Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

While crystals have been studied for centuries and are ubiquitous in daily life — they are in our bones, the food we eat and the batteries we use — scientists still don’t fully understand how crystals grow or how to efficiently manufacture them.

The University of Illinois at Chicago received $1.7 million in research funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to study lead and other household health hazards. The funds will support two different projects in Illinois communities.

UIC’s Samuel Dorevitch, associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the School of Public Health, will be awarded up to $1 million through the Lead and Healthy Homes Technical Studies Program.  Through the Lead Technical Studies Program, UIC’s Apostolis Sambanis, adjunct assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the School of Public Health, will be awarded up to $700,000.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Utah Health have identified brain circuitry differences that might be associated with suicidal behavior in individuals with mood disorders. The study, published in Psychological Medicine, provides a promising lead toward tools that can predict which individuals are at the highest risk for suicide.

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received $2.8 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to investigate non-opioid pain management strategies for people with kidney disease, which affects about 15% of adults in the U.S.

Lithium-carbon dioxide batteries are attractive energy storage systems because they have a specific energy density that is more than seven times greater than commonly used lithium-ion batteries. However, until now, scientists have not been able to develop a fully rechargeable prototype, despite their potential to store more energy.