Engineering the Future: UChicago PME's most viewed stories of 2025
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) entered 2025 at the forefront of global innovation. From pioneering AI-driven molecular design to engineering sustainable materials, our researchers continue to redefine the boundaries of what is possible.
As 2025 comes to a close, we invite you to revisit how UChicago PME’s unique interdisciplinary focus is used to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.
At first glance, biology and quantum technology seem incompatible. Living systems operate in warm, noisy environments full of constant motion, while quantum technology typically requires extreme isolation and temperatures near absolute zero to function.
But quantum mechanics is the foundation of everything, including in biological molecules. In a first-of-its-kind breakthrough, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have turned a protein found in living cells into a functioning quantum bit, or qubit, the foundation of quantum technologies. The protein qubit can be used as a quantum sensor capable of detecting minute changes and ultimately offering unprecedented insight into biological processes.
“Rather than taking a conventional quantum sensor and trying to camouflage it to enter a biological system, we wanted to explore the idea of using a biological system itself and developing it into a qubit,” said David Awschalom, co-principal investigator of the project, Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering at UChicago PME and director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE). “Harnessing nature to create powerful families of quantum sensors—that’s the new direction here.”
From punch card-operated looms in the 1800s to modern cellphones, if an object has an “on” and an “off” state, it can be used to store information.
In a computer laptop, the binary ones and zeroes are transistors either running at low or high voltage. On a compact disc, the one is a spot where a tiny indented “pit” turns to a flat “land” or vice versa, while a zero is when there’s no change.
Historically, the size of the object making the “ones” and “zeroes” has put a limit on the size of the storage device. But now, UChicago PME researchers have explored a technique to make ones and zeroes out of crystal defects, each the size of an individual atom, for classical computer memory applications. Their research was published in Nanophotonics.
Understanding the behavior of matter at the level of molecules—how they bond, react, and change— is crucial for designing better materials, creating new medicines, and solving environmental challenges.
To understand these systems, researchers use quantum chemical computer simulations, which can interpret and predict new molecular systems and behavior, including catalytic processes, quantum phenomena, light-matter interactions.
Over the past 10 years, Prof. Laura Gagliardi of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and her collaborator Prof. Don Truhlar at the University of Minnesota have developed and refined a theory that makes it feasible to study larger quantum systems. Now, they have advanced that theory with a new method that achieves high accuracy without the steep computational cost of other advanced methods. The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
While many plans for quantum computers transmit data using the particles of light known as photons, researchers from UChicago PME are turning to sound.
In a paper in Nature Physics, a team uniting UChicago PME’s experimentalist Cleland Lab and theoretical Jiang Group demonstrated deterministic phase control of phonons, tiny mechanical vibrations that, on a much larger scale, would be considered sound.
By removing the randomness inherent in photon-based systems, this phase control could give sound an edge over light in building tomorrow’s quantum computers.
They linger in our water, our blood, and the environment—"forever chemicals” that are notoriously difficult to detect.
But researchers at the UChicago PME and Argonne National Laboratory have collaborated to develop a novel method to detect miniscule levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. The method, which they plan to share via a portable, handheld device, uses unique probes to quantify levels of PFAS “forever chemicals,” some of which are toxic to humans. The research was published in the journal Nature Water.
“Existing methods to measure levels of these contaminants can take weeks, and require state-of-the-art equipment and expertise,” said Junhong Chen, Crown Family Professor at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and Lead Water Strategist at Argonne National Laboratory. “Our new sensor device can measure these contaminants in just minutes.”
All-solid-state batteries are safe, powerful ways to power EVs and electronics and store electricity from the energy grid, but the lithium used to build them is rare, expensive and can be environmentally devastating to extract. Sodium is an inexpensive, plentiful, less-destructive alternative, but the all-solid-state batteries they create currently don’t work as well at room temperature.
“It’s not a matter of sodium versus lithium. We need both. When we think about tomorrow’s energy storage solutions, we should imagine the same gigafactory can produce products based on both lithium and sodium chemistries,” said Y. Shirley Meng, Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at UChicago PME. “This new research gets us closer to that ultimate goal while advancing basic science along the way.”
A paper from Meng's lab, published in Joule, helps rectify that problem. Their research raises the benchmark for sodium-based all-solid-state batteries, demonstrating thick cathodes that retain performance at room temperature down to subzero conditions.
Creating battery electrolytes – the component that carries the charged particles back and forth between a battery’s two terminals – has always been a tradeoff. Solid-state inorganic electrolytes move the particles extremely efficiently, but being solid and inorganic means they’re also brittle, hard to work with and difficult to connect seamlessly with the terminals. Polymer electrolytes are a dream to work with, but just don’t move the charged ions as well. Mixing the two to create hybrid electrolytes creates, well, mixed results.
“There’s a dilemma. Is a hybrid the best of both worlds in terms of higher ionic conductivity from the inorganic and good mechanical properties from the polymer, or is it a combination of their worst properties?” said Asst. Prof. Chibueze Amanchukwu of UChicago PME.
A new technique from Amanchukwu Lab builds inorganic and polymer electrolytes at the same time, in the same vessel. This “one-pot” in-situ method creates a controlled, homogenous blend, pairing the conductivity of the inorganic solids with the flexibility of the polymers.
New interdisciplinary research uniting microelectronics and immunology could help pacemakers, sensors, and other implantable devices keep people healthier for longer.
