School Notes: School of Engineering & Applied Science
September/October 2025

Scientist named Sterling Professor

W. Mark Saltzman, whose pioneering work in biomaterials and drug delivery has earned him a reputation as a visionary innovator in disease treatment and prevention, was recently appointed the Sterling Professor of Biomedical Engineering. A Sterling professorship is considered the highest academic honor a Yale professor can receive. Saltzman joined the faculty at the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science in 2002, after serving on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University and at Cornell University. He also has appointments in chemical and environmental engineering, and in cellular and molecular physiology and dermatology at Yale School of Medicine. 

Understanding the grammar of cells

Although single-cell analysis has dramatically advanced medical research, it also produces massive amounts of data that pose significant challenges. To address this, researchers from Yale Engineering, Yale School of Medicine, and Google’s DeepMind have developed Cell2Sentence. It’s a system that transforms complex multiomic data into a structured text format that can be read by large language models. “There’s a universal ‘grammar’ underlying both systems—it’s all based on logic and rules,” said David van Dijk, assistant professor of medicine and of computer science. “In language, it’s syntax and grammar; in biology, it’s gene regulatory networks. We saw that language-based models perform far better when trained this way.”

With a molecule and a membrane, helping the environment

Using an electrified membrane and a molecule known as an ionophore, Lea Winter’s lab has developed a system to better convert nitrate—a pollutant found in wastewater—into ammonia that can then be turned into fertilizer and other useful products. Conventional methods for converting nitrate tend to be either slow, inefficient, or very expensive. The system created by Winter ’15, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering, uses no pricey materials and converts nitrate into ammonia in only six seconds. Further, an impressive 92 percent of the nitrate is turned into ammonia.