College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin

06/22/2026

We are proud of our scientists making headway in the fight against cancer alongside UT MD Anderson Cancer Center colleagues.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is highly aggressive, but extremely difficult to tell apart from other breast cancers.

06/15/2026

The urge to clean can feel pretty deep-rooted. 🧽 🧹UT scientists have new clues as to why that may be.

By studying coral reef fishes that “clean” other fish, UT Austin researchers found patterns of gene activity in the brains, shared across different species that clean. The finding adds to what scientists understand about how separate species manage to independently evolve similar traits and behaviors.
 
Read the research paper at link in Texas Science bio.
 
Research involved the EvoDevOmics and Big Data in Biology streams from the Freshman Research Initiative. Co-authors include Rebecca Young, Hans Hofmann, and FRI alumni Abby Beman and Yiheng Su.
 
Fish videos courtesy of Simon Gingins

06/12/2026

As a first-generation college student with a passion for the stage, Serenity Lozano-Cole (B.S.A. Neuroscience 2024) didn’t expect to find her calling at the College of Natural Sciences. Through the Fish Behavior stream of the Freshman Research Initiative, Lozano-Cole gained research experience and the confidence to pursue a career in medicine. She is currently a medical student at UT Health Houston McGovern Medical School, where she has unexpectedly been able to combine her interests in theatre and research.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I would’ve done in undergrad if I wouldn’t have had FRI. I feel like it opened so many doors for me.” — Serenity Lozano-Cole

The Freshman Research Initiative is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Happy FRIday!

06/10/2026

One of science's highest honors has found a home in Texas for the first time.

UT Austin physicist Allan MacDonald, alongside researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Rutgers University, has been awarded the The Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for foundational work that helped establish the field of twistronics, opening new possibilities in energy, electronics and quantum technologies.

MacDonald is the first Texas-based researcher to receive the award in nanoscience since the prize was established in 2008.

Read more about the award and twistronics: https://bit.ly/4vAuOtm

06/09/2026

Meet Chip Breier, a marine scientist developing cutting-edge robotics & other tools to explore some of the most extreme environments on Earth. 🌊🔬 Read our Q&A: https://www.texasscientist.cns.utexas.edu/articles/john-breier

For example, he built a robotic submarine called CLIO that can autonomously find places of interest and collect water, minerals and microbes.

“To push that technology just past … where we can make those observations [is] very satisfying,” says Breier, an associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who received his Ph.D. in marine science from The University of Texas at Austin.

06/01/2026

Happy World Reef Day! 🪸🐠

Misha Matz, a coral biologist at The University of Texas at Austin is proposing a radical plan to save Caribbean coral reefs from collapse: transplant non-native corals from halfway around the world to fill in for disappearing native corals. The idea runs counter to decades of conservation biology. But could it prevent a bigger catastrophe?

Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/features/can-scientists-proposal-save-coral-reefs-our-hemisphere

05/29/2026

Global Tree Census 🌳

UT professor Brian Sedio and his team have established a forest plot at The University of Texas at Austin’s Hill Country Field Station to understand how the health and diversity of trees in forest communities evolve over time.

In this video Sedio explains the value of this unique place — located where several different biogeographic regions meet — and how studying the chemistry of these trees could also lead to the discovery of new medicines.

Read more about UT’s part in a global tree census in the latest issue of the Texas Scientist at txsci.net/TreeCensus

05/27/2026

By mapping protein networks in an ancient ancestor of all complex life, a team led by The University of Texas at Austin has identified new genes associated with three rare disorders. It might yield hundreds more. New study out today in Cell Genomics. Read more: https://cns.utexas.edu/news/research/scientists-map-proteins-ancient-organism-and-discover-new-links-rare-diseases

05/26/2026

Congratulations to the Risky Wranglers team of Sophia Fente-Damers, Shreya Karthikeyan, Aashna Kumar and Khushi Patel!

Their team won the 2026 Spencer-RIMS Student Risk Management Challenge, a global competition that asks university teams to analyze a real-world risk management case and present recommendations to industry judges. The team advanced to the final round at RISKWORLD 2026 in Philadelphia after being selected from a field of 53 university teams representing 12 countries.

Read more at txsci.net/RiskyWranglers

05/21/2026

The collaboration between The University of Texas at Austin and Tecnológico de Monterrey has spent the last year advancing precision medicine through research and artificial intelligence projects focused on reducing the burdens of diseases for populations throughout the Americas.

Scientists affiliated with the OriGen Health Research Center (OHRC) are developing a new way to estimate the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease by measuring visceral fat; building a digital app to help reduce adolescent obesity; and uncovering genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors behind metabolic disorders.

OHRC is co-directed by Gaby Livas (far left), chair of UT’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, and Alexandro Martagón (third from left), faculty in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tec de Monterrey. Also pictured from both institutions here are Víctor Manuel Treviño Alvarado, Rocío Ortiz López, John Richburg, Andreas Matouschek, Pablo Kuri, Dean David Vanden Bout, Emily Cole and Aron Muci.

Learn more: https://cns.utexas.edu/research/research-initiatives/origen-health-research-center