At the Forefront of Medical Research

John Donne was wrong. At the cellular level, we really are "islands unto ourselves."

That's why medical researchers are working on "designer drugs," custom-made for the biological makeup of each patient and infinitely more effective.

That effort is propelling Carnegie Mellon University to the forefront of medical research, once an unlikely place for a university with no medical school. But that was before the Human Genome Project produced such volumes of data that researchers needed supercomputers to make use of it.

Now, with the nation's #1 ranked computer science program, we're doing some of the most advanced medical research on earth. One example is the new field of proteomics, the study of how proteins behave. Proteins do a thousand jobs in the body, but when they're defective, they can cause problems like cancer, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes, inadequate immune system response and insufficient hormone production. Understanding proteins could lead to customized drugs that target these problems. Our researchers have come up with powerful new tools to move that research forward, including ways to diagnose diseases at a much earlier stage.

We're researching the brain as well as the body, using computer modeling of brain functions, taken from real-time, full-motion images of the brain at work. This is uncovering the biological processes behind thought itself. And what we've found holds amazing promise for the problems of autism, brain damage and many other maladies of the brain.

Of course, we're also a leader in medical robotics, especially software programs that let surgeons plot their procedures in advance to assure optimal outcomes. Someday, robotics may allow remote surgery by renowned specialists thousands of miles away. Or offer brain surgeons precision that no human hand could duplicate.

These efforts have tapped the expertise of researchers from a spectrum of disciplines. That kind of collaboration is a hallmark of Carnegie Mellon University. And a major reason why some of the things we're accomplishing in medical research could only happen here.

At the Forefront of Medical Research

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