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.
A key step toward growing human kidneys in the laboratory
Joseph Bonventre | Via Phys.org | August 30, 2022Kidney disease affects one in nine adults globally and the incidence of kidney failure is steadily rising around the world. Being able to grow working kidney tissue in a laboratory could help accelerate medical treatments for kidney disease and restore kidney function. The kidney forms normally in humans as a result of two building blocks—metanephric […]
Synthetic Biologists Use Novel Tool to “See” Signal Processing in Real Time
Jeffrey Tabor | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | August 26, 2022Synthetic biologists at Rice University say they have developed the first method for observing the real-time activity of some of most common signal-processing circuits in bacteria, including deadly pathogens that use the circuits to increase their virulence as well as to develop antibiotic drug resistance. Two-component systems are sensory circuits bacteria use to react to […]
Phage-resistant E. coli strains developed to reduce fermentation failure
Sang Yup Lee | Via Phys.org | August 24, 2022A genome engineering-based systematic strategy for developing phage resistant Escherichia coli strains has been successfully developed through the collaborative efforts of a team led by Professor Sang Yup Lee, Professor Shi Chen, and Professor Lianrong Wang. This study by Xuan Zou et al was published in Nature Communications in August 2022 and featured in the […]
New treatment could prevent anaphylactic reactions
Jeffrey Hubbell | Via New Food Magazine | August 23, 2022A new treatment could prevent hypersensitive consumers from having dangerous anaphylactic reactions if they consume an allergen by replacing important gut bacteria. Although many people with dietary allergies experience mild symptoms when exposed to triggering foods, some face potentially fatal consequences as a result of anaphylactic reactions. A bacterial compound called butyrate that’s made by […]
The Locked Library: Disease Causes Cells to Reorder Their DNA Incorrectly
Robert Mauck | Via Penn Medicine News | August 22, 2022Imagine you’re trying to do a job and all of the information you need to do it is in a few books at the library. Except, those books are randomly arranged along with all the other books on shelves across the whole building. Without that vital information from the books you were looking for, you […]
Discovery points to new drug targets that could prevent cancer spread
Sylvia Plevritis | Via News-Medical.Net | August 22, 2022Any cancer cell migrating from a tumor to set up shop elsewhere in the body will face a brutal attack from an immune system programmed to seek and destroy abnormal cells. But two recent studies from Stanford Medicine show that the hearty few that manage to infiltrate nearby lymph nodes carry out a stunning biological […]
Mini Caps for Mini Brains
David Gracias | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | August 19, 2022A research team led by scientists from Johns Hopkins University have developed a tiny EEG electrode cap to measure activity in a brain model the size of a pen dot. Its designers expect the device to lead to better understanding of neural disorders and how potentially dangerous chemicals affect the brain. The researchers published their […]
New strategy for delivery of therapeutic proteins could help treat degenerative eye diseases
Molly Shoichet | Via University of Toronto | August 18, 2022A U of T Engineering research team has created a new platform that delivers multiple therapeutic proteins to the body, each at its own independently controlled rate. The innovation could help treat degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss for people over 50. Unlike traditional drugs made of […]
Novel method aims to demystify communication in the brain
Byron Yu | Via Carnegie Mellon University | August 18, 2022Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Einstein College of Medicine, and the Champalimaud Foundation introduce a new statistical method, Delayed Latents Across Groups or DLAG, to help detangle concurrent communication across brain areas. From sunrise to sunset, the flow of communication across brain areas helps to facilitate every move we make. Seeing, hearing, walking, and singing, […]
Cancer vaccine eliminates tumors, prevents recurrence in mice with metastatic melanoma
Qiaobing Xu | Via Science Board | August 16, 2022Tufts University School of Engineering researchers have come up with a method of targeting cancer in mice using an mRNA-based vaccine that is delivered directly into the lymphatic system, eliminating tumors and preventing their recurrence. While scientists worldwide have been trying to develop vaccines against different types of cancer, it has remained an elusive goal. […]
Researchers design new inks for 3D-printable wearable bioelectronics
Akhilesh Gaharwar | Via Texas A&M University | August 16, 2022Flexible electronics have enabled the design of sensors, actuators, microfluidics and electronics on flexible, conformal and/or stretchable sublayers for wearable, implantable or ingestible applications. However, these devices have very different mechanical and biological properties when compared to human tissue and thus cannot be integrated with the human body. A team of researchers at Texas A&M […]
Pioneering Engineer-Researcher to Receive 2022 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research
Rakesh Jain | Via NFCR | August 15, 2022The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) announced today that Rakesh K. Jain, Ph.D., has been selected to receive the 2022 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research. The blue-ribbon Prize selection committee, consisting of renowned leaders in cancer research, elected Dr. Jain for his pioneering research and breakthrough discoveries on overcoming barriers posed by […]
Professor Laurencin Publishes Breakthrough Report on Rotator Cuff Regeneration Treatment
Cato Laurencin | Via University of Connecticut | August 12, 2022A new way to regenerate muscle could help repair the damaged shoulders of millions of people every year. The technique uses advanced materials to encourage muscle growth in rotator cuff muscles. Dr. Cato Laurencin and his team reported the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) August 8th issue. Tears of […]
Grant boosts respiratory support for lung disease patients
Keith Cook | Via Carnegie Mellon University | August 12, 2022An interdisciplinary team led by Keith Cook has been awarded $8.7 million dollars from the U.S. Army CDMRP program to create and integrate new technologies to sustain permanent at-home artificial lung support. Such advances will allow chronic lung disease patients to lead more normal lives in which they feel comfortable engaging in everyday activities, such […]
Smart Contact Lenses for Cancer Diagnostics and Screening
Ali Khademhosseini | Via Terasaki Institute | August 11, 2022Scientists from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) have developed a contact lens that can capture and detect exosomes, nanometer-sized vesicles found in bodily secretions which have the potential for being diagnostic cancer biomarkers. The lens was designed with microchambers bound to antibodies that can capture exosomes found in tears. This antibody- conjugated signaling […]
Rensselaer Researchers To Focus on Improving the Life and Efficiency of Nuclear Reactors
Suvranu De | Via Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | August 11, 2022Rensselaer Professor Jie Lian has been awarded $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Nuclear Energy University Research Program (NEUP) to conduct research and develop new materials that will make advanced nuclear reactors more resilient and economically efficient. Dr. Lian, the principle investigator of the project, will be joined by collaborators […]
Interactive map of metabolical synthesis of chemicals
Sang Yup Lee | Via Phys.org | August 11, 2022A research team comprised of Woo Dae Jang, Gi Bae Kim, and Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST reported an interactive metabolic map of bio-based chemicals. Their research paper “An interactive metabolic map of bio-based chemicals” was published online in Trends in Biotechnology on August 10, […]
Experimental drug reduces risk of death from blood vessel rupture in mice
Samuel Wickline | Via Washington University in St. Louis | August 9, 2022An experimental drug therapy protects mice from sudden death due to the rupture of a major blood vessel in the abdomen, according to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings, available online in Biomaterials Advances, may lead to a new strategy in treating abdominal aortic aneurysm, a […]
Metabolically engineered bacterium produces lutein
Sang Yup Lee | Via Phys.org | August 4, 2022Lutein is classified as a xanthophyll chemical that is abundant in egg yolk, fruits, and vegetables. It protects the eye from oxidative damage from radiation and reduces the risk of eye diseases including macular degeneration and cataracts. Commercialized products featuring lutein are derived from the extracts of the marigold flower, which is known to harbor […]