Research Impact Stories

Revolutionizing Clean Air and Chemical Safety
Chemistry professor Omar Farha has developed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), highly porous materials that act as "programmable sponges" to capture toxic gases. His startup, NuMat Technologies, uses this innovation to safely store hazardous gases and develop self-cleaning masks that neutralize viruses, including COVID-19.

Pioneering Probe Monitors Fetal Health in Utero During Surgery
Northwestern researchers have developed the first device that can continuously track a fetus’s vital signs while still in the uterus — a feat that previously has not been possible.
The soft, flexible, robotic probe could dramatically improve safety during fetal surgeries, procedures in which physicians operate on a fetus before birth. Northwestern bioelectronics pioneer John A. Rogers led the device development in collaboration with Dr. Aimen Shaaban, a fetal surgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Can wearables help reduce lifelong blood thinner use for patients with atrial fibrillation?
Northwestern Medicine is an enrollment site for a new NIH-funded clinical trial studying whether wearable technology can safely guide when patients with AFib need blood-thinning medication. Led by Northwestern Medicine physician scientist Rod Passman, MD, the REACTAF study explores a more personalized, the REACTAF study explores a more personalized, on-demand approach to stroke prevention.