Johns Hopkins University researchers have grown a novel whole-brain organoid, complete with neural tissues and rudimentary blood vessels—an advance that could usher in a new era of research into neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism.
“We’ve made the next generation of brain organoids,” said senior author Annie Kathuria, an assistant professor in JHU’s Department of Biomedical Engineering who studies brain development and neuropsychiatric disorders. “Most brain organoids that you see in papers are one brain region, like the cortex or the hindbrain or midbrain. We’ve grown a rudimentary whole-brain organoid; we call it the multi-region brain organoid (MRBO).”
The research, published in Advanced Science, marks one of the first times scientists have been able to generate an organoid with tissues from each region of the brain connected and acting in concert. Having a human cell-based model of the brain will open possibilities for studying schizophrenia, autism, and other neurological diseases that affect the whole brain—work that typically is conducted in animal models.
Is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of BioStem Technologies (https://biostemtechnologies.com/), a leading innovator focused on harnessing the natural properties of perinatal tissue in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of allografts for regenerative therapies.
Jason brings a wealth of experience in strategic operations planning and technical projects management from his rigorous technical background. His diverse expertise includes continuous process improvement, training and development programs, regulatory compliance and best practices implementation, and advanced problem solving.
Jason began his career as a technical engineer working for Adecco at SC Johnson in 2009, where he developed comprehensive maintenance plans to support manufacturing processes at scale. He then transitioned to manufacturing and quality engineering for major organizations, including ATI Ladish Forging, Nemak, and HUSCO International, where he spearheaded process design and implementation, solved complex supply-chain and manufacturing problems, and improved product sourcing and purchasing.
Jason’s philanthropic work with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation sparked an interest in biotech, leading him to co-found Biostem Technologies in 2014. As CEO he has leveraged his expertise to optimize tissue sourcing, strategically build out a 6,000 square foot tissue processing facility that is fully compliant with FDA 210,211, 1,271, and AATB standards, and put together an expert team of professionals to support the company’s continued growth.
Jason holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a minor in Mathematics from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and is Six Sigma Black Belt certified. He also serves as a Processing and Distribution Council Member for the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), as well as serves as a member of the Government Affairs committee for BioFlorida.
This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 14 June 2025.
Imagine if we could keep our mobile phones on full brightness all day, without worrying about draining our battery? Or if we could create a fuel cell that used sunlight to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen? Or if we could build a low-power sensor that could map out brain function?
Whether it’s optoelectronics, spintronics or quantum, the technologies of tomorrow are underpinned by advances in materials science and engineering. For example, chirality, a symmetry property of mirror-image systems that cannot be superimposed, can be used to control the spin of electrons and photons. Join functional materials scientist Jess Wade as she explores how advances in chemistry, physics and materials offer new opportunities in technological innovation.
As tons of plastic waste continue to build up in landfills every day, Yale researchers have developed a way to convert this waste into fuels and other valuable products efficiently and cheaply. The results are published in Nature Chemical Engineering.
Specifically, the researchers are using a method known as pyrolysis, a process of using heat in the absence of oxygen to molecularly break materials down. In this case, it’s used to break plastics down to the components that produce fuels and other products. The study was led by Yale Engineering professors Liangbing Hu and Shu Hu, both members of the Center for Materials Innovation and Yale Energy Sciences Institute.
Conventional methods of pyrolysis often use a catalyst to speed up the chemical reactions and achieve a high yield, but it’s a method that comes with significant limitations.
Scientists have been studying a fascinating material called uranium ditelluride (UTe₂), which becomes a superconductor at low temperatures.
Superconductors can carry electricity without any resistance, and UTe₂ is special because it might belong to a rare type called spin-triplet superconductors. These materials are not only resistant to magnetic fields but could also host exotic quantum states useful for future technologies.
However, one big mystery remained: what is the symmetry of UTe₂’s superconducting state? This symmetry determines how electrons pair up and move through the material. To solve this puzzle, researchers used a highly sensitive tool called a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with a superconducting tip. They found unique signals—zero-energy surface states—that helped them compare different theoretical possibilities.
Their results suggest that UTe₂ is a nonchiral superconductor, meaning its electron pairs don’t have a preferred handedness (like left-or right-handedness). Instead, the data points to one of three possible symmetries (B₁ᵤ, B₂ᵤ, or B₃ᵤ), with B₃ᵤ being the most likely if electrons scatter in a particular way along one axis.
This discovery brings scientists closer to understanding UTe₂’s unusual superconducting behavior, which could one day help in designing more robust quantum materials.
UTe₂ currently operates at very low temperatures (~1.6 K), so raising its critical temperature is a major goal.
Scaling up production and integrating it into devices will require further material engineering.
Engineering innovations generally require long hours in the lab, with a lot of trial and error through experimentation before zeroing in on the best solution.
But sometimes, if you’re lucky, the answer can be right under your nose—or in this case, beneath your feet.
Binghamton University Professor Seokheun “Sean” Choi has developed a series of bacteria-fueled biobatteries over the past decade, building on what he has learned to improve the next iteration. The biggest limitation isn’t his imagination—he’s always juggling several projects at once—but the materials he has to work with.
A new material developed by researchers from University of Toronto Engineering could offer a safer alternative to the nonstick chemicals commonly used in cookware and other applications.
The new substance repels both water and grease about as well as standard nonstick coatings—but it contains much lower amounts of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of chemicals that have raised environmental and health concerns.
“The research community has been trying to develop safer alternatives to PFAS for a long time,” says Professor Kevin Golovin, who heads the Durable Repellent Engineered Advanced Materials (DREAM) Laboratory at U of T Engineering.
Creating complex structures at the tiniest scales has long been a challenge for engineers. But new research from Georgia Tech shows how electron beams, already widely used in imaging and fabrication, can also be used as ultra-precise tools to both carve and build structures out of materials like copper.
The research group of Professor Andrei Fedorov at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering has discovered a technique that uses focused electron beams in a liquid environment to either remove or deposit copper, depending entirely on the surrounding chemistry.
By tuning the amount of ammonia in the solution, the researchers were able to control whether the beam etched away the material or deposited it, effectively allowing 3D sculpting at the atomic level.
A research team in Korea has experimentally demonstrated, for the first time in the world, a nonlinear wave phenomenon that changes its frequency—either rising or falling—depending on which direction the waves come from.
Much like Janus, the Roman god with two faces looking in opposite directions, the system exhibits different responses depending on the direction of the incoming wave. This groundbreaking work opens new horizons for technologies ranging from medical ultrasound imaging to advanced noise control.
The joint research team, led by Professor Junsuk Rho of POSTECH’s Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, along with Dr. Yeongtae Jang, Ph.D. candidate Beomseok Oh, and Professor Eunho Kim of Jeonbuk National University, has experimentally demonstrated a phenomenon of bidirectional asymmetric frequency conversion within a granular phononic crystal system.
