Derek Smith
News and Feature Writer
News and feature writer for Michigan Engineering at the University of Michigan. He covers chemical engineering, climate and space sciences and engineering, computer science and engineering, naval architecture and marine engineering and material science and engineering.
Health Lab
Nanoparticles genetically modify several human cell types
In a demonstration that helps pave the way for gene therapies with fewer side effects, several human cell types were genetically modified with protein nanoparticles designed at University of Michigan Engineering and Michigan Medicine.
Health Lab
Capturing cancer cells from blood could help doctors choose the right breast cancer treatment
Doctors may be able to spare patients unnecessarily aggressive breast cancer treatments by collecting and testing cancer cells in patients' blood, study from the University of Michigan and the University of Kansas suggests.
Health Lab
Racial differences in medical testing could introduce bias to AI models
Black patients are less likely than white patients to receive certain medical tests that doctors use to diagnose severe disease, impacting artificial intelligence data. But researchers have found a way to correct the bias in these data sets.
Health Lab
Is lung cancer treatment working? This chip can tell from a blood draw
Using a chip to process blood samples, doctors can monitor the amount of cancer cells in a patient’s blood to determine how well a treatment is working by the fourth week, according to a new study.
Health Lab
Clinicians could be fooled by biased AI, despite explanations
U-M study shows accurate AI models improved diagnostic decisions, but biased models led to serious declines
