For much of modern history, body fat was viewed simply as stored energy, a passive reserve that expanded or shrank depending on diet and activity. Today, that understanding has shifted dramatically. Research led by scholars such as Prof. Jamie Rausch of Indiana University reveals that adipose tissue is not merely a storage site but a dynamic, hormone-producing system that influences nearly every aspect of human health. When this system becomes dysregulated, it can quietly set the stage for chronic diseases that affect millions worldwide.

When a peripheral nerve is badly damaged due to injury, the consequences can be life-changing. Hands that no longer feel heat or cold, muscles that will not respond to the brain’s commands, and pain that lingers for years are all common outcomes. Surgeons can sometimes stitch nerves back together, but when there is a section of nerve missing entirely, repair becomes far more complex. For decades, researchers have been trying to build better bridges for injured nerve axons to cross. A new interdisciplinary research effort led by Dr. Jeddah Marie Vasquez and Dr. Vijay Kumar Kuna of Research Institutes of Sweden, and their collaborators from Umeå University (Associate Professor Paul Kingham) and University College London (Professor James Phillips), bring together polymer chemistry, materials science, and cell biology to rethink what such a bridge could be made of – and how it might one day be tailored to individual patients.