Freedom to Explore
Caltech alumnus and telecommunications pioneer Ronald Willens and his wife, JoAnne, support early-career faculty working across traditional boundaries.
Human Health
A mobile app that decodes the health of your heart. Probiotics that can treat the symptoms of autism. A 30-minute test that reveals your body’s resistance to certain antibiotics. Caltech researchers from diverse fields—biology, chemistry, physics, electrical and mechanical engineering, and geology—are advancing foundational science to create new medical treatments and tools. Your gift will accelerate the pace of discovery to help people live healthier, longer lives.
To start a conversation about your potential gift, email give@caltech.edu or call (626) 395-4863.
The Math of Human + Machine
Maegan Tucker moves people. As a first-year graduate student in mechanical engineering at Caltech, she developed an accessory for walking canes that vibrates to alert users when they may be in danger of falling. She researches ankle exoskeletons that could help people with ambulatory impairments walk farther with less effort, and full-body suits that could return mobility to those who have lost it.
What Makes Up a Mind
Imagine if you were paralyzed and unable to communicate. Your loved ones and doctors would have no way of knowing whether you felt at peace or were suffering. Currently, brain scans could not tell us how you feel. Ralph Adolphs (PhD ’93) would like to change that.
Tags:
Human Health;
Neuroscience
Amgen Foundation Honors David Baltimore with Gift to Caltech
The Amgen Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the biotechnology company, has committed $7.5 million for a suite of graduate fellowships in biochemistry and molecular biophysics that will provide Caltech students exceptional latitude in their studies of the molecular basis of life. The fellowship program is in the name of Caltech president emeritus and Nobel laureate David Baltimore.
The Regenerator
If a hydra breaks in two, each half of the ageless sea creature grows into a fully formed organism. Planarian worms, axolotls, sea stars, and certain geckos regrow lost body parts as well, but this select club excludes humans and other mammals. People can regenerate small pieces of tissue, but lost limbs are gone forever.
Tags:
Faculty Support;
Human Health
Philanthropy Accelerates Research into the Microbiome
Behind almost every discovery, there is a team. Breakthroughs grow out of scientific collaborations among extraordinary investigators. And another type of partnership can drive new knowledge: backing from generous supporters. Such is the case for Sarkis Mazmanian, the Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology and a Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator at Caltech.
Tags:
Faculty Support;
Human Health
Caltech Launches Merkin Institute for Translational Research
A gift to Break Through: The Caltech Campaign from trustee Richard Merkin establishes the Richard N. Merkin Institute for Translational Research.
Order from Chaos
The more Caltech biochemist Shu-ou Shan learns about how proteins are made, the more she marvels that life exists at all.
Tags:
Human Health