Pioneering the Future

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At University of Utah Health, we’re always asking, “What’s next?” Our thinking jumps off the page and into lives. Pioneering the Future: Stories of Discovery and Innovation tells stories of high-impact research that is advancing knowledge and improving the health and well-being of people in Utah and beyond. Click buttons in the section below to learn about leading edge research at U of U Health.

Latest Collection

  • Pioneering the Future Unlocking Secrets in Cells to Advance Health Collage

    Unlocking Secrets in Cells to Advance Health

    Whether they're finding new therapeutic targets for deadly diseases, revealing the unseen processes underlying metabolism, or looking to sea slugs to inspire better drug production, U of U Health researchers are working to understand biology down to its very molecules to improve human health and treat disease. Read the full story.

2025 Collection

PTF Science of Healing

The Science of Healing

Heart failure, muscle wasting with age, and postpartum depression are distinct medical challenges with something in common: they are among the many health conditions that could see innovative solutions thanks to advances made at University of Utah Health.  

SEE THE FUTURE OF HEALING
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Paths Toward Better Population Health

Health is shaped by a myriad of social and environmental factors, from medication access to food insecurity. University of Utah Health researchers are going beyond the clinic to identify health needs and empower patients.

FIND THE PATH
Unveiling Tomorrow’s Medicine

Unveiling Tomorrow's Medicine

University of Utah Health scientists are examining the ways disease impacts the body molecule by molecule, uncovering insights that open the door to meaningful clinical advances that improve patients' lives.

SEE BENEATH THE SURFACE
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Transformative Technologies for a Healthier World

Scientists are advancing biomedicine with transformative innovations that open new paths for health care and research, from shedding light on how we see to building prosthetics that help us feel. These advances enable scientists to study disease and explore potential treatments in powerful ways that were not previously possible.

EXPERIENCE THE STORY

The Discovery and Innovation Digital Collection

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    Better Health for Populations
    Crowd of people

    Researchers at University of Utah Health keep their eyes on the big picture by tackling population-sized problems and ensuring their efforts add up to substantial impacts on public health. They pore over surveys from thousands of patients to understand their experiences with health care or meticulously test how many seconds a new technology can shave off a clinician’s administrative burden. Backed by their expertise, careful testing, and extensive data, their discoveries are changing health care practice and helping large segments of the population—from thousands to millions—address pervasive health issues to live better, healthier lives.

    Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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    Pioneering the Future Podcast: Better Health for Populations

      Advancing Heart Health
      Heart medical image

      A healthy heart beats about 100,000 times every day, pumping freshly oxygenated blood to every part of the body. At University of Utah Health, researchers are working on several fronts to keep hearts healthy—and to help them recover when they falter. Their work is urgent: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence continues to rise. In the United States, one of every four deaths is due to heart disease. With a deeper understanding of both the causes and impacts of cardiovascular disease, U of U Health aims to reduce this burden, both through prevention and better options for treatment.

      Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

      • Mending Broken Hearts
        Rest and Recover
        Personalizing Prevention
        Premature Fatigue in Cardiovascular Disease
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        Medical Advances Inspired by Nature
        nature and lab PTF

        Inspiration can come from many places—and that’s certainly true for U of U Health scientists following nature’s lead as they create new ways to treat and prevent disease. Seeking better medicines, they look to exotic marine animals, infectious pathogens, and our own immune systems. With chemical precision, they can improve the compounds they find in nature or design better ones, optimizing their function as potential drugs. Their creativity and persistence are not only uncovering prospective therapies for cancer and infectious disease—they are also expanding the ways scientists think about discovering and developing new drugs.

        Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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          Innovation at U of U Health
          Innovation collage

          Many long-standing health challenges are becoming more manageable thanks to the creativity and perseverance of scientists who have chosen to address difficult problems in unconventional ways. New technologies and transformative approaches by University of Utah Health scientists are helping patients with blood disease to become their own bone marrow donors and people with artificial limbs to forgo bulky, uncomfortable attachment sockets for a better integrated prosthetic. They’re also providing new solutions for people dealing with depression and antibiotic-resistant infections—the rewarding results of unorthodox approaches to problem-solving.

          Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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            Tools to Combate COVID-19
            Illustration of a virus with spikes and a textured surface in a colorful representation.

            The virus that causes COVID-19 first emerged in 2019, and it wasn’t long before it was clear that the new pathogen would have a devastating effect on global health. Scientists around the world responded quickly, redirecting their research to address the growing pandemic. At University of Utah Health, many were able to build on knowledge from prior studies of the immune system to begin figuring out how the body responds to infection with SARS-CoV2, and why some cases become life-threatening. Meanwhile, bioengineers worked on another front, increasing availability of critical medical equipment when it was in short supply.

            Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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              Developing Better Targeted Cancer Therapies
              Cancer cells

              With deepening knowledge of the ways in which tumors grow and spread, treatment for many cancers is moving beyond traditional, toxic chemotherapies to more targeted approaches. New treatments currently being evaluated in clinical trials build on findings from Huntsman Cancer Institute labs – and more are on the way. Our scientists are digging deeply into the ways in which cancer cells circumvent the usual limits on cell growth and figuring out how they evade the immune cells that have the potential to keep them in check. They are sifting through data to find distinctions among cancers that once seemed the same, and finding vulnerabilities that different cancers share. Though their approaches are varied, these researchers have a common goal: improving quality of life and extending survival for patients with cancer.

              Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                Protecting Health Through Prevention
                Preventative Care

                To keep people in good health, it’s always better to prevent problems from developing rather than dealing with issues once they arise. At U of U Health, researchers are exploring innovative approaches to prevent a wide range of conditions, from muscle loss to dangerous infections. Time and again, these researchers have demonstrated that preventive measures—including many that are inexpensive and easy to implement—are important and effective strategies for improving health.

                Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                  Advancing Clinical Care
                  Pioneering the Future Clinical Care Thumbnail

                  As they consider what’s best for their patients, healthcare providers must call on their personal knowledge and experience in addition to clinical guidelines and study results. Inevitably, medical decisions are often influenced not just by data, but also by societal expectations, cultural trends, and long-established assumptions. Providing the best care requires scientists and clinicians to continually challenge their assumptions and reevaluate how medicine is practiced—particularly as new data become available, alternative treatments emerge, and healthcare systems evolve. As research at U of U Health demonstrates, a closer look and a fresh perspective can sometimes reveal opportunities to address problems that we didn’t even know were there.

                  Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                    Addressing Diabetes Complications
                    Diabetes Clinical Care

                    Diabetes is on the rise around the world, putting hundreds of millions of people at elevated risk of serious problems like blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, and stroke. These complications are all consequences of the body’s inability to properly regulate blood sugar. Chronic overexposure to glucoses damages blood vessels, nerves, and other tissues. But people who use insulin therapy to control their blood sugar are also at increased risk of periods of low blood sugar, which can deprive the brain and other tissues of the energy they need. 

                    Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                      Improving Women's Health
                      Women's Health with campus image overlay

                      Researchers at University of Utah Health are improving the quality of life for women by advancing health care options from contraception to cancer care. By focusing on technology, our scientists have customized systems to treat breast cancer non-invasively. A second approach highlights the power of informing decisions with meaningful data: With results from U of U Health studies, clinicians and policymakers are equipped to make better, evidence-based decisions as they care for patients and work toward more equitable health care access.

                      Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                        From Discovery to Bedside
                        PTF Basic discovery

                        The scientific laboratory is the birthplace of new ideas, rooted in a fundamental understanding of how nature works. While impactful on its own, sometimes discovery is just the beginning. Translating ideas to interventions for improving human health takes added insight and dogged perseverance.

