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.
My Data are your Data
Trey Ideker | Via Nature | June 7, 2012In January, over 50 researchers from 30 academic and commercial organizations agreed on a standard for describing data sets. The BioSharing initiative, comprising both researchers and publishers, launched the Investigation-Study-Assay (ISA) Commons, which promises to streamline data sharing among different databases1. Life scientists have thousands of databases, over 300 terminologies and more than 120 exchange […]
The Real Culprit Behind Hardened Arteries? Stem Cells, Says Landmark Study
Song Li | Via UC Berkeley News Center | June 6, 2012One of the top suspects behind killer vascular diseases is the victim of mistaken identity, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who used genetic tracing to help hunt down the real culprit. The guilty party is not the smooth muscle cells within blood vessel walls, which for decades was thought to combine […]
Engineers Use Reflected Light to Illuminate the Mystery of Ear Infections
Stephen A. Boppart | Via Scientific American | June 4, 2012When a person suffers from chronic ear infections the culprit may be a film of bacteria or other microorganisms that builds up behind the eardrum, not unlike dental plaque on unbrushed teeth. Antibiotics are not always effective against this so-called biofilm, so it helps doctors greatly to know whether it is present before prescribing a […]
Researchers Achieve RNA Interference, in a Lighter Package
Daniel Anderson | Via Massachusetts Institute of Technology | June 3, 2012Using a technique known as “nucleic acid origami,” chemical engineers have built tiny particles made out of DNA and RNA that can deliver snippets of RNA directly to tumors, turning off genes expressed in cancer cells. To achieve this type of gene shutdown, known as RNA interference, many researchers have tried — with some success […]
Surgery in Space
James Antaki | Via Carnegie Mellon University | June 1, 2012Surgical care in zero gravity would be a challenge. And biomedical engineering researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Louisville are preparing for this possibility. They are developing surgical tools that could be used on spaceflights to the moon, an asteroid or Mars. “In deep space, surgical procedures will be severely complicated by […]
How Do You Stop Multi-Organ Failure in Shock Patients?
Geert Schmid-Schonbein | Via UC San Diego Engineering | June 1, 2012Bioengineering research from the Jacobs School is at the center of a 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study now under way. The trial is testing the efficacy and safety of a new use and method of administering an enzyme inhibitor to stop multi-organ failure in shock patients. This new use of an FDA-approved drug is […]
Fisher Promoted
John Fisher | Via UMD Bioengineering | May 30, 2012The Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BioE) and the A. James Clark School of Engineering extend their congratulations to John Fisher, who has been promoted to the rank of Professor, effective July 1. Fisher, who received his Ph.D. from Rice University in 2003, currently serves as one of the department’s two Associate Chairs and as its […]
UC Santa Barbara Researchers Develop Synthetic Platelets
Samir Mitragotri | Via UC Santa Barbara | May 30, 2012Synthetic platelets have been developed by UC Santa Barbara researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Scripps Research Institute and Sanford-Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Their findings are published in the journal Advanced Materials in a paper titled “Platelet Mimetic Particles for Targeting Thrombi in Flowing Blood.”
