News

While images of massive walls of fire in the Western United States are dominating the news during yet another summer, the leading cause of property destruction is vastly smaller: wind-blown, quarter-size embers called “firebrands” that charge miles ahead of wildfires, collect on roofs or nest in eaves, and under the right conditions, ignite.

With engineering labs at his back and tussles over trillions of dollars taking place on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Antony Blinken argued at the University of Maryland on August 9 that maintaining the nation’s status as a leader abroad will require dramatic new investments at home.

Scientists – including those who specialize in the field of drug delivery – still know surprisingly little about a part of the human body that likely impacts the effectiveness of therapeutics used to treat or prevent a variety of diseases. But, Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) Assistant Professor Katharina Maisel hopes that will soon change, thanks in part to her lab’s most recent undertaking.