research paper for science topics

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

New treatment could reverse hair loss caused by an autoimmune skin disease

Press contact :, media download.

*Terms of Use:

Images for download on the MIT News office website are made available to non-commercial entities, press and the general public under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license . You may not alter the images provided, other than to crop them to size. A credit line must be used when reproducing images; if one is not provided below, credit the images to "MIT."

Previous image Next image

Researchers at MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School have developed a potential new treatment for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss and affects people of all ages, including children.

For most patients with this type of hair loss, there is no effective treatment. The team developed a microneedle patch that can be painlessly applied to the scalp and releases drugs that help to rebalance the immune response at the site, halting the autoimmune attack.

In a study of mice, the researchers found that this treatment allowed hair to regrow and dramatically reduced inflammation at the treatment site, while avoiding systemic immune effects elsewhere in the body. This strategy could also be adapted to treat other autoimmune skin diseases such as vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis, the researchers say.

“This innovative approach marks a paradigm shift. Rather than suppressing the immune system, we’re now focusing on regulating it precisely at the site of antigen encounter to generate immune tolerance,” says Natalie Artzi, a principal research scientist in MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an associate faculty member at the Wyss Institute of Harvard University.

Artzi and Jamil R. Azzi, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, are the senior authors of the new study , which appears in the journal Advanced Materials . Nour Younis, a Brigham and Women’s postdoc, and Nuria Puigmal, a Brigham and Women’s postdoc and former MIT research affiliate, are the lead authors of the paper.

The researchers are now working on launching a company to further develop the technology, led by Puigmal, who was recently awarded a Harvard Business School Blavatnik Fellowship.

Direct delivery

Alopecia areata, which affects more than 6 million Americans, occurs when the body’s own T cells attack hair follicles, leading the hair to fall out. The only treatment available to most patients — injections of immunosuppressant steroids into the scalp — is painful and patients often can’t tolerate it.

Some patients with alopecia areata and other autoimmune skin diseases can also be treated with immunosuppressant drugs that are given orally, but these drugs lead to widespread suppression of the immune system, which can have adverse side effects.

“This approach silences the entire immune system, offering relief from inflammation symptoms but leading to frequent recurrences. Moreover, it increases susceptibility to infections, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer,” Artzi says.

A few years ago, at a working group meeting in Washington, Artzi happened to be seated next to Azzi (the seating was alphabetical), an immunologist and transplant physican who was seeking new ways to deliver drugs directly to the skin to treat skin-related diseases.

Their conversation led to a new collaboration, and the two labs joined forces to work on a microneedle patch to deliver drugs to the skin. In 2021, they reported that such a patch can be used to prevent rejection following skin transplant. In the new study, they began applying this approach to autoimmune skin disorders.

“The skin is the only organ in our body that we can see and touch, and yet when it comes to drug delivery to the skin, we revert to systemic administration. We saw great potential in utilizing the microneedle patch to reprogram the immune system locally,” Azzi says.

The microneedle patches used in this study are made from hyaluronic acid crosslinked with polyethylene glycol (PEG), both of which are biocompatible and commonly used in medical applications. With this delivery method, drugs can pass through the tough outer layer of the epidermis, which can’t be penetrated by creams applied to the skin.

“This polymer formulation allows us to create highly durable needles capable of effectively penetrating the skin. Additionally, it gives us the flexibility to incorporate any desired drug,” Artzi says. For this study, the researchers loaded the patches with a combination of the cytokines IL-2 and CCL-22. Together, these immune molecules help to recruit regulatory T cells, which proliferate and help to tamp down inflammation. These cells also help the immune system learn to recognize that hair follicles are not foreign antigens, so that it will stop attacking them.

Hair regrowth

The researchers found that mice treated with this patch every other day for three weeks had many more regulatory T cells present at the site, along with a reduction in inflammation. Hair was able to regrow at those sites, and this growth was maintained for several weeks after the treatment ended. In these mice, there were no changes in the levels of regulatory T cells in the spleen or lymph nodes, suggesting that the treatment affected only the site where the patch was applied.

In another set of experiments, the researchers grafted human skin onto mice with a humanized immune system. In these mice, the microneedle treatment also induced proliferation of regulatory T cells and a reduction in inflammation.

The researchers designed the microneedle patches so that after releasing their drug payload, they can also collect samples that could be used to monitor the progress of the treatment. Hyaluronic acid causes the needles to swell about tenfold after entering the skin, which allows them to absorb interstitial fluid containing biomolecules and immune cells from the skin.

Following patch removal, researchers can analyze samples to measure levels of regulatory T cells and inflammation markers. This could prove valuable for monitoring future patients who may undergo this treatment.

The researchers now plan to further develop this approach for treating alopecia, and to expand into other autoimmune skin diseases.

The research was funded by the Ignite Fund and Shark Tank Fund awards from the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Share this news article on:

Related links.

• Natalie Artzi
• Institute for Medical Engineering and Science

Related Topics

• Drug delivery
• Health sciences and technology
• Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES)

Related Articles

A sprayable gel could make minimally invasive surgeries simpler and safer

Patch that delivers drug, gene, and light-based therapy to tumor sites shows promising results

MIT researchers design tailored tissue adhesives

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

The power of App Inventor: Democratizing possibilities for mobile applications

Read full story →

Using MRI, engineers have found a way to detect light deep in the brain

From steel engineering to ovarian tumor research

A better way to control shape-shifting soft robots

Professor Emeritus David Lanning, nuclear engineer and key contributor to the MIT Reactor, dies at 96

Discovering community and cultural connections

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram

• Skip to main content
• Skip to FDA Search
• Skip to in this section menu
• Skip to footer links

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

•   Search
•   Menu
• Vaccines, Blood & Biologics
• Science & Research (Biologics)

Improving Safety and Potency Testing of Allergen Extracts

Jay E. Slater, MD

Office of Vaccines Research and Review Division of Bacterial, Parasitic, and Allergenic Products Laboratory of Immunobiochemistry

[email protected]

Dr. Slater received his medical degree at Harvard Medical School, trained in Pediatrics at the Babies Hospital in New York (Columbia Presbyterian), and in Allergy-Immunology at NIAID/NIH. He is board certified in Pediatrics, Allergy Immunology and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, and licensed to practice medicine in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

After 12 years as an academic allergist immunologist at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, Dr. Slater became a Supervisory Medical Officer at the US Food and Drug Administration, first as Chief of the Laboratory of Immunobiochemistry, then as Deputy Director and finally Director of the Division of Bacterial, Parasitic and Allergenic Products.

