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.
Israeli team unveils potential for drug testing, cardiovascular treatments
Yaakov Nahmias | Via Jerusalem Post | August 7, 2023A minuscule model of a human heart, the size of a grain of rice, has been created in Israel. With the potential to put an end to the often criticized animal testing by pharmaceutical companies. In a major breakthrough, a collaborative team of Israeli researchers has unveiled a miniature human heart model that could potentially […]
Electrogenetics Study Finds We Could One Day Control Our Genes With Wearables
Martin Fussenegger | Via Singularity Hub | August 4, 2023The components sound like the aftermath of a shopping and spa retreat: three AA batteries. Two electrical acupuncture needles. One plastic holder that’s usually attached to battery-powered fairy lights. But together they merge into a powerful stimulation device that uses household batteries to control gene expression in cells. The idea seems wild, but a new […]
AI-Driven Molecular De-Extinction Tech Finds Antimicrobial Peptides in Neanderthals
Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | August 1, 2023Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Machine Biology Group have developed what they call a groundbreaking approach to drug discovery, which uses artificial intelligence to discover antibiotics in extinct organisms. In a newly published study in Cell Host and Microbe, the team described the use of the “molecular de-extinction” technology to discover antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) […]
Reprograming wasp venom to make antimicrobials
Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez | Via C&EN | July 30, 2023Synthetic peptides can keep their bug-fighting properties but lose the sting In the hunt for new antibiotics, people have looked in myriad locations. At the University of Pennsylvania, Cesar de la Fuente’s team goes hunting in the protein world. The researchers aim to find small proteins around 8–50 amino acids long with antimicrobial properties because […]
RNA-Based Therapy Fights Melanoma in Mice Models
Yizhou Dong | Via Mirage News | July 27, 2023Investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have designed an innovative RNA-based strategy to activate dendritic cells—which play a key role in immune response—that eradicated tumors and prevented their recurrence in mouse models of melanoma. The findings, which suggest that the approach has the potential to be effective against tumors that have […]
Brain movement measured for clues to prevent, reduce injury
Philip Bayly | Via Washington University in St. Louis | July 27, 2023When the human head experiences any kind of movement — from nodding yes or no to heading a soccer ball or being jolted in a car crash — the brain moves inside the skull, leading to deformation of the tissue. Such deformations are key to understanding traumatic brain injury but are challenging to study since […]
AI and Machine Learning Hold Potential in Fighting Infectious Disease
Ronald Summers | Via Health IT Analytics | July 26, 2023New research showed that drug discovery, infection biology, and diagnostics are functions of AI and machine learning in treating infectious diseases. A new study described that despite the continued threat of infectious diseases on public health, the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help handle this issue and provide a framework […]
New DNA Identification Approach Could Improve Monitoring for Chronic Diseases
Shana Kelley | Via Northwestern University | July 26, 2023Investigators led by Shana Kelley, PhD, the Neena B. Schwartz Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, have developed a novel approach for identifying sequences of artificial DNA with differing levels of binding to other small molecules. The approach, detailed in a study published in Nature Chemistry, could help improve the […]
Breaking Bacterial Barriers: New Strategy Improves Treatment of Chronic Wound Infections
Paul Dayton | Via Scitech Daily | July 26, 2023Scientists have developed a new strategy to improve the delivery of drugs to chronic wound infections. Chronic wounds, which are persistent open sores or damaged tissues that do not heal correctly, pose a significant challenge to treat because of bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus aureus, or S. aureus. This situation is further complicated when these […]
New Study Aims to Decipher the Mystery of Vitiligo
Darrell Irvine | Via managedhealthcareexecutive | July 26, 2023The study will enroll an estimated 1,000 patients, of whom approximately 200 will have vitiligo. The remaining participants will be at-risk family members, some 40 to 60 of whom are expected to develop vitiligo during the 5-year study. A new $3.75 million clinical trial, led by John E. Harris, MD, PhD, Manuel Garber, PhD, and […]
100-Year-Old Treatment Inhibits COVID-19 Infection
