News | Office of Research and Innovation

Spartans Discover a Blueprint for Nature’s ‘High-End Machinery’

Working with tiny bacteria, Michigan State University researchers led by Lee Kroos have made a discovery about intramembrane proteases that could have big implications for biology.

Building ‘Nanofactories’ to Help Make Medicines and More

Thanks to a lesser-known feature of microbiology, Michigan State University researchers have helped open a door that could lead to medicines, vitamins and more being made at lower costs and with improved efficiency.

Group of 6 women researchers from MSU talking to a community group in Puerto Rico

Multi-Institutional Diaspora Solidarities Lab Launches with $2 Million Mellon Grant

A $2 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has helped launch the Diaspora Solidarities Lab (DSL), a Black feminist digital humanities initiative that supports solidarity work in Black and Ethnic Studies with a commitment to transformative justice.

Matt Daum, Jetze Tepe, Madonna Benjamin, Richard Lunt

2022 Innovation Celebration

Each year, the MSU Innovation Celebration honors Michigan State University researchers who reported an invention, licensed a technology or were awarded patents during the academic year. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in technology transfer and commercialization, corporate engagement, and sponsored research.

Three people touring the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

Opening the Doors to Discovery

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams will be the preeminent user facility of its kind in the world — and home to the world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator — funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the state of Michigan and Michigan State University.

A look inside MSU’s cryogenic electron microscope. Credit: Courtesy of Ben Orlando

Peering Into the Structure of Antibiotic Resistance

Michigan State University’s Ben Orlando is a structural biologist who studies some of nature’s smallest machines, sees how they are put together and figures out how they work.

Big Lessons from Little Fish

Spartan researchers publish the complete genome of the Rio pearlfish, a ‘superhero’ species. All of this new information strengthens the Rio pearlfish’s potential as a model organism that can further understanding of human health.

How a Biofuel Crop Can Help Mitigate Climate Change

New Michigan State University research details how switchgrass, a biofuel crop, can mitigate effects of climate change when grown on marginal land — agricultural land of little value. For farmers, it may also provide economic returns in these otherwise unproductive spaces.

Announcements

Ogunwobi Named Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences

Jan 6, 2026

Internationally renowned cancer researcher Olorunseun “Seun” Ogunwobi, MD, PhD, has been elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). Ogynwobi is chair of Michigan State University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and co-director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity Research.

Gordon Named Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy

Dec 16, 2025

Travis Gordon, D.O., MSc, an assistant professor and alumnus of Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been named a Fellow of the American Academy of Osteopathy. He will be formally recognized at the AAO Convocation in March 2026.

Winter Break 2025 Hours for Research and Innovation Units

Dec 15, 2025

Jain to Help India Update National ID (Aadhaar) Innovation Roadmap

Dec 5, 2025

Anil Jain, University Distinguished Professor and the Douglas E. Zongker Endowed Professor of Engineering at Michigan State University, has joined a panel of experts for a strategic and technological upgrade of India’s digital identity platform.

Belin Joins MSU as the Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies

Dec 2, 2025

A citizen of the Navajo Nation and an acclaimed poet, artist, and educator, Esther Belin joined Michigan State University this fall as the new Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies in the Department of English. She is the second scholar to hold this position, following Gordon Henry, who retired in 2023 after serving as the inaugural Leslie Chair.

Basso Honored With Soil Science Research Award

Nov 18, 2025

Bruno Basso, a world-renowned expert in sustainable agriculture and precision agriculture systems, received the award Nov. 10 at the SSSA’s CANVAS conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.