Dr. Slater’s research interests have included natural rubber latex allergy, and the detailed characterization of non-standardized allergen extracts including German cockroach, mouse and fungal allergen extracts, among others, using proteomics, monoclonal antibodies and mass spectrometry. Dr. Slater has authored 36 research papers as first or senior author, in addition to 22 review articles and 12 book chapters.

General Overview

Allergen extracts are used in the United States to diagnose and treat allergic diseases. Skin tests containing these extracts determine the causes of allergies. "Allergy shots" containing them are used to reduce or eliminate allergic symptoms. As with all drugs and biologics, good quality controls are needed to ensure that allergen extracts are safe and effective. The goal of our research is to provide new tools and data that allow allergen extract manufacturers to maintain and improve the quality of these important products.

Our major area of focus involves the methods by which FDA and manufacturers measure the potency, or strength, of an allergen extract. Existing methods either measure a single, dominant protein in the extract, or determine the potency by measuring several undefined proteins as a group.

We expand on available methods for assessing complex allergen extracts to include mass spectrometry. This will allow precise determinations of specific proteins and their isoforms. We will focus on the insect German cockroach, the fungus Alternaria alternata, mouse urine and house dust mite. We have chosen these allergens because they can cause serious human allergic disease, and are biologically complex.

Allergen extracts are important tools for the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases, which are common, often disabling, and occasionally dangerous. The novel methods that we are developing will enhance the efficacy, safety and quality control of these critical products.

Scientific Overview

The potencies of allergen extracts are determined by several methods, based on the nature of the extracts. For some, for which there are only one or two known allergens, specific allergen testing can be performed (by ELISA or radial immunodiffusion assay, RID). For others, overall allergenicity testing is required, usually by competition ELISA. The existing competition ELISA is a sensitive and specific method of determining overall potency, but its performance characteristics for each component allergen is uncertain. When an individual allergen is removed from the extract, the polyvalent sera cannot reliably discern its absence (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000;105:482-488; Clin Exp Allergy 2006; 36:525-530). Until each relevant allergen in a mixture is identified, regulators must ask manufacturers to measure overall potency. Once important allergens are determined, their measurement requires a change in technology that can be time-consuming and difficult.

The purpose of this research program is to develop assay strategies that will have the strengths of both the allergen-specific assays and the overall allergenicity assays, and that will allow manufacturers and regulators to determine the amounts of specific allergens in a mixture, as well as its overall allergenicity. Multiplex assays have been used with success for a variety of assays, such as detecting allergen-specific IgE and the amount of allergen in the environment. Following this approach, we designed a multiplex allergen extract potency assay (MAEPA), based on the expressions and production of numerous monoclonal antibodies against allergens in complex mixtures. In completed work, the MAEPA assay was optimized for cat hair and short ragweed pollen allergen extracts, and German cockroach allergen extracts.

In current work we are developing a mass spectrometry-based multiplex assay (so-called multiple reaction monitoring, MRM) to house dust mite, Alternaria alternata, and mouse urine allergen extracts. All of these allergens are associated with rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma; three of them (cockroach, Alternaria, and mouse) are currently non-standardized. The potential advantages of the MRM method over existing technologies (RID, ELISA) include greater accuracy and multiplexing. The advantage of MRM over MAEPA is quicker development time and easier transferability to manufacturers.

Publications

• Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2024 Jan 22 [Epub ahead of print] Vitellin/vitellogenin is an important allergen in German cockroach. Hadiwinarta C, Blank A, Somers J, Schal C, Bronzert C, Sharma K, Strader MB, Hamilton RG, Slater JE
• Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2024 Jan 22;1-6 Vitellin/vitellogenin is an important allergen in German cockroach. Hadiwinarta C, Blank A, Somers J, Schal C, Bronzert C, Sharma K, Strader MB, Hamilton RG
• J Allergy Clin Immunol 2022 Mar;149(3):812-8 A regulator's view on AIT clinical trials in the United States and Europe: why successful studies fail to support licensure. Bonertz A, Tripathi A, Zimmer J, Reeb C, Kaul S, Bridgewater J, Rabin RL, Slater JE, Vieths S
• Allergy 2021 Dec;76(12):3723-32 Diversity and complexity of mouse allergens in urine, house dust, and allergen extracts assessed with an immuno-allergomic approach. Mindaye ST, Sun C, Esfahani SAZ, Matsui EC, Sheehan MJ, Rabin RL, Slater JE
• J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 2020 Sep;8(8):2506-14 The allergen: sources, extracts, and molecules for diagnosis of allergic disease. Goodman RE, Chapman MD, Slater JE
• Clin Exp Allergy 2020 Jun;50(6):741-51 Measurement of German cockroach (GCr) allergens and their isoforms in allergen extracts with mass spectrometry. Mindaye ST, David NA, Esfahani SAZ, Schal C, Matsui EC, Ronald RL, Slater JE
• J Allergy Clin Immunol 2019 Oct;144(4):1140 Regulation of allergen immunotherapy products in Europe and the United States. Rabin RL, Bridgewater J, Slater JE
• Allergy 2018 Apr;73(4):816-26 Allergen manufacturing and quality aspects for allergen immunotherapy in Europe and the United States: an analysis from the EAACI AIT Guidelines Project. Bonertz A, Roberts G, Slater JE, Bridgewater J, Rabin RL, Hoefnagel M, Timon M, Pini C, Pfaar O, Sheikh A, Ryan D, Akdis C, Goldstein J, Poulsen LK, van Ree R, Rhyner C, Barber D, Palomares O, Pawankar R, Hamerlijnk D, Klimek L, Agache I, Angier E, Casale T, Fernandez-Rivas M, Halken S, Jutel M, Lau S, Pajno G, Sturm G, Varga EM, van Wijk RG, Bonini S, Muraro A, Vieths S
• Allergy 2018 Jan;73(1):64-76 Challenges in the implementation of EAACI guidelines on allergen immunotherapy: a global perspective on the regulation of allergen products. Bonertz A, Roberts G, Hoefnagel M, Timon M, Slater J, Rabin R, Bridgewater J, Pini C, Pfaar O, Akdis C, Goldstein J, Poulsen LK, van Ree R, Rhyner C, Barber D, Palomares O, Sheikh A, Pawankar R, Hamerlijnk D, Klimek L, Agache I, Angier E, Casale T, Fernandez-Rivas M, Halken S, Jutel M, Lau S, Pajno G, Sturm G, Maria Varga E, van Wijk RG, Bonini S, Muraro A, Vieths S
• Clin Exp Allergy 2017 Dec;47(12):1661-70 Accurate quantification of 5 German cockroach (GCr) allergens in complex extracts using multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM MS). Mindaye ST, Spiric J, David NA, Rabin RL, Slater JE
• PLoS One 2017 Aug 2;12(8):e0182260 Cross-reaction between Formosan termite (Coptotermes formosanus) proteins and cockroach allergens. Mattison CP, Khurana T, Tarver MR, Florane CB, Grimm CC, Pakala SB, Cottone CB, Riegel C, Bren-Mattison Y, Slater JE
• Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2017 Aug;119(2):101-7 Food allergen extracts to diagnose food-induced allergic diseases: how they are made. David NA, Penumarti A, Burks AW, Slater JE
• Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2016 May;116(5):440-446.e2 The NPC2 protein: a novel dog allergen. Khurana T, Newman-Lindsay S, Young PR, Slater JE
• PLoS One 2015 Oct 7;10(10):e0140225 Multiplex assay for protein profiling and potency measurement of German cockroach allergen extracts. Khurana T, Dobrovolskaia E, Shartouny JR, Slater JE

