Best Angstrom Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 23: Interfacial effects dominate 2D water structure until angstrom-level confinement 6:46

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10h ago6:46

6:46

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Mischa Bonn, director of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany and Dr. Yongkang Wang, group leader affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research as well as Southeast University in Nanjing, China about their research on nanoconfined water. The researcher…

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Episode 22: Cement clinker phases predicted with ML model 4:49

3h ago4:49

4:49

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Anoop Krishnan from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, about a machine learning model developed after a two-year period of collecting data from the cement industry, supported by the Cement and Concrete Research Network. Krishnan’s work resulted in a model that predic…

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Episode 21: Recycling studied from a mechanics-materials perspective 4:37

8d ago4:37

4:37

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Christos Athanasiou from the Georgia Institute of Technology about their approach to the recycling problem from a mechanics-materials perspective. Current recycling approaches can lead to a product with variable properties, which is undesirable. Through a bio-inspired design, Athanasiou’…

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Episode 20: Samarium cobalt magnet fabricated with single-step method 4:01

1M ago4:01

4:01

By MRS Bulletin

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Episode 19: Sweet spot found for ligand-stripping oleylamine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles 4:58

2M ago4:58

4:58

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Yaroslava Yingling and Joseph Tracy from North Carolina State University about their study on iron oxide colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) coated in oleylamine ligands. By combining experimental work with molecular simulations, their research group determined how to optimize ethanol solvent-…

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Episode 18: Superheating gold provides insight into extreme environments 5:45

2M ago5:45

5:45

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Thomas White from the University of Nevada, Reno, about his research group’s work on superheating gold. By hitting the gold foil with 45 femtosecond blue laser pulses, the team heated the foil uniformly up to 14 times hotter than its melting point while maintaining the material’s crysta…

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Episode 17: Hybrid material replaces doping in bandgap engineering 4:57

3M ago4:57

4:57

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Sathvik Iyengar, a PhD candidate at Rice University, about the development of a hybrid material called “glaphene.” A hybrid of graphene and two-dimensional (2D) silica glass, glaphene is a semiconductor with a bandgap of ~4 eV. More importantly, Iyengar and colleagues introduce a new met…

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Episode 16: Mem-emitters achieve memory functionalities 4:25

3M ago4:25

4:25

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Victor Lopez-Richard from Federal University of São Carlos in Brazil about his memory device called a mem-emitter. Unlike a memresistor (short for “memory resistor”), which made of materials whose electrical resistance can be tuned, the mem-emitter is used to tune optical properties. Ex…

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Episode 15: Liquid metal source enables lab-scale 3D XRD microscope 4:56

4M ago4:56

4:56

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Ashley Bucsek from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor about her laboratory-scale three-dimensional (3D) x-ray diffraction (XRD) microscope to replace studies done in synchrotron facilities. A key element of the design is the material used to make the x-rays. Instead of using a solid …

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Episode 14: Mechanical metamaterials reprogrammable via magnetic interactions 4:16

4M ago4:16

4:16

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Daniel Garcia-Gonzalez from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain about his research group’s reprogrammable metamaterial. The researchers use a soft polymer, mixed with magnetic particles. By rotating the orientation of the magnets, they tune the softness or compressibility of the m…

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Episode 13: Moon PV may rely on regolith for substrate 4:54

4M ago4:54

4:54

To enable future lunar settlements, researchers are pursuing ways to construct needed devices on the moon to save the expense of shipping them from Earth. In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Felix Lang from the University of Potsdam, Germany about his group’s development of perovskite solar cells that utilize the moon’s re…

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Episode 12: Lightweight shape memory alloy retains superelasticity at 4 K 4:04

5M ago4:04

4:04

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Sheng Xu from Tohoku University, Japan about his lightweight shape memory alloy that retains superelasticity at temperatures as cold as 4 K and as hot as 400°C. This range is about 5 times wider than commercial shape memory alloys. Shape memory alloys are needed for extreme environments…

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Episode 11: Synthetic hydrogel combines stiffness and self-healing properties 4:55

5M ago4:55

4:55

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Hang Zhang from Aalto University in Finland about his group’s creation of a composite material that is both stiff and self-healing. The composite involves a hydrogel where the long polymer chains are confined between nanosheets of synthetic hectorite. This material mimics skin that is bo…

