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Nov. 19, 2021

Spartans are engineering a healthier future

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At Michigan State University, researchers are unlocking the power of genuine collaboration to drive discovery and create healthier tomorrows for all.
 
Spartan engineers are partnering with biological and health scientists to develop innovative solutions to fight diseases and improve treatments.

“Engineers and biological scientists look at problems differently,” says Christina Chan, University Distinguished Professor, George W. Bissell Professor and interim chairperson of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. “The advantage of having different perspectives is that then people come with different backgrounds, and that tends to engender a more creative approach to solving some of these research problems and questions that are raised.” 

Chan and her research team are studying neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer metastasis. They have identified structures within cells that contribute to resistance to chemotherapy drugs. They are developing ways to inhibit the pathways that lead to resistance to improve the effectiveness of current chemotherapy drugs.  

“Understanding how your body works and how diseases progress, I find that gives people hope, so that in the future [the] things that plague us now will no longer be a problem,” says Chan.

See how Spartan excellence and will to make a difference are making a better tomorrow for all:

 

By: Anthony Siciliano, Jacob Templin-Fulton, Greg Kohuth, Nick Schrader and Lisa Mulcrone