AIMBE
Fellowbook News
AIMBE Fellowbook collects news stories highlighting the members of the AIMBE College of Fellows. Read the latest stories, jump to the College Directory, or search below to find the newest research, awards, announcements and more for the leaders of the medical and biological engineering community.
Study discovers the mechanism of bronchial spasms
Andre Levchenko | Via Yale University | April 2, 2019A new study by researchers at Yale and Johns Hopkins University has discovered how asthmatic bronchial spasms — muscle contractions in the airway that cause difficulty breathing in asthma patients— occur by creating a microdevice that mimics the behavior of the human respiratory airways. Led by Andre Levchenko, professor of biomedical engineering, and Johns Hopkins […]
Lasers Open Up New Roads into Understanding Cancer Cells’ Behavior
Lihong Wang | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | April 2, 2019Researchers know that cancer cells are generally much more metabolically active than healthy cells, and some insights into a cancer cell’s behavior can be gleaned by analyzing its metabolic activity. But getting an accurate assessment of these characteristics has proven difficult for scientists, they say, adding that several methods, including position emission tomography (or PET) […]
Model learns how individual amino acids determine protein function
Bonnie Berger | Via MIT | March 31, 2019A machine-learning model from MIT researchers computationally breaks down how segments of amino acid chains determine a protein’s function, which could help researchers design and test new proteins for drug development or biological research. Proteins are linear chains of amino acids, connected by peptide bonds, that fold into exceedingly complex three-dimensional structures, depending on the […]
Like geese and race cars, cancer cells draft their way to new sites
Cynthia Reinhart-King | Via Vanderbilt Engineering | March 30, 2019NASCAR has nothing on cancer cells when it comes to exploiting the power of drafting, letting someone else do the hard work of moving forward while you coast behind. Building on the relatively new discovery that metastatic cancer cells leave tumors and travel in clusters, not singles, a Vanderbilt University team of biomedical engineers learned […]
Polymer heart valves may improve outcomes, reduce costs
Danny Bluestein | Via Plastics Today | March 29, 2019Defective aortic heart valves typically can be replaced with a mechanical or animal-tissue-based valve. Both options have drawbacks: In most cases, patients with a mechanical valve will need to take blood thinners for the rest of their lives to prevent blood clots, while tissue valves have a limited lifespan, requiring younger patients to undergo replacement […]
Spider silk could be used as robotic muscle
Markus Buehler | Via MIT | March 29, 2019Spider silk, already known as one of the strongest materials for its weight, turns out to have another unusual property that might lead to new kinds of artificial muscles or robotic actuators, researchers have found. The resilient fibers, the team discovered, respond very strongly to changes in humidity. Above a certain level of relative humidity […]
“Antibody-like” T Cell Receptors May Be New Potential Treatment for Cytomegalovirus (#CMV) and Brain Tumors
Jennifer Maynard | Via The University of Texas at Austin | March 29, 2019Texas ChE Professor Jennifer Maynard and her research team have engineered “antibody-like” T cell receptors that can specifically stick to cells infected with cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a virus that causes lifelong infection in more than half of all adults by age 40. These receptors represent a new potential treatment option, could aid the development of […]
Tissue model reveals how RNA will act on the liver
Sangeeta Bhatia | Via MIT | March 29, 2019Novel therapies based on a process known as RNA interference (RNAi) hold great promise for treating a variety of diseases by blocking specific genes in a patient’s cells. Many of the earliest RNAi treatments have focused on diseases of the liver, because RNA-carrying particles tend to accumulate in that organ. MIT researchers have now shown […]
New optical imaging system could be deployed to find tiny tumors
Paula Hammond | Via MIT | March 29, 2019Many types of cancer could be more easily treated if they were detected at an earlier stage. MIT researchers have now developed an imaging system, named “DOLPHIN,” which could enable them to find tiny tumors, as small as a couple of hundred cells, deep within the body. In a new study, the researchers used their […]
High-speed, 3D microscope captures stunning videos of fruit fly nerve cells in action
Elizabeth Hillman | Via EurekAlert | March 29, 2019Columbia engineers and neuroscientists have joined forces to create 3D videos of individual nerve cells moving, stretching and switching on inside fruit fly larvae as they move. Data gleaned from these videos reveals how nerve cells called proprioceptive neurons work together to help the body sense where it is in space. To accomplish this feat, […]
Myoscience Announces Data Demonstrating iovera Therapy is an Effective Alternative to Opioids for Pain Relief Following Knee Replacement Surgery
William Mihalko | Via The Associated Press | March 29, 2019Myoscience, Inc., a medical device company dedicated to relieving pain through targeted therapies, today announced clinical trial results demonstrating that iovera° therapy significantly reduced the use of opioids following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery (primary endpoint) and significantly reduced pain in a prospective, randomized study. Preliminary results will be presented tomorrow in the Innovation Theater […]
Drug could alleviate side effects of chemo for breast cancer patients
Joseph Wu | Via Stanford University | March 29, 2019Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have demonstrated a method of forecasting which breast cancer patients will suffer heart problems from a commonly used chemotherapy drug. The researchers also found that a class of medications already approved by the Food and Drug Administration may mitigate these side effects. “We could use this method […]
Chad A. Mirkin to Receive Prestigious Perkin Medal
Chad Mirkin | Via Northwestern University | March 29, 2019Northwestern University’s Chad A. Mirkin, a world-renowned chemist and nanoscience expert, will receive the 2019 Perkin Medal from The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), America Group. The award is widely considered as “the highest honor in American industrial chemistry.” Mirkin is the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts & […]
Vitamin C Might Reverse Stress-induced Driver of Breast Cancer, Study Says
Quentin Liu | Via Breast Cancer News | March 29, 2019Chronic stress and the consequent release of the stress hormone epinephrine may help breast cancer cells grow by helping them get more energy, a study in mice shows. This effect might be reversed through treatment with vitamin C, researchers report. The study, “Stress-induced epinephrine enhances lactate dehydrogenase A and promotes breast cancer stem-like cells,” was […]
Dr. Adela Ben-Yakar Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite
Adela Ben-Yakar | Via AIMBE | March 28, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Adela Ben-Yakar, Ph.D., Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College of Fellows […]
Dr. Helen Blau Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite
Helen Blau | Via AIMBE | March 28, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Helen M. Blau, Ph.D., Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor and Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, to its […]
Dr. Todd Coleman Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite
Todd Coleman | Via AIMBE | March 28, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Todd Prentice Coleman, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of California, San Diego, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College […]
Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite
Jonathan Himmelfarb | Via AIMBE | March 28, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Jonathan Himmelfarb, MD, Professor of Medicine, Joseph W. Eschbach, MD Endowed Chair for Kidney Research, Director, Kidney Research Institute, Co-director, Center for Dialysis Innovation, University of Washington, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is […]
Dr. Nadeem Ishaque Inducted into Medical and Biological Engineering Elite
Nadeem Ishaque | Via AIMBE | March 28, 2019WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Nadeem A. Ishaque, Ph.D., Chief Innovation Officer, Healthcare Imaging, GE Healthcare, to its College of Fellows. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer. The College of Fellows […]