                        Achieving this milestone is a rarity, but within the past year, three clinical trials have begun testing disease treatments built from basic science discoveries at University of Utah Health. It could take years to determine whether a novel therapy for the deadly amyotrophic lateral syndrome (ALS) and two for a familiar foe, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), could become broadly available. But without a start at the lab bench, these possibilities wouldn’t even exist.

                        Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                          New Ways of Thinking About Neurological Disorders
                          brain

                          Like the brain itself, neurons—specialized cells that transmit vital signals in the brain—are complex. As a result, it’s often difficult to parse what is going on, particularly when neurological disorders and conditions take hold. By developing novel tools, leveraging multidisciplinary expertise, and diligently following their passion, University of Utah Health scientists have been at the forefront of neuroscience for decades. They are making headway in demystifying how neurons and the brain work, what causes them to malfunction, and to find new treatments for diseases that affect them.

                          Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                            New Techniques to Reach New Frontiers
                            New Techniques

                            Scientific progress can be slow but steady, requiring patience, repetition, and long-term commitment. But sometimes an innovative new technique changes the way things are done. Progress accelerates and suddenly researchers find themselves exploring new frontiers. Techniques developed at U of U Health are enabling researchers to work more efficiently, study previously inaccessible aspects of biology, and glean more meaningful information from the data they already have. Their tools and methods are shared freely with the research community so everyone is better equipped to investigate and improve human health.

                            Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                              Learning How the Body is Built
                              Drawing of body in both circle and square.

                              Biologists who investigate how the intricate architecture of the human body takes shape are witness to extraordinary transformations, from an abrupt reprogramming that changes the way genes are used in a developing embryo to the emergence of fully functional organs and precisely wired neural circuits. Their discoveries offer insights into how and why development sometimes goes awry, as well as how a carefully structured body plan can deteriorate with age or disease—ultimately suggesting strategies for preventing or correcting such problems.

                              Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                Harnessing the Power of the Immune System
                                Immune system

                                Our immune system is tasked with protecting us from a vast array of potential threats, from infectious bacteria to cancer cells. An elaborate network of cells works together to detect and defend against these invaders, drawing on a diverse set of tools that researchers are still working to understand. As scientists at U of U Health explore how our immune system works, they are learning what it really takes to combat an ever-evolving set of pathogens, as well as furthering our understanding of inflammatory processes that contribute to diseases like cancer and diabetes.

                                Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                  Demystifying Viruses to Better Target Infectious Disease
                                  Virus Image

                                  In 2020, the world’s attention turned abruptly to viruses with the rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But scientists at U of U Health have long been focused on these diverse and widespread pathogens. Hundreds of viral species infect human cells, employing different tactics to enter cells, manipulate their machinery, and outwit the immune system—all, ultimately, to make more virus. By clarifying how viruses interact with their hosts, research at U of U Health is revealing unexpected aspects of viral biology and pointing toward new strategies for combatting infection.

                                  Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                    Adjusting Metabolism to Tune Up the Cell’s Engines
                                    Metabolism

                                    To keep our bodies running smoothly, people need a continuous supply of food. The body breaks down food into component molecules, and cells convert these nutrients into energy. At U of U Health, scientists are delving into the complex network of biochemical reactions by which cells convert food into energy — the processes collectively called metabolism — to gain valuable insights into health and disease.

                                    One way or another, cellular metabolism underpins everything that happens in the body. Changes outside the body, like a sedentary lifestyle or consuming too many calories, can shift our cells’ metabolic processes and cause disease. Metabolism can also be affected by internal changes, including genetic mutations. Mutations that turbocharge energy production can lead to unconstrained cell division and cancer. Understanding these energy processes can lead to new treatments for obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more.

                                    Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                      Understanding Root Causes of Disease
                                      Understanding of Disease

                                      It’s hard to fix something without knowing exactly what’s gone wrong. That’s why scientists at the University of Utah Health dig deep into the origins of disease, working to discern exactly what developmental pathways, cellular communications, or molecular interactions have gone awry to give rise to patients’ symptoms. By uncovering the biological mechanisms behind disease, they are paving the way to clearer diagnoses, better treatments, and even prevention.

