This research shows that artificial light at night disrupts normal cardiovascular rhythms by altering sleep and feeding patterns. In mice, light exposure flattened heart rate and blood pressure cycles, increasing risk. Restricting food intake to active hours restored healthy rhythms, suggesting timing of eating can protect cardiovascular health.

This research challenges the misconception that hookah smoking is safe. By studying flavors, sugars, and toxicants, it reveals high levels of carcinogens and nicotine, especially harmful to children exposed secondhand. The work combines chemical analysis and community engagement to inform policy, shift behaviors, and protect vulnerable populations.

This research evaluates electronic case reporting (ECR), an automated disease surveillance system that alerts public health agencies as soon as diagnoses are recorded. By analyzing surveillance data and clinician experiences, the work aims to improve outbreak detection speed, accuracy, and usability—helping public health respond earlier and save lives.

Digital health expanded during COVID-19, but many services exclude people seeking support for alcohol and drug use. This research uses inclusive design, interviews, and workshops with people with lived experience to identify barriers, reduce stigma, improve usability, and guide industry toward creating accessible, equitable digital care for all.

PFAS “forever chemicals” contaminate water, food, and air and accumulate in the body, causing serious health risks. This research develops a light-activated porous material that traps and breaks down PFAS molecules. Tested in real-world water and now being scaled up, the method aims to provide a practical, permanent solution for removing PFAS and protecting safe drinking water.

PCBs, toxic “forever chemicals” found in older school buildings, accumulate in body fat and trigger harmful inflammation. This research shows that PCB-exposed fat cells recruit excessive immune cells, creating an uncontrolled inflammatory response that contributes to obesity and diabetes. Understanding this mechanism opens pathways for treatments targeting fat–immune cell communication.

Older adults with severe joint pain often consider cannabis, yet receive little guidance from physicians who lack reliable evidence. This silence pushes patients toward unregulated products and poor medical decisions. The research develops a user-friendly cannabis decision-support tool to empower patients, support clinicians, and enable informed, safe conversations about cannabis use.

Sunny-day flooding is becoming common in coastal North Carolina. Sensors revealed 65 flood days per year, and water-quality tests showed fecal contamination up to 100× above closure standards. A new computer model tracks how contaminated floodwaters move, helping identify hotspots and supporting safer water-quality advisories and flood-defense planning.

This research examines how microbes in drinking water recover after UV disinfection. By adding nutrients to UV-treated samples and identifying microbes through DNA sequencing, the study tracks which organisms survive, regrow, and thrive over time. The goal is to improve treatment systems and ensure safer, more stable drinking water during distribution.

This research uses agent-based modelling (ABM) to simulate infectious disease spread in regions like Nigeria, enabling policymakers to predict outbreaks, test interventions, and allocate limited resources proactively. The low-cost modelling approach supports governments with constrained budgets and offers a sustainable, data-driven tool for preventing large-scale infections and improving global public health.