• Program Finder
• Admissions Services
• Course Directory
• Academic Calendar
• Hybrid Campus
• Lecture Series
• Convocation
• Strategy and Development
• Implementation and Impact
• Integrity and Oversight
• In the School
• In the Field
• In Baltimore
• Resources for Practitioners
• Articles & News Releases
• In The News
• Statements & Announcements
• At a Glance
• Student Life
• Strategic Priorities
• Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (IDARE)
• What is Public Health?

research@BSPH

The School’s research endeavors aim to improve the public’s health in the U.S. and throughout the world.

• Funding Opportunities and Support
• Faculty Innovation Award Winners

Conducting Research That Addresses Public Health Issues Worldwide

Systematic and rigorous inquiry allows us to discover the fundamental mechanisms and causes of disease and disparities. At our Office of Research ( research@BSPH), we translate that knowledge to develop, evaluate, and disseminate treatment and prevention strategies and inform public health practice. Research along this entire spectrum represents a fundamental mission of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

From laboratories at Baltimore’s Wolfe Street building, to Bangladesh maternity wards in densely   packed neighborhoods, to field studies in rural Botswana, Bloomberg School faculty lead research that directly addresses the most critical public health issues worldwide. Research spans from molecules to societies and relies on methodologies as diverse as bench science and epidemiology. That research is translated into impact, from discovering ways to eliminate malaria, increase healthy behavior, reduce the toll of chronic disease, improve the health of mothers and infants, or change the biology of aging.

120+ countries

engaged in research activity by BSPH faculty and teams.

of all federal grants and contracts awarded to schools of public health are awarded to BSPH. 

citations on  publications where BSPH was listed in the authors' affiliation in 2019-2023. 

 publications where BSPH was listed in the authors' affiliation in 2019-2023.

Departments

Our 10 departments offer faculty and students the flexibility to focus on a variety of public health disciplines

Centers and Institutes Directory

Our 80+ Centers and Institutes provide a unique combination of breadth and depth, and rich opportunities for collaboration

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversees two IRBs registered with the U.S. Office of Human Research Protections, IRB X and IRB FC, which meet weekly to review human subjects research applications for Bloomberg School faculty and students

Generosity helps our community think outside the traditional boundaries of public health, working across disciplines and industries, to translate research into innovative health interventions and practices

Introducing the research@BSPH Ecosystem

The   research@BSPH   ecosystem aims to foster an interdependent sense of community among faculty researchers, their research teams, administration, and staff that leverages knowledge and develops shared responses to challenges. The ultimate goal is to work collectively to reduce administrative and bureaucratic barriers related to conducting experiments, recruiting participants, analyzing data, hiring staff,   and more, so that faculty can focus on their core academic pursuits.

Research at the Bloomberg School is a team sport.

In order to provide  extensive guidance, infrastructure, and support in pursuit of its research mission,   research@BSPH  employs three core areas: strategy and development, implementation and impact, and integrity and oversight. Our exceptional research teams comprised of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, students, and committed staff are united in our collaborative, collegial, and entrepreneurial approach to problem solving. T he Bloomberg School ensures that our research is accomplished according to the highest ethical standards and complies with all regulatory requirements. In addition to our institutional review board (IRB) which provides oversight for human subjects research, basic science studies employee techniques to ensure the reproducibility of research. 

Research@BSPH in the News

Four bloomberg school faculty elected to national academy of medicine.

Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, NAM membership recognizes outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service.

The Maryland Maternal Health Innovation Program Grant Renewed with Johns Hopkins

Lerner center for public health advocacy announces inaugural sommer klag advocacy impact award winners.

Bloomberg School faculty Nadia Akseer and Cass Crifasi selected winners at Advocacy Impact Awards Pitch Competition

How systems transitions can improve sustainable development

Clark, William, et al. Systems transitions research and sustainable development: Challenges, progress, and prospects ,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 120, No. 47, Nov. 2023).

Faculty Authors

William Clark

What’s the issue.

Making development sustainable is a central challenge of our age. The field of sustainability science tries to figure out how interactions of nature and society can support sustainable development. One key goal is figuring out how to restructure complex consumption-production systems. Examples of these systems are production and consumption of food, energy, and mobility. Scientists are studying how transitions in these production-consumption systems can bend development pathways toward sustainability.

What does the research say?

