Category Archives: BioEngineering

By Kara Guzman kguzman@santacruzsentinel.com @karambutan on Twitter SANTA CRUZ >> A new treatment for skin cancer is just one possible outcome of the 15 undergraduate research projects highlighted at the Chancellor's Undergraduate Awards ceremony Friday. Senior Beau Norgeot used computer analysis to create a drug designed to make cells more receptive to chemotherapy. The bioengineering major received the day's top honor, the Steck Family Award. When melanoma, a type of skin cancer, spreads, only 20 percent of patients survive, said Glenn Millhauser, UCSC chemistry and biochemistry professor and Norgeot's adviser. What's novel about Norgeot's seven-month project, said Millhauser, is the collaboration it represents. For the first time, Norgeot brought together David Bernick, UCSC biomolecular engineering professor, with Millhauser, to link their work on computer algorithms and chemistry. Norgeot, 33, returned to UCSC in 2011 to finish his undergraduate degree after leaving in the 1990s to start three companies. He said research has given context to his classwork and shaped his campus experience. "(From research) I think what I've learned to do is ask good questions," said Norgeot, who said he plans to attend graduate school to continue his work. What distinguishes UCSC's undergraduate research is student access to faculty, said … Continue reading →

Penn Bioengineering Class of 2014 Slideshow Congratulations to the Class of 2014! By: Penn Bioengineering … Continue reading →

Image Caption: An illustration of the final device. The device would be placed in an artificial lens with its antenna circling the perimeter, and the sensor and radio frequency chip inside. Credit: U of Washington By Michelle Ma, University of Washington Your eye could someday house its own high-tech information center, tracking important changes and letting you know when its time to see an eye doctor. University of Washington engineers have designed a low-power sensor that could be placed permanently in a persons eye to track hard-to-measure changes in eye pressure. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract surgery and would detect pressure changes instantaneously, then transmit the data wirelessly using radio frequency waves. The researchers recently published their results in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering and filed patents on an initial prototype of the pressure-monitoring device. No one has ever put electronics inside the lens of the eye, so this is a little more radical, said Karl Bhringer, a UW professor of electrical engineering and of bioengineering. We have shown this is possible in principle. If you can fit this sensor device into an intraocular lens implant during cataract surgery, it wont require any … Continue reading →

By Bjorn Carey A multiple exposure shows the effect of an impact to the top of the helmet in a laboratory experiment. A head impact detection system using the instrumented mouthguard distinguishes between these head impacts and non-impact noise, such as dropping the mouthguard on the floor. The debilitating effects of repeated concussions on NFL players have been well documented. What scientists still don't clearly know is whether those injuries are the result of thousands of tiny impacts, or singular, crushing blows to the brain. A group of bioengineers at Stanford is working to understand the head trauma that footballers experience during a game, and is making steps toward developing technology that reports dangerous hits in real time. For the past few years, David Camarillo, an assistant professor of bioengineering, and his colleagues have been supplying Stanford football players with special mouthguards equipped with accelerometers that measure the impacts players sustain during a practice or game. Previous studies have suggested a correlation between the severity of brain injuries and the biomechanics associated with skull movement from an impact. Camarillo's group uses a sensor-laden mouthguard because it can directly measure skull accelerations by attaching to the top row of teeth which … Continue reading →

Monday, June 9, 2014 | 6:43 p.m. CDT; updated 4:25 p.m. CDT, Tuesday, June 10, 2014 *UPDATE: This story has been updated to include information about the search for Thompson's replacement and about why he stepped down. Dean Thompson has been the dean of the college since 1994, according to his biography page on the college's website. Prior to his current role, Thompson was the dean of engineering at the University of New Mexico. During his tenure at MU, he has overseen the expansion of engineering-based research and education programs including bioengineering, computer science and information technology, according to the college's website.Undergraduate enrollment more than doubled to 2,886 in 2014 from1,360 in 1994, according to MU's Division of Enrollment Management. "Much has changed during his leadership, and we look forward to building on the college's excellent reputation in all of its disciplines," Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said in the news release. Interim Provost Ken Deansaid Thompsonis leaving the college in a good place. "Dean Thompson leaves the College of Engineering well positioned to move to the next level in research and cutting-edge, market-responsive education programs," Dean said in the release. Harry Tyrer, an electrical and computer engineering professor, who worked … Continue reading →