In a paper published in Nature Materials, a group of researchers led by UChicago PME Assoc. Prof. Sihong Wang outlined a suite of molecular design strategies for the semiconducting polymers used in implantable devices, strategies that can reduce the foreign-body response the implants trigger.
In some cases, the immune system might reject lifesaving devices like pacemakers or drug delivery systems. But in all cases, the immune system doing its job will, over time, encase the devices in scar tissue, hurting the devices’ ability to help patients.
A team led by researchers from UChicago PME has put Quantum Machine Learning (QML) on the job for early detection of cancer.
Their new technique, outlined in a paper in the journal Bioactive Materials, outperformed classical methods in distinguishing exosomes—microscopic particles exuded by cells—from cancer patients versus exosomes from healthy individuals, a potential revolution in cancer diagnosis.
“This is the first application of the Quantum ML on exosomes’ as well as nanoparticles’ biomechanical characteristics. Nobody has done this so far,” said first author Abhimanyu Thakur, who was with UChicago PME and the Ben May Department for Cancer Research during the research. “Traditionally, many different methods have been used to distinguish these particles, but those are time-consuming and tedious.”
Most interferons – proteins that send signals throughout the immune system – are beneficial when it comes to helping the body fight a virus. But interferon lambda 4 (IFNλ4) does the opposite; it makes an immune response worse. Studies have shown that people with the gene for IFNλ4 (up to 70% of people in some parts of the world), are less effective at fighting hepatitis C and can be more susceptible to COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses.
Understanding the IFNλ4 conundrum has been challenging since its discovery ten years ago. In particular, researchers have struggled to produce or purify high levels of the IFNλ4 protein.
Researchers at UChicago PME have developed a new method of producing and isolating IFNλ4. That enabled them to determine the structure of the protein for the first time, and it revealed an unusual, floppy region of the protein. Their studies reveal that this unstructured region contributes to why IFNλ4 has been hard to make in cells. Now, future studies can probe whether modifying that region could minimize the negative impact of IFNλ4 on the immune response. Asst. Prof. Juan Mendoza was the senior author of the work, featured by the Editor in Nature Communications.
Antibodies, which recognize viruses and proteins that the body has encountered before, have long gotten most of the credit for giving the human immune system a memory.
Now, researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have discovered a new form of immune memory. Macrophages, a type of white blood cell, adjust their molecular signaling patterns immediately after an infection, the researchers found. This short-term memory changes how macrophages respond to subsequent infections and immune signals – sometimes giving the cells a type of tolerance that makes them less responsive, sometimes strengthening their immune response.
The findings, published in Cell Systems, could eventually point toward new ways of controlling macrophage activity to treat infections or autoimmune diseases.
During a procedure known as laser lithotripsy, urologists use a small, video-guided laser to blast painful, potentially damaging kidney stones to smithereens.
It’s better for the patient if urologists can break kidney stones down as finely as possible, ideally to a dust that can be safely suctioned out – but using more powerful lasers creates additional heat that can damage surrounding tissue and hurt the patient.
Asst. Prof. Po-Chun Hsu co-authored a paper published in Advanced Science, the result of a collaboration of engineers and doctors from UChicago PME and Duke University who have pioneered a way to improve lasers’ efficiency on kidney stones, without changing the lasers. This work could result in shorter surgeries, faster recoveries, and less recurrence of a disease that affects 11% of Americans and raised national health spending more than $2 billion in 2000 alone.
Thousands of travelers walking through Chicago O’Hare International Airport now get an up-close view of the future in United Airlines’ Terminal 1 – the golden, sparkling internal electronics of a model quantum computer representing a technology that is poised to change the world.
"Imagine a future in which it’s possible to detect disease in a single cell, before it spreads, and to use a computer to determine the precise drug to treat that disease,” said UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) Prof. Nancy Kawalek, founder and director of the Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration (STAGE) Center. “Imagine a future in which your personal information is secure, and your financial information can't be hacked — a future in which science has advanced to the point where these things, and more, will be possible.”
A $21 million gift from philanthropist Thea Berggren to the University of Chicago established the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine, launching a bold scientific field that merges quantum technology with biology to transform the future of medicine.
This pioneering, interdisciplinary effort seeks to harness the power of quantum engineering — capable of the most sensitive measurements known to science — to peer inside the human body in unprecedented ways. The goal is to unlock insights into biology and disease that were previously out of reach, paving the way for new diagnostics and therapies.
The Berggren Center is housed within the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and draws on the University’s renowned strengths in quantum science, biomedical research and clinical care.
The University of Chicago will partner with global quantum company IonQ on a groundbreaking initiative that will advance research and discovery in quantum science and engineering, helping develop technologies with the potential to improve lives—from powerful quantum computers and ultra-secure quantum communication networks to industry-defining quantum applications and record-breaking quantum sensors.
The collaboration with IonQ further establishes UChicago as a global leader in quantum science and engineering—and Chicago and Illinois as a growing hub for cutting-edge quantum research and industry. The initiative will support faculty, postdoctoral and student researchers in fundamental quantum science at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and establish a sponsored research program between UChicago and IonQ. The partnership includes the construction of a world-class science and engineering building at UChicago that will house UChicago PME and other University science and technology research areas. In recognition of the agreement, the building planned at 56th Street and Ellis Avenue will be named the IonQ Center for Engineering and Science.