Writing in a special edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scholars Frank Geels of the University of Manchester, Florian Kern of the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Berlin, and William C. Clark of Harvard Kennedy School bring together insights from experts on system transitions that shape sustainable development. This work weighs how potential solutions might fundamentally shift consumption-production systems. The authors note that radical innovations in small niches can lead to major transitions in large consumption-production systems. The three lead authors call on more than a dozen sustainable development scholars to examine specific innovations and obstacles to progress. These experts look at the drivers and barriers to sustainability in electricity, food, and mobility systems; they also consider larger cross-cutting systems issues. For example, one essay analyzes the British electricity system since World War Two, and the role that increasing concerns about climate change played in generating a more interventionist policy approach to shift electricity production and consumption. These systems changes led to an 86% reduction in emissions from 2006 to 2019. The authors note that political and economic struggles as well as technological advances drove this transition. Another paper analyzes how recent technology advances in energy storage, microgrids, and digitized systems in the United States have helped undermine long-time obstacles to small-scale solar energy development. Other essays look at the adoption of electric vehicles in Norway, the systems issues involved in car-sharing, agroecology in Nicaragua, and the shift to plant-based alternatives to meat production. 

More from HKS

For more than four decades, professor bill clark has championed sustainability, walking the talk: how students can contribute to the hks sustainability agenda, pursuing sustainability: a guide to the science and practice.

Get smart & reliable public policy insights right in your inbox. 

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

A Message From the Assistant Director of Content Development 

The Purdue OWL® is committed to supporting  students, instructors, and writers by offering a wide range of resources that are developed and revised with them in mind. To do this, the OWL team is always exploring possibilties for a better design, allowing accessibility and user experience to guide our process. As the OWL undergoes some changes, we welcome your feedback and suggestions by email at any time.

Please don't hesitate to contact us via our contact page  if you have any questions or comments.

All the best,

Social Media

Facebook twitter.

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Free printable Mother's Day questionnaire 💐!

72 Easy Science Experiments Using Materials You Already Have On Hand

Because science doesn’t have to be complicated.

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to get your students excited, it’s a good science experiment! While some experiments require expensive lab equipment or dangerous chemicals, there are plenty of cool projects you can do with regular household items. We’ve rounded up a big collection of easy science experiments that anybody can try, and kids are going to love them!

Easy Chemistry Science Experiments

Easy physics science experiments, easy biology and environmental science experiments, easy engineering experiments and stem challenges.

1. Taste the Rainbow

Teach your students about diffusion while creating a beautiful and tasty rainbow! Tip: Have extra Skittles on hand so your class can eat a few!

Learn more: Skittles Diffusion

2. Crystallize sweet treats

Crystal science experiments teach kids about supersaturated solutions. This one is easy to do at home, and the results are absolutely delicious!

Learn more: Candy Crystals

3. Make a volcano erupt

This classic experiment demonstrates a chemical reaction between baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid), which produces carbon dioxide gas, water, and sodium acetate.

Learn more: Best Volcano Experiments

4. Make elephant toothpaste

This fun project uses yeast and a hydrogen peroxide solution to create overflowing “elephant toothpaste.” Tip: Add an extra fun layer by having kids create toothpaste wrappers for plastic bottles.

5. Blow the biggest bubbles you can

Add a few simple ingredients to dish soap solution to create the largest bubbles you’ve ever seen! Kids learn about surface tension as they engineer these bubble-blowing wands.

Learn more: Giant Soap Bubbles

6. Demonstrate the “magic” leakproof bag

All you need is a zip-top plastic bag, sharp pencils, and water to blow your kids’ minds. Once they’re suitably impressed, teach them how the “trick” works by explaining the chemistry of polymers.

Learn more: Leakproof Bag

7. Use apple slices to learn about oxidation

Have students make predictions about what will happen to apple slices when immersed in different liquids, then put those predictions to the test. Have them record their observations.

Learn more: Apple Oxidation

8. Float a marker man

Their eyes will pop out of their heads when you “levitate” a stick figure right off the table! This experiment works due to the insolubility of dry-erase marker ink in water, combined with the lighter density of the ink.

Learn more: Floating Marker Man

9. Discover density with hot and cold water

There are a lot of easy science experiments you can do with density. This one is extremely simple, involving only hot and cold water and food coloring, but the visuals make it appealing and fun.

Learn more: Layered Water

10. Layer more liquids

This density demo is a little more complicated, but the effects are spectacular. Slowly layer liquids like honey, dish soap, water, and rubbing alcohol in a glass. Kids will be amazed when the liquids float one on top of the other like magic (except it is really science).

Learn more: Layered Liquids

11. Grow a carbon sugar snake

Easy science experiments can still have impressive results! This eye-popping chemical reaction demonstration only requires simple supplies like sugar, baking soda, and sand.

Learn more: Carbon Sugar Snake

12. Mix up some slime

Tell kids you’re going to make slime at home, and watch their eyes light up! There are a variety of ways to make slime, so try a few different recipes to find the one you like best.

13. Make homemade bouncy balls

These homemade bouncy balls are easy to make since all you need is glue, food coloring, borax powder, cornstarch, and warm water. You’ll want to store them inside a container like a plastic egg because they will flatten out over time.

Learn more: Make Your Own Bouncy Balls

14. Create eggshell chalk

Eggshells contain calcium, the same material that makes chalk. Grind them up and mix them with flour, water, and food coloring to make your very own sidewalk chalk.

Learn more: Eggshell Chalk

15. Make naked eggs

This is so cool! Use vinegar to dissolve the calcium carbonate in an eggshell to discover the membrane underneath that holds the egg together. Then, use the “naked” egg for another easy science experiment that demonstrates osmosis .

Learn more: Naked Egg Experiment

16. Turn milk into plastic

This sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but don’t be afraid to give it a try. Use simple kitchen supplies to create plastic polymers from plain old milk. Sculpt them into cool shapes when you’re done!

17. Test pH using cabbage

Teach kids about acids and bases without needing pH test strips! Simply boil some red cabbage and use the resulting water to test various substances—acids turn red and bases turn green.

