Category Archives: BioEngineering

Machine operators move protective packaging material, that's made from mushrooms, from molds to a cart on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Ecovative Design in Troy, N.Y. From left are Aaron Ford, Lance Tucker and Aldwin Berry. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less Machine operators move protective packaging material, that's made from mushrooms, from molds to a cart on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Ecovative Design in Troy, N.Y. From left are Aaron Ford, Lance Tucker and ... more Photo: Cindy Schultz Mayor Patrick Madden, center, holds protective packaging while production manager Katie Malysa, right, explains it's made from mushrooms on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Ecovative Design in Troy, N.Y. At left is Andy Ross of Ross Valve. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less Mayor Patrick Madden, center, holds protective packaging while production manager Katie Malysa, right, explains it's made from mushrooms on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Ecovative Design in Troy, N.Y. At left is ... more Photo: Cindy Schultz Machine operator Lance Tucker, right, carries protective packaging material, that's made from mushrooms, on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, at Ecovative Design in Troy, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) Machine operator Lance Tucker, right, carries protective packaging material, that's … Continue reading →

NSF Honorees Are Devoted to Improving Our World Four Bioengineering students have been chosen this year for the Graduate Research Fellowship Program by the National Science Foundation. The program provides three years of financial support for graduate studies. Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Device Center have been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to investigate a novel approach to accelerate the learning of foreign languages. read more Dr. Robert Gregg has devoted years of research to helping lower-limb amputees and stroke survivors walk again. A new grant from the National Science Foundation has given that effort a significant boost. read more We actively pursue research that leads to tech and knowledge transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship. The Bioengineering Department at UT Dallas offers an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and graduate degrees in biomedical engineering as part of collaboration with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas About Us With access to advanced technology, highly trained engineers, and clinicians and practitioners in the field; we provide a unique environment that cultivates creativity. Learn More Our faculty work in a range of disciplines and conduct groundbreaking research; as leaders in their fields, they provide students with … Continue reading →

After spending an average of $2.5 billion to develop a single new drug, sometimes pharma companies have to pull it from the market due to a bad outcome that was not detected in clinical studies. Thats what happened in 2000, when a promising Type 2 diabetes drug called troglitazone led to idiosyncratic (unexplained) liver damage in one of every 60,000 users. The troglitazone mystery wasnt solved until March 2016, when a novel liver-on-a-chip platform developed by Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Yaakov Nahmias revealed what no animal or human tests could: even low concentrations of this drug caused liver stress before any damage could be seen. It was the first time an organ-on-chip device could predict information to help pharmaceutical companies define risk for idiosyncratic toxicity, Nahmias tells ISRAEL21c. Shortly before that study, Nahmias liver-on-a-chip had revealed a new mechanism for acetaminophen (Tylenol) poisoning. Given that about 16 percent of all FDA-approved drugs eventually show unexpected toxicity, Nahmias recognized the potential of his smart human-on-a-chip platform. He licensed the technology from the university and spun off Tissue Dynamics to provide toxicology analysis of drugs and cosmetics. LOral was Tissue Dynamics first customer in October 2016. Major brands such as Unilever … Continue reading →

A laboratory technique called optogenetics has emerged as one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in recent history. Optogenetics involves the control of cells using light. When applied to neurons, this tool has the potential to cure blindness, treat Parkinsons disease, and relieve chronic pain. Optogenetics can be used to control the activity of neurons in freely-moving mammals. Using the technique, scientists are able to study the natural mechanisms of how the brain works and the pathological changes implicated in brain disease. Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a world leader in optogenetics, gave a talk at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning on July 6 as this years Aser Rothstein Lecture Series speaker. Deisseroth is theD.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University. Hisbackground in both psychiatry and bioengineering places him in a unique position to approach optogenetics. Whats cool now is that we can control neurons and play in activity patterns just like a conductor conducting an orchestra and we can do this during complex behaviours and see what actually causes certain behaviour, such as memory cognitions, affective, or emotional states, Deisseroth said in an interview with The Varsity. The initial concept of [past] … Continue reading →

6 hours ago This August marks the last month of Mark Spong as the dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. He will step down and become a regular faculty member after taking the upcoming school year off. In an interview with The Mercury, Spong spoke about what the Jonsson School has accomplished and what the future will look like. Q:Why are you stepping down from the dean position? Before I was dean, I was a faculty member, and I still am a faculty member doing research and teaching and other things. For personal and professional reasons, I thought it was a good time to pass it on to someone else. I think we have accomplished a lot here at the Jonsson School. After 9 years, its always good to get new administration in place and Im ready to go back. Q:Who will the new dean be? Basically, theyve hired a professional search firm to look nationwide for a new dean. Theyll be bringing in candidates in the fall, and in the spring they will start interviewing them. I think they are looking to introduce the new dean in the fall 2018 term. That would be … Continue reading →

