Research

Donated blood has a shelf life. A new test tracks how it's aging

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:20:27 +0000

Donated blood has a shelf life. A new test tracks how it's aging Alexander Jame… Wed, 01/21/2026 - 10:20

Roughly 6.8 million people donate blood in the United States alone, helping save millions of lives, according to the American Red Cross. But just like groceries sitting on store shelves, red blood cells age over time. That's why Associate Professor Xiaoyun Ding and medical collaborators at CU Anschutz have created a new chip device to help give blood centers and hospitals a reliable way to monitor the quality of red blood cells after they sit for weeks in storage.

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Chemical and Biological Engineering welcomes two new faculty

Susan Glairon — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:31:40 +0000

Chemical and Biological Engineering welcomes two new faculty Susan Glairon Tue, 01/20/2026 - 13:31

Susan Glairon

Meet the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering's newest faculty, Assistant Professors Cody Ritt and Antonio Del Rio Flores.

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Leading hands-on Earth research planning for life on Mars

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:29:45 +0000

Leading hands-on Earth research planning for life on Mars Jeff Zehnder Tue, 01/20/2026 - 11:29

A crew of astronauts wearing spacesuits look out across the reddish horizon, the rock formations unfamiliar, with no trails to guide them and incomplete maps. They are lost, once again, on Mars.

Human exploration of the red planet will present unique challenges, and a team of ��ý�� researchers are studying real-world human decision-making for Mars through a unique, Earth-based experience.

“When humans land on Mars, poor decisions can lead to loss of the mission and loss of life,” said PhD student Erin Richardson. “This work here on Earth is studying how to best design and support astronaut teams so they can be effective.”

Mars on Earth

Welcome to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), an analog astronaut research facility in the remote Utah desert. Operated by the Mars Society, the center gives scientists and engineers the opportunity to conduct complex experiments in a simulation space habitat.

Using MRDS, Richardson and Postdoctoral Scholar Aaron Allred, both from the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, are leading a major study on team function – and dysfunction – in isolated and extreme environments.

“Our team is looking at cognitive security. How do we protect people’s ability in the face of information threats like mis- and dis-information and how do teams make decisions based on incomplete information in extreme environments,” Allred said.

Astronaut Experiments

Alongside a broader team, Allred and Richardson designed a series of experiments and recruited 18 mock astronauts to live and work at MDRS under conditions that will match actual life on Mars. That included close quarters, little privacy, a requirement to wear spacesuit simulators when leaving the habitat, and lengthy communication delays – up to 40 minutes, when speaking to Mission Control.

A crew member on an EVA looking out across the landscape.

“Decision making of teams in extreme environments is understudied. There has been some work looking at other extreme, isolated environments, like submarine crews and Antarctic teams, but what is novel in our work is the ability to run replicable experimental trials,” Richardson said.

By splitting participants into separate groups and pairings, experimental trials could be repeated to see if results varied.

Although university research involving human subjects often relies on undergraduate volunteers, for this project, Allred and Richardson were able to recruit working scientists and engineers worldwide.

“We had almost 600 applicants,” Richardson said. “MDRS is very well known, and people want to go there. We had a goal of assembling crews that were as close in education, operational experience, and age to real astronauts as possible.”

Navigation Challenges

Once the crews were on site, they took part in outdoor navigation challenges that focused on human response when dealing with incomplete and conflicting information.

“In one experiment, one person had a map, one had GPS, and we always gave one of them incorrect information,” Allred said. “The teammates had to work together to solve where to go. Doing it as extra vehicular activities (EVAs) where they’re wearing a spacesuit outdoors also imposes a time pressure and gives perceived stakes, based on how long the life support system has before it runs out.”

When humans land on Mars, poor decisions can lead to loss of the mission and loss of life. This work is studying how to best design and support astronaut teams so they can be effective." -Erin Richardson

Subjects completed daily surveys on their experience and wore sensors to track their body’s physiological response, including a functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device to monitor brain function in real time. Team dynamics, alertness, and fatigue were also tracked.

“We’re still analyzing the data, but anecdotally, one crew stayed up super late their last night and in all three of their final EVAs they followed the wrong source of information. Fatigue is unavoidable, but measuring its impact allows us to better support operators,” Richardson said.

Research Impact

As they digest the data collected, both Richardson and Allred are excited about the potential impact of the research.

“This was an incredible opportunity to go out there and conduct experiments where there are more stressors than you can do in a laboratory while enforcing controlled experimental design in a space analog. We want to set a baseline of scientific understanding that can aid development of technological countermeasures,” Allred said.

The principal investigator for the grant is Research Professor Leanne Hirshfield in the Institute of Cognitive Science. Allred and Richardson are advised by Allie Hayman, an Associate Professor in Smead Aerospace.

