Material / Image Research Lab (MIRL)

An engineering professor from the University of Southern California has lead a multinational group charged with saving Leonardo’s iconic fresco The Last Supper. One problem maintaining the fresco is the way it was painted: directly on a dry wall, which caused it to begin deteriorating almost immediately. Subsequent restorations haven’t helped the matter. However, the current team has been tackling the modern problem of both outdoor and indoor air pollution in Milan.