Lehigh has established a new Department of Bioengineering that will build upon the universitys existing bioengineering undergraduate and graduate programs, according to an announcement from Provost Patrick V. Farrell. The department, which was formally announced on July 1, will be chaired by Professor Anand Jagota, a member of the chemical and biomolecular engineering faculty who has chaired the bioengineering program since 2004. As Lehigh moves toward the creation of a new College of Health, the new Department of Bioengineering will form an essential connection point for ongoing interdisciplinary research and serve as a natural channel of partnership between the colleges, Farrell wrote. The initial department faculty includes 17 members with academic appointments, as well as 17 affiliated members, according to the announcement. Their research is supported by, among others, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy. The field of bioengineering was born out of a combination of elements from other well-established disciplines, Jagota told University Communications. In recent years, it has developed its own language, its own tools, its own gravitational pull, so to speak. Thus, the timing is right for Lehigh to recognize this evolution by … Continue reading →

Microsoft-founder Bill Gates told Wired magazine in 2010 that if he'd started hacking today, he wouldnt have bothered with computers but focused on biology instead. Taking the potential of CRISPR into consideration, its easy to see why. Hacking biology includes techniques like editing genes and telling a living organism from the size of a single cell to a complex mammal, like ourselves, to do things differently. We've been doing this for a while, creating new kinds of food, medicines and making cats glow in the dark. One problem was that these methods for editing genes were expensive and imprecise. Past tense, because of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR for short. CRISPR works much like a DNA-level pair of scissors and glue stick. It dramatically lowers the bar for biotech innovation, making it 99 percent cheaper to edit genes, not to mention much more precise. As a result, just about anyone with a good idea, motivation and a little technical savvy can get into bioengineering and biohacking. But dont just take my word for it. Here are five ways that CRISPR can revolutionise how we do things, and save lives along the way. One of the biggest health … Continue reading →

Text size: research Jonsson School Researchers Refine Biosensor to Measure Three Diabetes-Related Compounds for a Week July 3, 2017 Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas are getting more out of the sweat theyve put into their work on a wearable diagnostic tool that measures three diabetes-related compounds in microscopic amounts of perspiration. Type 2 diabetes affects so many people. If you have to manage and regulate this chronic problem, these markers are the levers that will help you do that, said Dr. Shalini Prasad, professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. We believe weve created the first diagnostic wearable that can monitor these compounds for up to a week, which goes beyond the type of single-use monitors that are on the market today. In a study published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, Prasad and lead author Dr. RujutaMunje, a recent bioengineering PhD graduate, describe their wearable diagnostic biosensor that can detect three interconnected compounds cortisol, glucose and interleukin-6 in perspired sweat for up to a week without loss of signal integrity. If a person has chronic stress, their cortisol levels increase, and their resulting insulin resistance will gradually drive their glucose levels … Continue reading →

Auckland Bioengineering Institute Thursday 29 June 2017, 09:42AM Media release from Auckland Bioengineering Institute Research into heart and gut disease at Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) has received a significant boost with recent funding from the New Zealand Health Research Council (HRC). A five-year research programme looking at the biomechanics of heart disease has been awarded $4,964,878, while two researchers from ABIs Gastrointestinal Research Group have received HRC Emerging Researcher funding of $250,000 each to look at electrical abnormalities in the gut. The heart team led by Professor Martyn Nash, Honorary Professor of Biomedical Engineering at ABI and in Engineering Science, is looking at biomechanical factors such as stiffness and stress which are known to have important influences on heart function, but are difficult to quantify. Working with Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences researchers Professor Alistair Young, a medical imaging expert, and National Heart Foundation Professor of Heart Health, Rob Doughty, Professor Nashs team will develop novel tools for robust evaluation of biomechanical factors in cardiac patients. The new knowledge from this programme will improve our understanding of the mechanisms of heart disease, says ABI research fellow Dr Vicky Wang. This will enable better targeting of treatment, leading to better … Continue reading →

When students in Stanford Universitys Introduction to Bioengineering course sit for their final exams, the first question that they have to answer is about our ability to write DNA. Scientists have fully sequenced the genomes of humans, trees, octopuses, bacteria, and thousands of other species. But it may soon become possible to not just read large genomes but also to write themsynthesizing them from scratch. Imagine a music synthesizer with only four keys, said Stanford professor Drew Endy to the audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic. Each represents one of the four building blocks of DNAA, C, G, and T. Press the keys in sequence and you can print out whatever stretch of DNA you like. In 2010, one group did this for a bacterium with an exceptionally tiny genome, crafting all million or so letters of its DNA and implanting it into a hollow cell. Another team is part-way through writing the more complex genome of bakers yeast, with 12 million letters. The human genome is 300 times bigger, and as I reported last month, others are trying to build the technology that will allow them to create genomes … Continue reading →