Breaking records: U-M reported a record $2.16 billion in research expenditures during FY25, helping launch 31 startups and receiving 673 new invention reports. Nonfederal funding reached a record $213 million, and a record $699 million in internally sponsored expenditures shows a 5.3% increase over 2024.

As Michigan Medicine prepares for the public unveiling Nov. 12 of the new D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion, U-M leaders instrumental in its development look back at how the ambitious project first took shape — and the life-changing potential that awaits its opening.

New software developed by computer scientists at U-M provides a digital, voice-controlled hand that could improve the accessibility of virtual and augmented reality by enabling hands-free use of games and apps. Users of the prototype HandProxy can ask ‘the hand’ to grab and move virtual objects, drag and resize windows, and even give a thumbs up.

As one of Time 100’s Creators of 2025, biologist Charlie Engelman, BS ’14, educates and entertains millions of subscribers about the ‘odd animal specimens’ stored in the U-M Museum of Zoology’s collection. Fans may be drawn to his quirky digital world, but Engelman hopes to send them to the natural one.

Every day, behind every professor, lecturer and student is a team of experts who apply their skills at the intersection of knowing and doing. They are the technicians who build and maintain the labs where discoveries take shape; the mentors who help students master machinery and tools; and the builders and designers who parse data and sustain experiments.

U-M scientists have developed a cancer treatment that is non-invasive — no incisions and no harmful side effects — by harnessing sound waves. Using ultrasound technology created at U-M, histotripsy could be a welcome alternative to chemotherapy and radiation.

Melanoma testing could one day be done at home with a skin patch and test strip with two lines, similar to COVID-19 home tests, according to U-M researchers. Developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the new silicone patch with star-shaped microneedles, called the ExoPatch, distinguished melanoma from healthy skin in mice.

Diagnosed with spina bifida, short bowel syndrome, and other complex conditions, Larry has received care from more than 15 different clinical teams across C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. His life has been shaped by moments when people across disciplines came together to listen, collaborate, and do what was best for him. ‘His care can’t exist in silos,’ says his mother, Kathryn Prout.

Choosing a more electrified vehicle will reduce drivers’ greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of where they live in the contiguous U.S. A new study estimates emissions per mile driven across 35 combinations of vehicle class and powertrains: conventional gas pickups, hybrid SUVs, and fully electric sedans, among others.