Learn more: Cabbage pH

18. Clean some old coins

Use common household items to make old oxidized coins clean and shiny again in this simple chemistry experiment. Ask kids to predict (hypothesize) which will work best, then expand the learning by doing some research to explain the results.

Learn more: Cleaning Coins

19. Pull an egg into a bottle

This classic easy science experiment never fails to delight. Use the power of air pressure to suck a hard-boiled egg into a jar, no hands required.

Learn more: Egg in a Bottle

20. Blow up a balloon (without blowing)

Chances are good you probably did easy science experiments like this when you were in school. The baking soda and vinegar balloon experiment demonstrates the reactions between acids and bases when you fill a bottle with vinegar and a balloon with baking soda.

21 Assemble a DIY lava lamp

This 1970s trend is back—as an easy science experiment! This activity combines acid-base reactions with density for a totally groovy result.

22. Explore how sugary drinks affect teeth

The calcium content of eggshells makes them a great stand-in for teeth. Use eggs to explore how soda and juice can stain teeth and wear down the enamel. Expand your learning by trying different toothpaste-and-toothbrush combinations to see how effective they are.

Learn more: Sugar and Teeth Experiment

23. Mummify a hot dog

If your kids are fascinated by the Egyptians, they’ll love learning to mummify a hot dog! No need for canopic jars , just grab some baking soda and get started.

24. Extinguish flames with carbon dioxide

This is a fiery twist on acid-base experiments. Light a candle and talk about what fire needs in order to survive. Then, create an acid-base reaction and “pour” the carbon dioxide to extinguish the flame. The CO2 gas acts like a liquid, suffocating the fire.

25. Send secret messages with invisible ink

Turn your kids into secret agents! Write messages with a paintbrush dipped in lemon juice, then hold the paper over a heat source and watch the invisible become visible as oxidation goes to work.

Learn more: Invisible Ink

26. Create dancing popcorn

This is a fun version of the classic baking soda and vinegar experiment, perfect for the younger crowd. The bubbly mixture causes popcorn to dance around in the water.

27. Shoot a soda geyser sky-high

You’ve always wondered if this really works, so it’s time to find out for yourself! Kids will marvel at the chemical reaction that sends diet soda shooting high in the air when Mentos are added.

Learn more: Soda Explosion

28. Send a teabag flying

Hot air rises, and this experiment can prove it! You’ll want to supervise kids with fire, of course. For more safety, try this one outside.

Learn more: Flying Tea Bags

29. Create magic milk

This fun and easy science experiment demonstrates principles related to surface tension, molecular interactions, and fluid dynamics.

Learn more: Magic Milk Experiment

30. Watch the water rise

Learn about Charles’s Law with this simple experiment. As the candle burns, using up oxygen and heating the air in the glass, the water rises as if by magic.

Learn more: Rising Water

31. Learn about capillary action

Kids will be amazed as they watch the colored water move from glass to glass, and you’ll love the easy and inexpensive setup. Gather some water, paper towels, and food coloring to teach the scientific magic of capillary action.

Learn more: Capillary Action

32. Give a balloon a beard

Equally educational and fun, this experiment will teach kids about static electricity using everyday materials. Kids will undoubtedly get a kick out of creating beards on their balloon person!

Learn more: Static Electricity

33. Find your way with a DIY compass

Here’s an old classic that never fails to impress. Magnetize a needle, float it on the water’s surface, and it will always point north.

Learn more: DIY Compass

34. Crush a can using air pressure

Sure, it’s easy to crush a soda can with your bare hands, but what if you could do it without touching it at all? That’s the power of air pressure!

35. Tell time using the sun

While people use clocks or even phones to tell time today, there was a time when a sundial was the best means to do that. Kids will certainly get a kick out of creating their own sundials using everyday materials like cardboard and pencils.

Learn more: Make Your Own Sundial

36. Launch a balloon rocket

Grab balloons, string, straws, and tape, and launch rockets to learn about the laws of motion.

37. Make sparks with steel wool

All you need is steel wool and a 9-volt battery to perform this science demo that’s bound to make their eyes light up! Kids learn about chain reactions, chemical changes, and more.

Learn more: Steel Wool Electricity

38. Levitate a Ping-Pong ball

Kids will get a kick out of this experiment, which is really all about Bernoulli’s principle. You only need plastic bottles, bendy straws, and Ping-Pong balls to make the science magic happen.

39. Whip up a tornado in a bottle

There are plenty of versions of this classic experiment out there, but we love this one because it sparkles! Kids learn about a vortex and what it takes to create one.

Learn more: Tornado in a Bottle

40. Monitor air pressure with a DIY barometer

This simple but effective DIY science project teaches kids about air pressure and meteorology. They’ll have fun tracking and predicting the weather with their very own barometer.

Learn more: DIY Barometer

41. Peer through an ice magnifying glass

Students will certainly get a thrill out of seeing how an everyday object like a piece of ice can be used as a magnifying glass. Be sure to use purified or distilled water since tap water will have impurities in it that will cause distortion.

Learn more: Ice Magnifying Glass

42. String up some sticky ice

Can you lift an ice cube using just a piece of string? This quick experiment teaches you how. Use a little salt to melt the ice and then refreeze the ice with the string attached.

Learn more: Sticky Ice

43. “Flip” a drawing with water

Light refraction causes some really cool effects, and there are multiple easy science experiments you can do with it. This one uses refraction to “flip” a drawing; you can also try the famous “disappearing penny” trick .

Learn more: Light Refraction With Water

44. Color some flowers

We love how simple this project is to re-create since all you’ll need are some white carnations, food coloring, glasses, and water. The end result is just so beautiful!

45. Use glitter to fight germs

Everyone knows that glitter is just like germs—it gets everywhere and is so hard to get rid of! Use that to your advantage and show kids how soap fights glitter and germs.

Learn more: Glitter Germs

46. Re-create the water cycle in a bag

You can do so many easy science experiments with a simple zip-top bag. Fill one partway with water and set it on a sunny windowsill to see how the water evaporates up and eventually “rains” down.

Learn more: Water Cycle

47. Learn about plant transpiration

Your backyard is a terrific place for easy science experiments. Grab a plastic bag and rubber band to learn how plants get rid of excess water they don’t need, a process known as transpiration.