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An earthquake on a chip: New tech generates tiny waves, could make smartphones smaller, faster

Charles Ferrer — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 21:37:17 +0000

An earthquake on a chip: New tech generates tiny waves, could make smartphones smaller, faster Charles Ferrer Wed, 01/14/2026 - 14:37

A team of engineers has developed a new device that works like a laser but, instead of light, generates incredibly small vibrations called surface acoustic waves.

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Researchers create shape-shifting, self-navigating microparticles

Susan Glairon — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 21:29:30 +0000

Researchers create shape-shifting, self-navigating microparticles Susan Glairon Wed, 01/14/2026 - 14:29

Chemical and biological engineering researchers have created shape-shifting microparticles that change their shape in response to environmental factors for self-directed propulsion and navigation.

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Engineers develop real-time membrane imaging for sustainable water filtration

Charles Ferrer — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:19:28 +0000

Engineers develop real-time membrane imaging for sustainable water filtration Charles Ferrer Tue, 12/16/2025 - 09:19

CU ��ý�� researchers have developed a laser-based imaging method called stimulated Raman scattering to improve the performance of desalination plants by allowing real-time detection of membrane fouling. The advance could help make desalination more efficient and reliable as global demand for clean water rises.

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Reconstructing the ancient Indus River

Susan Glairon — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:25:49 +0000

Reconstructing the ancient Indus River Susan Glairon Thu, 12/11/2025 - 17:25

By combining hydrology and paleoclimate modeling, Balaji Rajagopalan, professor of civil engineering, and colleagues uncovered the long-standing mystery behind the disappearance of the Harappan Civilization.

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Tiny new device could enable giant future quantum computers

Charles Ferrer — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 18:41:02 +0000

Tiny new device could enable giant future quantum computers Charles Ferrer Thu, 12/11/2025 - 11:41

Researchers have developed a device that can precisely control laser light using a fraction of the power and space required today. Because it can be manufactured just like modern microchips, this tiny device could unlock quantum computers capable of solving problems far beyond the reach of today’s technologies.

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Scientists use ultrasound to soften and treat cancer tumors without damaging healthy tissue

Susan Glairon — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:23:32 +0000

Scientists use ultrasound to soften and treat cancer tumors without damaging healthy tissue Susan Glairon Wed, 12/10/2025 - 10:23

A CU ��ý�� team has invented a sound-wave technique that softens dense tumors so chemotherapy can penetrate more deeply. The discovery could boost treatment effectiveness and make cancer therapies safer for patients.

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Postdoc working on AI for astronauts

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 21:58:58 +0000

Postdoc working on AI for astronauts Jeff Zehnder Fri, 12/05/2025 - 14:58

Jeff Zehnder

Ulubilge Ulusoy is advancing the science of artificial intelligence to help astronauts on future missions to Mars.

Although such a flight is years away, AI systems will be critical to assisting astronauts as they journey beyond Earth’s orbit.

“These are problems we need to understand now,” Ulusoy said. “The International Space Station works because we have a huge group of humans in ground control helping these systems to function. When you go to Mars and the time delays for communications can be up to 24 minutes one way, it’s impossible for NASA to check things in real time. You need AI-based systems ready to keep the crew alive and the habitat functional.”

Ulusoy is designing methods to test human responses to AI systems within a framework where AI systems assist humans and humans also assist AI. The goal is to better understand how people can best interact with them.

He is the inaugural Smead Distinguished Postdoctoral Associate at the ��ý��. The one-year position provides funding for leading PhD graduates conducting aerospace research.

Ulusoy uses sensors to collect an array of physiological data as humans interact with AI systems in real-time, including heart rate variation, perspiration, breathing rate, and cognitive load.

Such objective data can reveal how trustworthy and useful human users find AI systems as well as the best methods AI can use to provide assistance.

“These systems are getting better, but we often ignore them anyway. You sometimes have Siri or Google pop up to say something and you’re like, ‘Not now, Siri.’ These new AI systems have machine learning technology so when you provide counter feedback, it can learn from that,” he said.

Ulusoy is conducting pilot tests this semester with the hope of beginning human trials in the spring. He and fellow Postdoctoral Associate Patrick Pischulti are working with Katya Arquilla, an assistant professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, and an expert on how humans interact with and adapt to complex systems.

The research is a long-time goal of Ulusoy. He first began working on AI/astronaut interactions in 2020 during his PhD program. At that time, its potential was largely theoretical.

“I wanted to present a framework on paper, but in my third year, commercial, off-the-shelf large language models came out. It is a really exciting time to move forward,” he said.

The experiments this spring will see human test subjects working with a robotic arm to complete a physical task. Ulusoy will monitor the human test subject responses to see how well they work together.

“Being able to do human factors work, specifically collective physiological data is really helpful,” he said. “Implementing real-time, objective measurements will bring this to the next level.”

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