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Episode 10: Relaxor ferroelectric thin film characterized at the nanoscale 6:39

6M ago6:39

6:39

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Lane Martin from Rice University about characterization of relaxor ferroelectrics, materials with noteworthy energy-conversion properties used in sensors and actuators. Martin’s research team investigated the material’s behavior at the nanoscale. The researchers found that the specific …

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Episode 9: Stacking materials induces ferroelectricity into wurtzites 5:41

6M ago5:41

5:41

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Beth Dickey from Carnegie Mellon University about her new approach to inducing ferroelectricity into a material. Dickey’s research group worked with a class of materials known as wurtzites. The researchers specifically studied aluminum nitride and zinc oxide, which are not ferroelectric…

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Episode 8: Two-beam interferometry experiment characterizes lightsail propulsion 5:20

6M ago5:20

5:20

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Harry Atwater from the California Institute of Technology about his study on lightsail propulsion in order to understand how the device can be developed to do fly-by space travel riding a beam of laser light. Atwater’s research group made a square prototype device where the researchers i…

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Episode 7: Nanotomography enables insight into the microstructure of a material 4:52

6M ago4:52

4:52

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Ashwin Shahani and Alan Taub from the University of Michigan about their group’s simulations and experimental work detailing the formation mechanisms, morphologies, and microstructures of an in situ Al/TiC metal matrix nanocomposites processed via salt flux reaction. Using these insights…

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Episode 6: Nanocube self-assembly pathways uncovered 4:23

8M ago4:23

4:23

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Xingchen Ye of Indiana University about his research group’s studies on the fundamental behavior of colloidal materials. Colloidal materials consist of liquids with nanoparticles suspended in them. Ye’s team is interested in how a colloidal material’s properties change as the team spati…

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Episode 5: Triboelectric nanogenerator powered by wind-driven leaf motion 5:59

8M ago5:59

5:59

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Fabian Meder from the Italian Institute of Technology in Genova and the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Piza, Italy about his research group’s device that makes use of wind-driven plant leaf motion to generate electricity which can power a chemical delivery system. Their triboele…

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Episode 4: Researchers pinpoint AI/ML training set to achieve accurate predictions 4:00

9M ago4:00

4:00

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Bowen Deng, a graduate student in Gerbrand Ceder’s group at the University of California, Berkeley, about their work on increasing the accuracy of artificial intelligence/machine learning materials prediction models. The use of computer simulations to predict the interaction between ato…

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Episode 3: Surface defects control bulk properties of lead halide perovskites 3:58

9M ago3:58

3:58

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews David Cahen from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, about the impact surface defects have on bulk properties, specifically in the case of lead halide perovskites. In a perspective he co-authored, Cahen connected numerous experimental data from other researchers that exposed this …

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Episode 2: Compression activates optical tuning in smart window 4:47

9M ago4:47

4:47

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Gwangmin Bae of Korea University about his work with colleagues on the design of a new smart window system that utilizes compression. Like other smart windows, this window makes use of pores within the material to adjust its transparency. However, instead of using a stretchy material th…

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Episode 1: Carbon fiber-based structural battery serves multiple functions 4:33

10M ago4:33

4:33

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Leif Asp of Chalmers University of Technology about his group’s development of an all-carbon fiber-based structural battery. The negative electrode uses carbon fiber and, for the positive electrode, the carbon fiber is coated with lithium iron phosphate. In both cases the carbon fiber ta…

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Episode 23: Frontal polymerization controls materials properties 5:53

12M ago5:53

5:53

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Nancy Sottos, the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign (UIUC), and Justine Paul, a former student at UIUC who now holds a position at DuPont, about their work with frontal pol…

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Episode 22: Additive manufacturing enhances toughness in formable cementitious materials 4:24

1y ago4:24

4:24

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Reza Moini of Princeton University about his group’s development of an enhanced additive manufacturing technique to fabricate cementitious materials with excellent fracture toughness. They based their design of the material on the double-helical or double-bouligand structure of coelacant…

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Episode 21: Hierarchical ceramics resist crack propagation 5:28

12M ago5:28

5:28

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews postdoctoral research fellow Rohit Pratyush Behera and Prof. Hortense Le Ferrand of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore about their design of a strong and tough ceramic that absorbs energy, inspired from biology. They borrowed microscopic designs found in a mollusk, a mantis s…