Nowhere to Hide: New Device Sees Bacteria Behind the Eardrum
Stephen A. Boppart | Via University of Illinois News Bureau | May 29, 2012Doctors can now get a peek behind the eardrum to better diagnose and treat chronic ear infections, thanks to a new medical imaging device invented by University of Illinois researchers. The device could usher in a new suite of non-invasive, 3-D diagnostic imaging tools for primary-care physicians. The research team, led by University of Illinois […]
New Stem Cell Technique Promises Abundance of Key Heart Cells
Sean Palecek | Via University of Wisconsin News | May 28, 2012Cardiomyocytes, the workhorse cells that make up the beating heart, can now be made cheaply and abundantly in the laboratory. Writing this week (May 28, 2012) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of Wisconsin scientists describes a way to transform human stem cells — both embryonic and induced pluripotent stem […]
UTSA Alumna, Advisers Launch Cardiovate to Prevent Aortic Aneurysm Ruptures
C. Mauli Agrawal | Via University of Texas at San Antonio | May 23, 2012University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) alumna Jordan Kaufmann, Ph.D.; UTSA College of Engineering Dean Mauli Agrawal; and UT Medicine San Antonio cardiologist Steven Bailey, M.D., have launched Cardiovate, a technology start-up that will offer a new and much-needed cardiovascular stent-graft to prevent aneurysm leakage following cardiovascular surgeries. Kaufmann, an alumna of the UTSA […]
NJIT Professor To Head Journal Bridging Worlds of Medicine and Engineering
Atam P. Dhawan | Via New Jersey Institute of Technology | May 22, 2012NJIT Distinguished Professor Atam Dhawan has been named co-editor of the Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) http://www.embs.org/news/203-embs-announces-co-editors-for-the-journal-of-translational-engineering-infhealth-and-medicine. Clifford Dasco, MD, of Baylor College, Houston, will be co-editor. The journal will be an open access product to bridge the engineering and clinical […]
A First: Brain Support Cells from Umbilical Cord Stem Cells
James Hickman | Via UCF Office of Research & Commercialization | May 17, 2012For the first time ever, stem cells from umbilical cords have been converted into other types of cells, which may eventually lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases. This is the first time this has been done with non-embryonic stem cells,” says James Hickman, a […]
Dr. Tang Named 2012 Fellow of IUS-BSE
Liping Tang | Via UT Arlington | May 17, 2012Liping Tang, a University of Texas at Arlington bioengineering professor, has been named a 2012 Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUS-BSE). This recognition is bestowed upon a very selective group of biomaterial engineers worldwide, totaling just 218 fellows in the world.
Sports Science, Featuring WSU’s Cynthia Bir, Wins Sports Emmy
Cynthia A. Bir | Via CBS Local | May 14, 2012ESPN Sport Science, the TV series featuring Wayne State University Professor of Biomedical Engineering Cynthia Bir, won one of the two Sports Emmy Awards for which it was nominated this year. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the winners at the 33rd annual Sports Emmys at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Boppart Recognized with Hans Sigrist Prize
Stephen A. Boppart | Via University of Illinois Engineering | May 14, 2012Stephen A. Boppart, a Bliss Professor of Engineering with appointments in the departments of electrical and computer engineering, of bioengineering, and of internal medicine at Illinois, has been awarded the Hans Sigrist Prize, an international prize presented annually to a distinguished scientist in a selected field. The 2012 award was competitively selected to honor outstanding […]
2012 George Award
Buddy Ratner | Via European Society for Biomaterials | May 11, 2012The 2012 George Winter ESB awardee is Prof. Buddy D. Ratner (USA), for his excellence in research, vision and leading role in the promotion of biomaterials science worldwide. The award will be officially attributed during the 25th ESB Annual Conference, in Madrid, Spain, in 2013.
Texas A&M Research Makes Monitoring Glucose Painless
Gerard Cote | Via TAMU Times | May 11, 2012The painful finger-pricks diabetics are forced to endure when checking their blood sugar levels could become a thing of the past thanks to the work of engineering researchers at Texas A&M. Gerard Coté, Charles H. & Bettye Barclay Professor and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Michael Pishko, Stewart & Stevenson Professor II […]
Successful Stem Cell Differentiation Requires DNA Compaction, Study Finds
Todd C. McDevitt | Via Georgia Tech News Center | May 10, 2012Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University found that chromatin compaction is required for proper embryonic stem cell differentiation to occur. Chromatin, which is composed of histone proteins and DNA, packages DNA into a smaller volume so that it fits inside a cell. A study published on May 10, 2012 in the […]
Target: Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Robert Langer | Via Massachusetts Institute of Technology | May 3, 2012Over the past several decades, scientists have faced challenges in developing new antibiotics even as bacteria have become increasingly resistant to existing drugs. One strategy that might combat such resistance would be to overwhelm bacterial defenses by using highly targeted nanoparticles to deliver large doses of existing antibiotics. In a step toward that goal, researchers […]