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.
Technique Brings Spinal Cord Neural Signaling Into Focus
John Gore | Via Vanderbilt | August 5, 2014Researchers in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) have achieved the first conclusive non-invasive measurement of neural signaling in the spinal cords of healthy human volunteers. Their technique, described today in the journal eLife, may aid efforts to help patients recover from spinal cord injuries and other disorders affecting spinal cord function, including […]
Freddie Fu Received the George D. Rovere Award
Freddie Fu | Via Pitt Chronicle | August 4, 2014Freddie Fu received the George D. Rovere Award for education at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine meeting in Seattle. The annual award recognizes a society member’s contribution to sports-medicine education. Fu is the David Silver Professor and Chair of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and founder of the UPMC Center […]
Tumor Suppressor Mutations Alone Don’t Explain Deadly Cancer
Trey Ideker | Via UCSD Mednews | August 4, 2014Although mutations in a gene dubbed “the guardian of the genome” are widely recognized as being associated with more aggressive forms of cancer, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found evidence suggesting that the deleterious health effects of the mutated gene may in large part be due to other […]
Rating Heartbeats to Save Lives
Frederick Epstein | Via UVA | August 4, 2014Although the term “heart failure” is a bit of a misnomer, there’s no doubt about its dire consequences. There are over 5 million people in the United States whose hearts simply fail to pump sufficient blood with enough force to fully support their bodies. People with heart failure don’t just feel lethargic and out of […]
Overcoming Immunological Barriers in Regenerative Medicine
Jeffrey Hubbell | Via Nature | August 4, 2014Regenerative therapies that use allogeneic cells are likely to encounter immunological barriers similar to those that occur with transplantation of solid organs and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Decades of experience in clinical transplantation hold valuable lessons for regenerative medicine, offering approaches for developing tolerance-induction treatments relevant to cell therapies. Outside the field of solid-organ […]
Freddie Fu, M.d. Honored with Watanabe Award
Freddie Fu | Via Orthopedics This Week | July 31, 2014The work of the prolific Dr. Fu is known around the globe, as is evidenced by his multitudes of awards. Now, Freddie Fu, M.D., chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, has been recognized by yet another international entity—the Japanese Orthopaedic Society of Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine (JOSKAS). Recently, […]
Making Old Bones New Again
Deepak Vashishth | Via Rensselaer | July 31, 2014Troy, N.Y. – As we age, our bones grow more brittle and more susceptible to fracture. Individuals with diabetes or with certain types of osteoporosis often are similarly afflicted with brittle bones. A new study from biomedical engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrates how the compound N-phenacylthiazolium bromide, or PTB, dissolves the sugary impurities within […]
Wyss Institute’s Organs-on-chips Develops into New Company
Donald Ingber | Via Harvard Gazette | July 29, 2014In order to accelerate the development of new pharmaceuticals, Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering announced that its human organs-on-chips technology will be commercialized by a newly formed private company. The announcement on Monday followed a worldwide license agreement between Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and the startup Emulate Inc. The agreement, relating […]
Engineering Faculty Selected to Thomson Reuters’ List of World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014
Kinam Park | Via Purdue Engineering | July 29, 2014David J. Love, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Mark S. Lundstrom, the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Kinam Park, the Showalter Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering are among seven Purdue faculty members who have been selected to the New York-based Thomson Reuters’ list of "The World’s Most […]
Antioxidant Biomaterial Promotes Healing
Guillermo Ameer | Via Northwestern McCormick Engineering | July 24, 2014When a foreign material like a medical device or surgical implant is put inside the human body, the body always responds. According to Northwestern’s Guillermo Ameer, most of the time, that response can be negative and affect the device’s function. “You will always get an inflammatory response to some degree,” said Ameer, professor of biomedical […]
Database of Pediatric MR Images Aids Diagnosis, Treatment
Mike Miller | Via Johns Hopkins, Department of Biomedical Engineering | July 24, 2014By building a “cloud database” of MR images collected from children with normal and abnormal brains, researchers aim to give physicians access to a Google-like search system that will improve the way pediatric brain disorders are diagnosed and treated. The project is being developed by a team of engineers and radiologists at Johns Hopkins University […]
Delivering Drugs on Cue
David Mooney | Via Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences | July 23, 2014Current drug delivery systems used to administer chemotherapy to cancer patients typically release a constant dose of the drug over time—but a new study challenges this “slow and steady” approach and offers a novel way to locally deliver the drugs “on demand,” as reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Led […]
Desai Named Chair of Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences
Tejal Desai | Via UCSF News | July 23, 2014Tejal Desai, PhD, has been named the new chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), a joint department within the UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy and School of Medicine. Her appointment is effective August 1. “I am delighted Tejal will chair the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences,” said Chancellor Sam […]
Blanchard Heads Microchips
Cheryl Blanchard | Via Orthopedics This Week | July 23, 2014Cheryl Blanchard, Ph.D., Zimmer Holdings, Inc.’s former chief science officer, has been appointed CEO of MicroCHIPS, Inc. She also becomes a board member of the company. She replaces Brad Paddock, who is going to Stryker Spine to be the division’s general manager. Paddock had been MicroCHIP’s interim CEO since December 2013. MicroCHIPS developed a microchip-based […]
Dean Kamen: Don’t Blame Regulators for Stalling Medtech Innovation
Dean Kamen | Via MDDI | July 22, 2014Medtech inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen says the public needs to get a more realistic idea of what it takes to bring innovative medical devices to market. The medical device industry loves to beat up on FDA, but one person you won’t find lining up to take a shot at the agency is medtech inventor […]
On Capitol Hill, Keasling Calls for ‘national Initiative’ to Boost Bioengineering
Jay Keasling | Via Berkeley NewsCenter | July 21, 2014UC Berkeley professor and synthetic-biology pioneer Jay Keasling was on Capitol Hill Thursday, stressing the need for a federal strategy to ensure continued U.S. leadership in a field he said can yield significant medical benefits for people throughout the world, “and even save lives.” Keasling, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of bioengineering […]
This is Your Brain on Drugs
Hyongsok Soh | Via UC Santa Barbara | July 21, 2014We’ve all heard the term “addictive personality,” and many of us know individuals who are consistently more likely to take the extra drink or pill that puts them over the edge. But the specific balance of neurochemicals in the brain that spurs him or her to overdo it is still something of a mystery. “There’s […]
“gene Drives” and Crispr Could Revolutionize Ecosystem Management
George Church | Via Scientific American | July 17, 2014Genome engineering technologies have revolutionized genetics, biotechnology, and medical research. We may soon be able to alter not just domesticated species, but entire wild populations and ecosystems. Why, when and how might we use these novel methods to reshape our environment? The story begins with a new technology that has made the precise editing of […]
Two Pitt Programs Receive Awards
Michael Boninger | Via Pitt Chronicle | July 14, 2014Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg bestowed his 2014 Affirmative Action Award to two University programs: The Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Career Education and Enhancement for Health Care Research Diversity Program (CEED). The chancellor commended the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for its efforts to improve the lives of patients with mobility […]
Building the Test Kitchen for Medical Diagnostics
Catherine Klapperich | Via Boston University | July 14, 2014Catherine Klapperich moves fast, talks fast, and has at least 15 different ideas rolling through her head at the same time. How, for instance, can she keep her postdocs on track, guide 134 undergrads through their senior project, and meanwhile invent new technology that may change medicine as we know it? She arrived a few minutes […]