Takashi Kozai, associate professor of bioengineering in the Swanson School of Engineering, wasn’t always a fan of biology. He wanted to be an engineer.

As director of the Neural Tissue Electrode Interface and Neural Tissue Engineering Lab and William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering, Xinyan Tracy Cui works at the interface between artificially made implantable devices and the nervous system. She has dedicated her career to studying how biological responses affect neural interface function, with the end goal of ensuring that the implant and brain tissue work together seamlessly.

Alexander Deiters, professor of chemistry in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, focuses his work on creating synthetic organic molecules with new architectures and new biological functions.

Christine Dahlin, professor of biology at Pitt-Johnstown, has a lifelong interest in vocal learning in birds, specifically yellow-naped amazon parrots. Known for imitating human speech when kept as pets, their vocals in the wild are
equally complex.

Pitt-Bradford emphasizes facultystudent research collaborations that lead to publishable results. Immunologist Lanre Morenikeji and students conduct research that could not be more of the moment—the effects of heat stress on the immune systems of plants and animals.