Jonathan Dordick | Via Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | July 24, 2023A team of researchers led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D., Institute Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has illuminated a new possibility for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 in research published in Communications Biology. The team found that suramin, a 100-year-old drug still used for human sleeping sickness that has many […]
The Last Word: UTD’s Shalini Prasad on How High-Tech Soil Sensors Can Help Gardeners and Farmers
Shalini Prasad | Via Dallas Innovates | July 20, 2023In March, Dallas Innovates told you about Dr. Prasad and her bioengineering team at UT Dallas, who are developing “groundbreaking” new soil health sensors that could help improve soil productivity on a global scale. “This is the equivalent of having a wearable health sensor on your body that tells you in real-time what’s happening,” Prasad […]
Artificial Intelligence is Leveling Up the Fight Against Infectious Diseases
Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez | Via University of Pennsylvania | July 20, 2023Artificial intelligence is a new addition to the infectious disease researcher’s toolbox. Yet in merely half a decade, AI has accelerated progress on some of the most urgent issues in medical science and public health. Researchers in this field blend knowledge of life sciences with skill in computation, chemistry and design, satisfying decades-long appeals for […]
Antigen-specific Microparticles Induce Tolerance in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis
Jordan Green | Via American Academy of Neurology | July 20, 2023Microparticles that carry a cocktail of tolerance-inducing immune molecules dramatically reversed disease symptoms in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published June 2 in Science Advances. MS and other autoimmune diseases “are generally treated with a hammer, knocking out segments of the immune system quite broadly,” noted corresponding author Jordan […]
Study optimizes patient-specific stem cell-based therapy for Parkinson’s disease
Jeanne Loring | Via EurekAlert | July 19, 2023The discovery by scientists from Scripps Research and Cardiff University paves the way for clinical trials that use patients’ own cells to treat Parkinson’s disease Scientists from Scripps Research and Cardiff University made key discoveries in support of a new stem cell-based therapy for Parkinson’s disease. The approach, called an autologous therapy, uses induced pluripotent […]
Nanomedicine Targets Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Sangyong Jon | Via Mirage News | July 17, 2023Anti-inflammatory nanoparticles mimic glycocalyx Chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, is on the rise worldwide. The benefits of current medications are limited by problematic side effects. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a South Korean research team has now introduced a new method of treatment. It is based on nanoparticles […]
Study finds tracking brain waves could reduce post-op complications
Emery Brown | Via MIT | July 17, 2023Distinctive EEG patterns indicate when a patient’s state of unconsciousness under general anesthesia is more profound than necessary. When patients undergo general anesthesia, their brain activity often slows down as they sink into unconsciousness. Higher doses of anesthetic drugs can induce an even deeper state of unconsciousness known as burst suppression, which is associated with […]
César de la Fuente Receives 2023 Rao Makineni Lectureship Award
Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez | Via University of Pennsylvania | July 11, 2023The American Peptide Society has selected César de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, Microbiology, Bioengineering and in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, as the recipient of the prestigious 2023 Rao Makineni Lectureship Award. Presented at the biennial American Peptide Symposium, the Makineni Lectureship Award recognizes an individual who has made a recent contribution of […]
Thomas J. Webster’s Nano-optimized Predictive Equation
Thomas Webster | Via YouTube | July 11, 2023 This is a video of the first equation (called the Thomas J. Webster Equation) ever made that can predict the size of nanometer surface features one can place on an implant, medical device, or tissue engineering material to promote tissue growth, inhibit infection, and limit inflammation. This equation will increase the lifetime of your […]
Optimizing Biomaterials: Nanomaterials Improving Implant Success
Thomas Webster | Via Open Access Government | July 6, 2023Discovering “Nano-optimized” science and the possibilities of nanotechnology, Prof. Webster and his research team are solving some of healthcare’s biggest problems Prof. Thomas J. Webster is an entrepreneur at heart. While he has a passion for teaching the next generation of biomedical engineers to solve some of our healthcare’s biggest problems, he has also been […]