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Episode 20: Amino-silane treatment extends perovskite performance 4:40

1y ago4:40

4:40

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Yen-Hung Lin of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology about his work to eliminate defects in perovskite solar cells. Lin’s group treated the perovskites with a category of molecules known as amino-silanes, which bind vacancies in the perovskites, preventing recombination of the…

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Episode 19: 4D-STEM measures thermal properties of 2D materials 4:44

1y ago4:44

4:44

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Michael Pettes, deputy group leader and staff scientist at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies in Los Alamos National laboratory about a characterization technique that employs a four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscope (4D-STEM) paired with complex computational…

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Episode 18: Glassy gels exhibit numerous mechanical properties 4:55

1y ago4:55

4:55

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Michael Dickey of North Carolina State University about the discovery and mechanical properties of glassy gels. Dicky credits his postdoc Meixiang Wang who, while studying ionic liquids, created the first glassy gel. Dicky’s group found that the mechanical properties of their glassy gel…

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Episode 17: Metamaterial tailors thermal emission 3:03

1y ago3:03

3:03

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Coskun Kocabas from The University of Manchester in the UK about his development of a metamaterial that can tailor thermal emission. Rather than using a periodic system, which most topological materials employ, his research team borrowed a concept from laser design and created an optical…

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Episode 16: Researchers fabricate monolithic selenium/silicon tandem solar cell 4:37

1+ y ago4:37

4:37

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Rasmus Neilsen from the Technical University of Denmark about his fabrication of a monolithic selenium/silicon tandem solar cell. The selenium forms the top cell of the tandem device, with silicon used as the bottom cell. Selenium-based single-junction solar cells have traditionally used…

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Episode 15: Torsional force microscopy reveals the moiré superlattices 4:58

1+ y ago4:58

4:58

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Mihir Pendharkar of Stanford University about characterizing electronic properties of twistronics materials. Twistronics refers to a type of electronic device consisting of two-dimensional materials layered at a relative twist angle, forming a new periodic structure known as moiré super…

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Episode 14: Mixed-method approach characterizes nanovoids in polymer films 5:56

1+ y ago5:56

5:56

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Falon Kalutantirige from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Ying Li from the University of Wisconsin-Madison about their approach and discovery when characterizing nanovoids in polymer films. Using polyamide (PA) membranes as their subject of study, the researchers applied g…

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Episode 13: Computational model shows 3D metamaterial that exhibits magnetoelectric effect 5:44

1+ y ago5:44

5:44

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Alexandre Dmitriev from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden about his group’s computational model of a three-dimensional metamaterial exhibiting a magnetoelectric effect—known as the Tellegen effect—when exposed to light. The building blocks of the metamaterial are comprised of disks of…

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Episode 12: New paradigm established for additive manufacturing in field of bioelectronics 4:52

1+ y ago4:52

4:52

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Antonio Dominguez-Alfaro from the University of Cambridge, UK about the development of a single-step manufacturing approach for a multimaterial 3D-printing method. The research team created two inks. One ink is a polymeric deep eutectic solvent – polyDES – made by combining and heating t…

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Episode 11: Chemomechanical approach to surface modification attains high single-photon purity 6:19

1+ y ago6:19

6:19

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Elizabeth Wilson interviews postdoctoral researcher M. Iqbal Bakti Utama of Northwestern University about a method allowing single photon production without defect. Aryl diazonium chemistry has been used in the past to functionalize the surface of carbon nanotubes. Utama’s group found that this chemistry also…

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Episode 10: Achiral liquid crystal breaks mirror symmetry 4:24

1+ y ago4:24

4:24

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Irmgard Bischofberger of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about her investigation of how chirality emerges in nature. She uses liquid crystal molecules of disodium chromoglycate in her studies. When the molecules are dissolved in water, they form linear rods. The research group…

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Episode 9: Nanocomposite-superlattice enables low energy, high stability phase-change memory device 9:07

1+ y ago9:07

9:07

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Eric Pop, Xiangjin Wu, and Asir Intisar Khan from Stanford University about their work building a phase-change memory superlattice at the nanoscale. They created the superlattice by alternating layers of antimony-tellurium nanoclusters with a nanocomposite made from germanium, antimony, …

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Episode 8: Switching mechanism revealed behind reversible molecular assembly in 2D materials 5:10

