuring an AI chatbot set the stage for two days of dialogue about what technology can and cannot replicate about human experience—and how we can use technology to thrive as humans.

Throughout the conference, Dean Luay Nakhleh and Rodrigo Ferreira led conversations about both the possibilities of emerging technologies and the responsibility that engineering education has to produce graduates who ask not only what a technology does but who it serves. The discussions underscored the school's commitment to leading AI innovations with ethics at the forefront. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/ai-crashed-paris-wine-tasting-and-was-point

From New Delhi and Mumbai to Singapore, Rice Global India is expanding engagement in South and Southeast Asia.

Rice Engineering and Computing Dean Luay Nakhleh recently joined the Rice presidential delegation, with visits to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore.

“The institutions we visited are doing serious work in areas where Rice already excels: AI, energy and biomedical engineering,” Nakhleh said. “That alignment creates real possibilities for research partnerships and the kind of deep academic exchange that changes a student’s trajectory.” https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice-delegation-forges-new-research-ties-across-india-and-singapore-broadening-rice

A new imaging approach could enable faster, more accurate 3D sensing for robotics, manufacturing and autonomous systems.

Rice engineers Ashok Veeraraghavan and Aniket Dashpute, along with collaborators at the University of Arizona and Northwestern University, developed a two-step computational imaging method that uses a laser and a high-speed camera to capture 3D scenes with improved speed and accuracy.

The result: a new method for helping machines see the world more clearly.

Learn more about this study published in Nature Communications: https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/converting-matte-surfaces-virtual-screens-enhances-machine-vision

Congratulations to B.J. Fregly on receiving the 2026 Borelli Award from the American Society of Biomechanics.

A Rice University Mechanical Engineering Trustee Professor and a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar, Fregly is recognized for his pioneering research advancing personalized treatments for movement impairments.

B.J. Fregly named 2026 Borelli Award winner by the American Society of Biomechanics | George R. Brown School of Engineering | Rice University 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005-1827 |

A new Rice student startup is building the fastest, most secure logistics chain for the world’s most sensitive cargo: medical supplies.

Haast Autonomous pairs a custom aircraft with software that manages dispatch, routing and chain of custody to improve how materials move between health care sites. After showcase wins at the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen - Rice University and the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie), the team has raised $1.85 million in capital to make this idea a reality.

Congratulations to Haast co-founders Ege Halac, Jason Chen, and Santiago Brent, as well as engineering students who helped design and test the prototype: Caden Schmidt, Kenna Sanders, Ethan Javedan and Felix Hasson. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice-student-startup-raises-185m-medical-cargo-drone-transport-system

Rice University Mechanical Engineering
Rice University Electrical & Computer Engineering
📷 Quy Tran Photography/Rice University

The future of water is being shaped right here at Rice.

Organized by the Rice Water Institute in partnership with the City of Houston and Rice University, Rice hosted the International Water Association's flagship conference last week, uniting industry professionals and academic researchers from 27 countries under the theme Resilient Water in a Changing World.

Congrats to all on a transformative conference, including Rice Engineering and Computing faculty on the program committee (Qilin Li, Shihong Lin, Michael Wong) and organizing committee (Pedro Alvarez, Menachem Elimelech, Michael Wong, Qilin Li). https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice-hosts-global-water-leaders-discuss-technologies-resilient-future