Research priorities of the CNSI at UCLA build upon the work of our Members, over 150 leading faculty representing nearly 35 Departments. CNSI provides a unique collaborative atmosphere that leverages pooled talent and resources to address the most serious and perplexing questions of our time. The Institute facilitates powerful collaborations among world-class scientists in fields ranging from applied mathematics and engineering to the natural and biomedical sciences. By leveraging the Institute’s central location in the heart of UCLA’s Court of Sciences and proximity to UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, CNSI supports problem-based, team science initiatives in targeted areas.
Research priorities of the CNSI at UCLA build upon the work of our Members, over 150 leading faculty representing nearly 35 Departments. CNSI provides a unique collaborative atmosphere that leverages pooled talent and resources to address the most serious and perplexing questions of our time. The Institute facilitates powerful collaborations among world-class scientists in fields ranging from applied mathematics and engineering to the natural and biomedical sciences. By leveraging the Institute’s central location in the heart of UCLA’s Court of Sciences and proximity to UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, CNSI supports problem-based, team science initiatives in targeted areas:
Research Facilitation
The CNSI Grants Facilitation Team works to catalyze interactions between new and existing teams of researchers to develop collaborative proposals that cross disciplines and support the key research mission of the Institute. Our team offers organizational assistance including meeting scheduling, budget construction, editing, and writing assistance to meet submission deadlines with polished proposals in compliance with government, university, and sponsor regulations and requirements.
Research News
November 13, 2023 | Experimental brain-like computing system more accurate with custom algorithm
An experimental computing system physically modeled after the biological brain “learned” to identify handwritten numbers with an overall accuracy of 93.4%. The key innovation in the experiment was a new training algorithm that gave the system continuous information about its success at the task in real time while it learned.
November 7, 2023 | Communicating Around Arbitrary Opaque Walls
In a new article published in Nature Communications, a team of researchers at UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the California NanoSystems Institute, led by Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, the Chancellor’s Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Dr. Mona Jarrahi, the Northrop Grumman Endowed Chair at UCLA, reported a fundamentally new method for delivering optical information around arbitrarily shaped opaque occlusions or walls.
November 3, 2023 | Detecting Hidden Defects in Materials Using a Single-Pixel Terahertz Sensor
In the realm of engineering and material science, detecting hidden structures or defects within materials is crucial. Traditional terahertz imaging systems, which rely on the unique property of terahertz waves to penetrate visibly opaque materials, have been developed to reveal the internal structures of various materials of interest
September 29, 2023 | UCLA-led team develops key improvement to Nobel Prize-winning technology
UCLA biochemists, working with pharmaceutical industry scientists, have developed a solution that will make it possible for cryo-EM to acquire high-quality images of smaller protein molecules, too. The scientists engineered a 20 nanometer, cube-shaped protein structure, called a scaffold, with rigid tripod-like protrusions that hold the small proteins in place.
September 28, 2023 | Defense Department awards nearly $27M for USC-led coalition to boost microelectronics production for 5G/6G
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it has awarded approximately $27 million for a USC-led Microelectronics Commons project. The university will lead a coalition of research and industry organizations with the power to accelerate the development and manufacturing of microelectronics in the United States.
August 7, 2023 | Self-supervised AI Learns Physics to Reconstruct Microscopic Images from Holograms
In a recent paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, UCLA’s Volgenau Professor for Engineering Innovation Aydogan Ozcan and his research team introduced a self-supervised AI model nicknamed GedankenNet that learns from physics laws and thought experiments.
August 2, 2023 | True shape of lithium revealed for the first time in UCLA research
A study by members of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA reveals a fundamental discovery that could lead to safer lithium-metal batteries that outperform today’s lithium-ion batteries. The research was published today in the journal Nature.
Metallic lithium reacts so easily with chemicals that, under normal conditions, corrosion forms almost immediately while the metal is being laid down on a surface such as an electrode.
June 23, 2023 | New rapid viral plaque detection system, aided by deep learning and holographic imaging, can help accelerate vaccine and drug development
In a new paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team of scientists led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCLA and an associate director of the California NanoSystems Institute, developed a rapid, stain-free, and automated viral plaque detection system enabled by holography and deep learning.
May 10, 2023 | It’s Time to Take Quantum Biology Research Seriously
Understanding the possible quantum-driven behaviors of biological systems could aid in treating injuries or in developing cures for diseases, but research in the field has been pushed to the sidelines. It’s time for that to change.
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