1+ y ago5:10

5:10

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Magalí Lingenfelder from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland about her group’s discovery of the switching mechanism behind H-bond-linked two-dimensional networks. The hydrogen bonding ability was tuned by comparing carboxylates to aldehydes. Lingenfelder’s group fou…

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Episode 7: RoboMapper reduces environmental impact of data generation 7:58

1+ y ago7:58

7:58

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Aram Amassian from North Carolina State University about his group’s achievements using RoboMapper, a materials acceleration platform. In researchers’ quest to run environmentally-conscious laboratories, Amassian offers a solution that focuses on characterization of materials. Having fou…

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Episode 6: Superconductor robust against magnetic field 4:49

1+ y ago4:49

4:49

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Kaveh Ahadi from The Ohio State University about a material his group developed that maintains superconductivity in a magnetic field. The researchers grew a film of lanthanum manganite on a crystal of potassium tantalate. When lowered to the temperature of 2 Kelvin, the material is a su…

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Episode 5: Theoretical framework predicts real-world industrial catalytic conditions 6:02

1+ y ago6:02

6:02

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Elizabeth Wilson interviews Manos Mavrikakis from the University of Wisconsin–Madison about his group’s theoretical work on real-world industrial catalytic conditions. It is often assumed that most catalyst surface atoms stay in place during a reaction, firmly bonded to their metal neighbors. However, Mavrika…

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Episode 4: Imaging device tracks and controls photocurrent streamlines in electronic devices 4:16

2y ago4:16

4:16

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Nathan Gabor from the University of California, Riverside about his group’s work on imaging and directing the flow of electrons in electronic devices. They designed their device by taking a crystal of yttrium iron garnet, which does not conduct electricity, and putting a nanometers-thic…

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Episode 3: Quantum ruler measures orbital magnetism in moiré quantum matter 4:08

2y ago4:08

4:08

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Rahul Rao interviews Fereshte Ghahari of George Mason University about the use of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to measure the electronic and magnetic properties of moiré quantum materials. Ghahari and collaborators twisted two layers of graphene at a specific angle, then chilled the material to suppr…

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Episode 2: Biocompatible piezoelectric materials promote neural regeneration 5:20

2y ago5:20

5:20

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Hamideh Khanbareh and Vlad Jarkov of the University of Bath in the UK about an application they introduced for using piezoelectric materials in tissue engineering. The researchers fabricated a composite by combining polydimethylsiloxane with a piezoelectric material of potassium-sodium-n…

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Episode 1: Photochemistry combined with 3D printing generates complex ceramics structures 6:20

2y ago6:20

6:20

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Professor Jerry Qi and postdoctoral researcher Mingzhe Li of the Georgia Institute of Technology about their new technique to 3D print silica glass. After using two-photon polymerization to cross-link poly-dimethylsiloxane, Qi’s research team used deep UV to convert the polymer into sili…

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Episode 16: Biosensor enables early detection of organ transplant failure 6:11

2y ago6:11

6:11

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Surabhi Madhvapathy of Northwestern University about an implantable bioelectronics system that can perform early detection of kidney transplant rejection in rats. Madhvapathy and her colleagues have developed a wireless sensor that attaches to the kidney itself. The biosensor measures t…

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Episode 15: Transonic dislocation propagation observed in diamond 5:05

2y ago5:05

5:05

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Kento Katagiri, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, about the propagation speed of dislocations in materials. Using an X-ray free electron laser to collect data from single-crystal diamond, Katagiri and colleagues have determined the velocity of wave propagation to be in the t…

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Episode 14: Liquid samples coated in gold nanorods enhance cellular characterization 7:46

2y ago7:46

7:46

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Laura Leay interviews Stanford University’s Jennifer Dionne and her PhD student Fareeha Safir and their colleague Amr. Saleh from Cairo University about their work on identifying bacteria in complex samples. Instead of culturing bacteria then identifying them using specific methods such as a polymerase chain …

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Episode 13: Bioprinting combined with interferometry enables precision oncology 5:17

2y ago5:17

5:17

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin’s Sophia Chen interviews Alice Soragni of the University of California, Los Angeles about her work in precision oncology. Rather than sequence the DNA of a patient’s tumor, Soragni uses bioprinting to create organoids from the patient’s cells. She then adds various drugs to the cells to directly test their resp…