Learn more: Plant Transpiration

48. Clean up an oil spill

Before conducting this experiment, teach your students about engineers who solve environmental problems like oil spills. Then, have your students use provided materials to clean the oil spill from their oceans.

Learn more: Oil Spill

49. Construct a pair of model lungs

Kids get a better understanding of the respiratory system when they build model lungs using a plastic water bottle and some balloons. You can modify the experiment to demonstrate the effects of smoking too.

Learn more: Model Lungs

50. Experiment with limestone rocks

Kids  love to collect rocks, and there are plenty of easy science experiments you can do with them. In this one, pour vinegar over a rock to see if it bubbles. If it does, you’ve found limestone!

Learn more: Limestone Experiments

51. Turn a bottle into a rain gauge

All you need is a plastic bottle, a ruler, and a permanent marker to make your own rain gauge. Monitor your measurements and see how they stack up against meteorology reports in your area.

Learn more: DIY Rain Gauge

52. Build up towel mountains

This clever demonstration helps kids understand how some landforms are created. Use layers of towels to represent rock layers and boxes for continents. Then pu-u-u-sh and see what happens!

Learn more: Towel Mountains

53. Take a play dough core sample

Learn about the layers of the earth by building them out of Play-Doh, then take a core sample with a straw. ( Love Play-Doh? Get more learning ideas here. )

Learn more: Play Dough Core Sampling

54. Project the stars on your ceiling

Use the video lesson in the link below to learn why stars are only visible at night. Then create a DIY star projector to explore the concept hands-on.

Learn more: DIY Star Projector

55. Make it rain

Use shaving cream and food coloring to simulate clouds and rain. This is an easy science experiment little ones will beg to do over and over.

Learn more: Shaving Cream Rain

56. Blow up your fingerprint

This is such a cool (and easy!) way to look at fingerprint patterns. Inflate a balloon a bit, use some ink to put a fingerprint on it, then blow it up big to see your fingerprint in detail.

57. Snack on a DNA model

Twizzlers, gumdrops, and a few toothpicks are all you need to make this super-fun (and yummy!) DNA model.

Learn more: Edible DNA Model

58. Dissect a flower

Take a nature walk and find a flower or two. Then bring them home and take them apart to discover all the different parts of flowers.

59. Craft smartphone speakers

No Bluetooth speaker? No problem! Put together your own from paper cups and toilet paper tubes.

Learn more: Smartphone Speakers

60. Race a balloon-powered car

Kids will be amazed when they learn they can put together this awesome racer using cardboard and bottle-cap wheels. The balloon-powered “engine” is so much fun too.

Learn more: Balloon-Powered Car

61. Build a Ferris wheel

You’ve probably ridden on a Ferris wheel, but can you build one? Stock up on wood craft sticks and find out! Play around with different designs to see which one works best.

Learn more: Craft Stick Ferris Wheel

62. Design a phone stand

There are lots of ways to craft a DIY phone stand, which makes this a perfect creative-thinking STEM challenge.

63. Conduct an egg drop

Put all their engineering skills to the test with an egg drop! Challenge kids to build a container from stuff they find around the house that will protect an egg from a long fall (this is especially fun to do from upper-story windows).

Learn more: Egg Drop Challenge Ideas

64. Engineer a drinking-straw roller coaster

STEM challenges are always a hit with kids. We love this one, which only requires basic supplies like drinking straws.

Learn more: Straw Roller Coaster

65. Build a solar oven

Explore the power of the sun when you build your own solar ovens and use them to cook some yummy treats. This experiment takes a little more time and effort, but the results are always impressive. The link below has complete instructions.

Learn more: Solar Oven

66. Build a Da Vinci bridge

There are plenty of bridge-building experiments out there, but this one is unique. It’s inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-year-old self-supporting wooden bridge. Learn how to build it at the link, and expand your learning by exploring more about Da Vinci himself.

Learn more: Da Vinci Bridge

67. Step through an index card

This is one easy science experiment that never fails to astonish. With carefully placed scissor cuts on an index card, you can make a loop large enough to fit a (small) human body through! Kids will be wowed as they learn about surface area.

68. Stand on a pile of paper cups

Combine physics and engineering and challenge kids to create a paper cup structure that can support their weight. This is a cool project for aspiring architects.

Learn more: Paper Cup Stack

69. Test out parachutes

Gather a variety of materials (try tissues, handkerchiefs, plastic bags, etc.) and see which ones make the best parachutes. You can also find out how they’re affected by windy days or find out which ones work in the rain.

Learn more: Parachute Drop

70. Recycle newspapers into an engineering challenge

It’s amazing how a stack of newspapers can spark such creative engineering. Challenge kids to build a tower, support a book, or even build a chair using only newspaper and tape!

Learn more: Newspaper STEM Challenge

71. Use rubber bands to sound out acoustics

Explore the ways that sound waves are affected by what’s around them using a simple rubber band “guitar.” (Kids absolutely love playing with these!)

Learn more: Rubber Band Guitar

72. Assemble a better umbrella

Challenge students to engineer the best possible umbrella from various household supplies. Encourage them to plan, draw blueprints, and test their creations using the scientific method.

Learn more: Umbrella STEM Challenge

Plus, sign up for our newsletters to get all the latest learning ideas straight to your inbox.

You Might Also Like

Magic Milk Experiment: How-To Plus Free Worksheet

This classic experiment teaches kids about basic chemistry and physics. Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

UCL Computer Science

• Research topics

Research Topics

The main streams of our research are within exciting and important areas in software engineering and the digital arts/humanities.

We are always looking for talented people who are interested in joining SSE as visiting scholars (at all levels), PhD students, Research Assistants and Research Fellows.

Below you can find some of the topics we work on and the main contact person within our group. If you are interested, get in touch with Prof Federica Sarro  (Head of the group) and with the speficied contact within a given topic. Please, include in the message your CV, a statement of your research interests and experience, ideal starting time (and transcripts if you are a student) in your message.

Search Based Software Engineering

Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE) uses advanced computational search (for example genetic algorithms and evolutionary computation and other meta and hyper heuristics) to solve complex software engineering problems.