Monday, June 9, 2014 | 6:43 p.m. CDT; updated 4:25 p.m. CDT, Tuesday, June 10, 2014 *UPDATE: This story has been updated to include information about the search for Thompson's replacement and about why he stepped down. Dean Thompson has been the dean of the college since 1994, according to his biography page on the college's website. Prior to his current role, Thompson was the dean of engineering at the University of New Mexico. During his tenure at MU, he has overseen the expansion of engineering-based research and education programs including bioengineering, computer science and information technology, according to the college's website.Undergraduate enrollment more than doubled to 2,886 in 2014 from1,360 in 1994, according to MU's Division of Enrollment Management. "Much has changed during his leadership, and we look forward to building on the college's excellent reputation in all of its disciplines," Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said in the news release. Interim Provost Ken Deansaid Thompsonis leaving the college in a good place. "Dean Thompson leaves the College of Engineering well positioned to move to the next level in research and cutting-edge, market-responsive education programs," Dean said in the release. Harry Tyrer, an electrical and computer engineering professor, who worked … Continue reading →

WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've developed a blood test that can detect heart transplant rejection weeks or months earlier than previously possible. The test looks for increasing amounts of the heart donor's DNA in the blood of the transplant recipient. Unlike a biopsy, this noninvasive test does not require removal of any heart tissue, Stanford University researchers said. "This test appears to be safer, cheaper and more accurate than a heart biopsy, which is the current gold standard to detect and monitor heart-transplant rejection," study co-senior author Stephen Quake, professor of bioengineering and applied physics, said in a university news release. "We believe it's likely to be very useful in the clinic." Transplant recipients who show early signs of rejection can be given anti-rejection drugs in an effort to reduce the immune system's attack on the transplanted organ. Currently, heart transplant patients have to undergo dozens of heart biopsies in the months and years after they receive their new heart. The biopsies are uncomfortable and may cause complications such as heart rhythm problems or heart valve damage, the researchers said. The new test -- called a cell-free DNA test -- proved effective in a study … Continue reading →

2014 Triton 5K Bioengineering The UCSD Bioengineering Student Organizations at the 2014 UCSD Triton 5K. By: Helder Balelo … Continue reading →

The Fourth Phase of Water Dr. Gerald Pollack, UW Professor of Bioengineering, at TEDxGuelphU Does water have a fourth phase beyond solid, liquid, and vapor? University of Washington Bioengineering Professor Gerald Pollack answers this question, and intrigues us to consider the implication... By: Rain City Water … Continue reading →

Joel Simon Stanford University trustee Ram Shriram, right, and his wife, Vijay, have donated $61 million for the new Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering and an endowed departmental chair. Stanford University will name a new home for bioengineering and chemical engineering in recognition of gifts from university trustee Kavitark "Ram" Shriram and his wife, Vidjealatchoumy "Vijay" Shriram. The couple have provided $57 million in support for the new Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering, the fourth and final building in the university's new Science and Engineering Quad. The Shrirams also will endow the departmental chair in the Department of Bioengineering, bringing their total philanthropic support in this area to $61 million. Stanford has raised $78 million toward the total cost of the Shriram Center, including significant gifts from several other donors. The first occupants of the Shriram Center are scheduled to move in later this month. "The Shriram Center will unite innovators in science, engineering and medicine, enabling them to work together more closely and more quickly," said John L. Hennessy, Stanford's president. "We have also put teaching spaces at the very heart of the research facility, ensuring that future generations will be ready to realize the … Continue reading →