                                      Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                        DNA Discoveries For Better Health
                                        DNA

                                        In the era of big data, researchers have access to vast amounts of genetic information. The challenge has become how to make sense of it all. Scientists at University of Utah Health are using creative approaches to glean new knowledge about human health from the genome sequences of humans and other animals. Their studies are uncovering fundamental insights about how our genes are regulated and how they change, revealing origins of disease, and pointing scientists toward novel therapeutic strategies.

                                        Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                          Understanding Cancer from its Beginnings
                                          Cancer cell lab

                                          Even the most aggressive tumors begin with a single wayward cell, behaving in defiance of the biological checks and balances that usually limit cellular growth. At Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah Health scientists have created a clearer picture of cancer’s origins by working to understand the genes and molecules that drive cellular growth, both in tumors and in situations where cell division is healthy and appropriate. Their studies have illuminated fundamental processes that maintain tissues and shape developing organisms, as well as how those processes are sometimes misappropriated by cancer cells.

                                          Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                            Redefining Diabetes
                                            PTF Diabetes

                                            High-impact discoveries at University of Utah Health are transforming how we think about the causes of diabetes and solutions to combat the disease. These advances could hardly come at a better time. The disease is a big problem in the U.S., leading to an estimated $327 billion in health care costs. What’s more, while 1 in 10 American adults have diabetes, 1 in 3 have prediabetes, a sign that they are well on their way to developing the disease.

                                            An impediment to solving the diabetes conundrum is the complexity of the disease. People with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes have difficulty controlling their blood sugar, leading to serious health complications if left untreated. But the causes of the two are distinctly different, as are many of the downstream effects. New research is unraveling these complexities, revealing previously unrecognized opportunities for intervention. Combining these insights with a lot of work—and a little luck—could one day make diabetes a problem of the past.

                                            Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                              Bringing Scientific Insights Into Focus
                                              Bringing Scientific Insights into Focus thumbnail

                                              Science begins with observation. Whether it’s watching animals go about their daily activities or peering inside cells with a high-powered microscope, the simple act of looking can spark ideas, raise questions, and lead investigators down unexpected research paths. Sometimes the results are surprising. Following visual clues has led U of U Health investigators to new insights about how the brain learns, which parents’ genes shape behavior, and how cells protect themselves from potential toxins. In recognition of the power of seeing biology in action, an artistically inclined team of scientists is paving the way to future insights, with visual tools that bring unseen processes into focus.

                                              Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                                Advancing Translational Science
                                                Pioneering the Future issue 24, trans, Advancing Translational Science

                                                Medical advances often begin in the lab, emerging from a deeper understanding of the biological processes that underlie health and disease. Biological discovery creates opportunities for new treatments and prevention strategies, but it takes vision and commitment to recognize those opportunities and translate the new knowledge into real improvements to human health.

                                                U of U Health scientists’ translational research addresses a broad range of human health challenges, from aging hearts and autoimmune disease to joint injuries that hasten the onset of arthritis. Building on what they have learned in their labs, these researchers are exploring new treatment strategies with an eye toward bringing better options to patients.

                                                Learn more about these discoveries and innovations at the Eccles Health Sciences Library Digital Collection.

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                                                Listen to the Pioneering the Future Podcast

                                                In partnership with The Scope at University of Utah Health, Pioneering the Future is also a podcast. Each month, scientists whose research is featured in Pioneering the Future stories join to discuss their area of research and shine a light on why it is important in the landscape of health sciences research.

                                                Inspired by Nature

                                                In this episode, Margo Haygood, PhD and Eric Schmidt, PhD join the discussion.

                                                Better Health for Populations

                                                In this episode, Rachel Hess, MD and Adam Bress, PhD join the discussion.

                                                 

                                                From Basic Discovery to Bedside

                                                In this episode, Wesley Sundquist, PhD joins the discussion.

                                                 

                                                Redefining Diabetes

                                                In this episode, Scott Summers, PhD joins the discussion.