Prof Harman was instrumental in founding this field of Software Engineering and coined the term “Search Based Software Engineering” in 2001. Professor Sarro and Professor Petka are well-established world-leading researchers in this area. 

SBSE can be thought of as the application of advanced AI techniques to software engineering, with a particular focus on optimisation. Read a recent tutorial paper on SBSE .

CREST has worked with ABB, Daimler, Ericsson, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft and Motorola on the development of SBSE so PhD students have many opportunities to work with companies should they wish to do so.

Possible collaboration and PhD topics in this area cover the complete spectrum of activity in software engineering (in its traditional and emergent forms). CREST is particularly well known for work on SBSE applications to software analysis and testing, repair, refactoring, management and requirements engineering. However, we are always willing to discuss SBSE projects with scholars who are interested in developing new application areas as well as these more established areas.

They have given many keynote talks and invited papers that set out open problems and research agendas for exciting developments in SBSE, all of which are available on our publications page. Prof. Harman, Sarro and Petke are is always willing to discuss potential projects on SBSE with prospective students via email. Other SSE staff are also very active in SBSE: Dr Krinke is interested in SBSE for clone detection; Dr Gold is interested in SBSE for program comprehension and program analysis and musicology. 

• Main contact: Prof. Federica Sarro 

Testing Software Product Lines

Software product lines are sets features that are combined into software products that satisfy a specific need from a customer or a specific market. The number of products that can be generated range from a few to thousands of products.

Due to the tangled components and complex configuration, verification and validation of product lines is challenging. Testing is one approach to verification and validation of the products and/or the product line.

The challenges in testing product lines that have to be faced and solved are that it may not be possible to test each possible product individually and that there exist no possibility to test a product line independent of products.

• Contact Jens Krinke

Dependence Analysis and Change Impact Analysis

Software systems can be seen of collections of parts that may or may not depend on each other. These range from statements and functions that are linked to each other, over large components like classes or packages, to non-source code artefacts like requirements and models that are linked to each other or to other artefacts.

In this research stream, we analyse software systems to identify the dependencies between the different parts and use them to solve software engineering problems. One example of such a problem is change impact analysis where the question is which elements of a software system are affected by a (potential) change to an element of the system.

Change impact analysis is an important technique that is extremely useful during software maintenance, for example, it can be used to establish which test cases have to be rerun after a change has been applied to a system.

Source Code Provenance

With the availability of source code available to be reused and the huge number of developers involved in large projects, it gets more and more important to establish the provenance of the current code within a project. 

This touches questions like “where is this code coming from”, “who has modified the code”, or “where has this code been reused”.  Such questions arise for example to establish if one is allowed to use the software according to its license or just to figure out who can answer questions about that code best. Approaches to answer such questions use large-scale string matching and software repository mining.

Secure Information Flow

A lot effort in making software secure goes into a kind of “fire-fighting”, i.e. discovering and closing vulnerabilities in code. However, even if all vulnerabilities have been eliminated, code still may not be secure.

It may contain covert channels that allow attacks on confidentiality of information, integrity of information, and the privacy and anonymity of the user. Such covert channels leaking information may be within the logic of the program or be so-called “side channels” such as measuring execution times or heat dissipation over different runs.

The challenge of constructing security critical code for contemporary software is enormous. Semantics based program analysis and type systems have a large role to play in guaranteeing end-to-end information security for networked systems.

• Contact David Clark

Semantic Analysis of Found Code

Found code is code that the analyser did not write. It may be source code or binaries. The task is to understand what it does and the (common) motivation is defence against malicious behaviours. Techniques include reverse engineering, program analysis, testing, and use of SMT solvers.

There are a whole range of problem domains in this area, for example malware classification and techniques for combatting packing, encryption and rewriting engines.

Testing Information Transformers

The hypothesis for this research is that the answers to some long standing questions in the theory of testing programs can be found or at least improved by viewing programs as transformers of information and using techniques from information theory and the measurement of information flow in programs to build an information theoretic theory of testing which answers questions such as the following.

• How do I select the test suite?
• When is it adequate?
• What does adequate mean in terms of information?
• How do I order the tests?

There is a security aspect to this research. An improvement in testing generally will improve the “fire fighting” of vulnerabilities and exploits, particularly when harnessed with information about attack vector templates.

Human-Computer Music Performance

There are many professional and amateur ensembles that perform popular music (e.g. jazz, rock, folk, music theatre, and contemporary church music) and would benefit from a computer stepping in when a human musician is absent and unable to play. 

Popular music has a steady beat and reasonably well-defined structures (e.g. chord patterns), but typically involves improvisation at many levels including sectionalised scores (re-arrangeable during performance), and improvised generation of the musical surface.  

Live interactive performance in this genre is thus a complex and interesting domain in which to undertake research.  Many disciplines and research methods are needed to tackle this problem including ethnography, computer vision, natural user interfaces, computer music (generation, machine listening, music information retrieval, representation), musicology, music performance, and real-time systems.   

Applications are thus welcome from potential students who have experience and expertise from a range of backgrounds.

• Contact Nicolas Gold

Computational Musicology

Computers have many applications in musicology, ranging from relatively simple applications to support musicologists in answering particular questions, through to complex models and algorithms to support entire research areas. 

Previous work in CREST has focused on computationally-enhanced studies of musical performance (piano performance, shaping in music) and continues by applying our expertise in information theory and search to problems in music analysis. 

Much of this work is collaborative (e.g. with the AHRC Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice and the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities).

Interdisciplinary Source Code Analysis

Combining CREST’s expertise in source code analysis and our interest in interdisciplinary applications, this strand of research focuses on the challenges posed by non-traditional source code (e.g. Max/MSP patches) and the opportunities available to enhance practice and research by developing new ways to analyse and develop in such languages. 

We have worked on clone detection in graphical data-flow languages like Max/MSP and Pure Data and welcome applications from potential students with interests in arts computing and/or source code analysis.

Probabilistic Modelling of S/W Testing

Most of the existing white-box testing techniques rely on structural adequacy criteria, such as statement or path coverage. The purpose of defining test adequacy criteria is to achieve a balance between effectiveness and efficiency of testing.

