In just the past week, two NYUAD professors were featured in The National. Both Assistant Professor of Practice of Chemistry Wael Rabeh and Assistant Professor of Physics Joseph Gelfand spoke with the paper about the significant discoveries they've made in their fields.

Rabeh, whose research is devoted to the biophysical and biochemical characterization of human proteins with medical relevance, says he has discovered a treatment for cystic fibrosis that could boost the life expectancy of those suffering from the disease. According to the article, "Big leap forward for disease treatment," the discovery has the potential to help between 50 and 80 percent of sufferers. As Rabeh told The National, "It is ready for clinical trial. A drug based on this research will be able to help patients survive this illness if they take it throughout their lives."

Gelfand, who focuses on core collapse supernovae and has been investigating the existence of tidal disruption flares (TDFs), has identified — along with an international group of scientists — two cases of TDFs from archived telescopic data of 2.6 million galaxies. The corresponding research, according to the article, "New light on galaxies' hearts of darkness," will help to establish how often TDFs occur and thus provide a new window into general relativity. After studying the wavelengths produced by millions of stars, Gelfand "turned to the radio waves emitted by the flares. Supernovae often produce x-ray and radio waves, while TDFs do not." And, finding no radio waves, discovered that they were indeed looking at TDFs. As the article said, "That could change the way we see the role of black holes, how they feed and grow in host galaxies — and perhaps even science's view of how the universe came to be."

Click the links below to read the articles in their entireties.

Big leap forward for disease treatment (The National)
New light on galaxies' hearts of darkness (The National)