However, structural criteria fail to scale up for the systems that can really benefit from better testing, simply because fine-grained metrics like code coverage lose the relevance for large and complex systems. This strand of research combines the existing expertise of CREST – information theory and testing – to form a probabilistic view of the software testing, allowing us to assess and predict the system’s reliability with confidence.

Gamification of Software Engineering

The success of Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE) bears an interesting observation: many software engineering tasks can be viewed as combinatorial optimisation.

This research will investigate whether it is possible to create entertaining gaming experience, essentially by extending meta-heuristics for SBSE to more interactive ones.

The grand challenge is to completely encapsulate the original software engineering problem and to present a playable game instead, seeking human insights into the problem solving. The research will also consider whether any non-conventional user interface and/or visualization can help specific software engineering tasks.

Professor Federica Sarro , Head of Research Group

Department of Computer Science  University College London 66-72 Gower Street London View Map

Find other Software Systems Engineering staff

Publications

You can find all of the Intelligent Systems Group's published research on our Publications page.

Study with us

• You can find out more about the  Software Systems Engineering MSc on the UCL Prospective Students website.
• You can also browse our PhD opportunities

Research projects

The SSE group currently leads several national and international research projects and participates in many more. Browse all our projects on our dedicated page.

The Costs and Benefits of Clan Culture: Elite Control versus Cooperation in China

Kinship ties are a common institution that may facilitate in-group coordination and cooperation. Yet their benefits – or lack thereof – depend crucially on the broader institutional environment. We study how the prevalence of clan ties affect how communities confronted two well-studied historical episodes from the early years of the People's Republic of China, utilizing four distinct proxies for county clan strength: the presence of recognized ancestral halls; genealogical records; rice suitability; and geographic latitude. We show that the loss of livestock associated with 1955-56 collectivization (which mandated that farmers surrender livestock for little compensation) documented by Chen and Lan (2017) was much less pronounced in strong-clan areas. By contrast, we show that the 1959-61 Great Famine was associated with higher mortality in areas with stronger clan ties. We argue that reconciling these two conflicting patterns requires that we take a broader view of how kinship groups interact with other governance institutions, in particular the role of kinship as a means of elite control.

Chen would like to acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71933002; 72121002), Zhuoyue Talent Project, Theoretical Economics Peak Program and Legendary Project on Humanities and Social Sciences (XM04221238) at Fudan University. Wang would like to thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 72172090) for financial support. Qing Ye would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 72172060, 72132004) and the Major Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research Funds for Jiangsu University (grant No. 2020SJZDA068) for financial support. We thank Rui Rong for excellent RA work, all remaining errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Download Citation Data

Working Groups

More from nber.

In addition to working papers , the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter , the NBER Digest , the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability , the Bulletin on Health , and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship  — as well as online conference reports , video lectures , and interviews .

• Get IGI Global News

• All Products
• Book Chapters
• Journal Articles
• Video Lessons
• Teaching Cases

Call for Chapters: Advanced Research Trends in Sustainable Solutions, Policy, and Governance

Call for chapters, introduction, target audience, recommended topics, submission procedure.

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before June 2, 2024 , a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by June 16, 2024 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines.Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 4, 2024 , and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-anonymized review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Advanced Research Trends in Sustainable Solutions, Policy, and Governance. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-anonymized peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery ® online submission manager.

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit https://www.igi-global.com . This publication is anticipated to be released in 2025.

Important Dates

June 2, 2024 : Proposal Submission Deadline June 16, 2024 : Notification of Acceptance August 4, 2024 : Full Chapter Submission September 8, 2024 : Review Results Returned October 6, 2024 : Final Acceptance Notification October 13, 2024 : Final Chapter Submission

Ahmed Gomaa Radwan Nile University [email protected] Salwa K. Abd-El-Hafiz Cairo University. [email protected] Islam Tharwat Abdel-Halim Nile University [email protected] Yuhong Liu Santa Clara University, USA [email protected] Meikang Qiu Texas A&M University Commerce [email protected]

Classifications

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Science and Technology Directorate
• S&T Releases Market Survey Report for Non-Detonable Training Aids for Explosive Detection Canines

News Release: DHS S&T Releases Market Survey Report for Non-Detonable Training Aids for Explosive Detection Canines

For immediate release s&t public affairs , 202-286-9047.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has released a new market survey report to help emergency responders identify non-detonable training aids for explosive detection canines. Non-detonable training aids emulate the scent of explosives, allowing canines to learn the specific odor of different types of explosives while eliminating the inherent risks of using traditional, live explosives. They are carefully designed and maintained to create a controlled and safe environment for training, with a focus on safety, effectiveness, and consistency in preparing canines for their crucial roles in security and public safety.

S&T’s National Urban Security Laboratory (NUSTL)—in conjunction with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory—administered the Non-Detonable Trainings Aids for Explosive Detection Canines Market Survey Report , which provides information on 12 non-detonable training aid products ranging in price from $15 to $550. This report is based on information gathered from manufacturer and vendor materials, open-source research, industry publications, and a government-issued request for information. The report is part of NUSTL’s System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) program, which assists emergency responders in making procurement decisions.

“The Detection Canine Program at S&T plays a critical role in advancing the safety and effectiveness of explosive detection canines in the field,” said Guy Hartsough, S&T Detection Canine Program, program manager. “NUSTL’s comprehensive report provides valuable resources in an ever-evolving landscape of threats, underscoring our dedication to enhancing the capabilities of our nation's security responders.”

“Explosive detection canines are critical to protecting the public as well as the first responders they assist. Rigorous training is required to prepare these dogs for the field” said NUSTL Director Alice Hong. “NUSTL’s latest market survey report equips explosive detection canine handlers with crucial insights into non-detonable training aids.”

Visit the SAVER website for market research and comparative assessments of commercially available products. Results are published to assist responders in making informed technology deployment and purchasing decisions for their agency’s specific needs. SAVER documents with limited distribution are available to members of the SAVER Community by contacting [email protected] .

For more information about NUSTL and its mission as the only national laboratory dedicated to serving the nation’s first responders, visit www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/national-urban-security-technology-laboratory

• Science and Technology
• Detection Canine
• Explosive Detection Canine