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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.
Controlling glaucoma: Eye drop therapy reaches posterior ocular tissues
Laura Ensign | Via Ophthalmology Times | July 22, 2022A novel eye drop under development may provide neuroprotection to the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). An added plus is that only once-weekly dosing is required, according to Laura Ensign, PhD, who headed up the research. Ensign holds the Marcella E. Woll Professorship in Ophthalmology and is an associate professor of ophthalmology and vice chair for […]
Controlling glaucoma: Eye drop therapy reaches posterior ocular tissues
Justin Hanes | Via Ophthalmology Times | July 22, 2022A novel eye drop under development may provide neuroprotection to the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). An added plus is that only once-weekly dosing is required, according to Laura Ensign, PhD, who headed up the research. Ensign holds the Marcella E. Woll Professorship in Ophthalmology and is an associate professor of ophthalmology and vice chair for […]
New DNA editing tool could enable more personalized cell therapies
Casim Sarkar | Via Science Advisory Board | July 21, 2022An integrated experimental and computational method could make site-specific recombination more efficient and predictable. A research team used the model to predict and control simultaneous production of multiple proteins within a cell, pointing to applications in regenerative medicine and cell therapy. Researchers at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities developed the experimental model to calculate […]
How different cancer cells respond to drug-delivering nanoparticles
Paula Hammond | Via MIT | July 21, 2022The findings of a large-scale screen could help researchers design nanoparticles that target specific types of cancer. Using nanoparticles to deliver cancer drugs offers a way to hit tumors with large doses of drugs while avoiding the harmful side effects that often come with chemotherapy. However, so far, only a handful of nanoparticle-based cancer drugs […]
Nanomedicine for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and other viruses
Thomas Webster | Via Research Outreach | July 21, 2022While many viral infections can be prevented through vaccination, it can take a long time for vaccinations to be developed for new diseases and many people object to themselves or children taking vaccines. There is a high need for quicker, readily available alternative treatments. Serial entrepreneur Professor Thomas J Webster thinks this could be achieved […]
Suffocating from Medical Bias
Harriet Nembhard | Via American Scientist | July 15, 2022The United States is in the midst of a public health crisis, reeling from two serious pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. Everyone is familiar with the impact of the virus. The categorization of racism as a pandemic may seem less obvious, but when viewed through the lens of systems engineering, racism in the American health […]
Suffocating from Medical Bias
Gilda Barabino | Via American Scientist | July 15, 2022The United States is in the midst of a public health crisis, reeling from two serious pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. Everyone is familiar with the impact of the virus. The categorization of racism as a pandemic may seem less obvious, but when viewed through the lens of systems engineering, racism in the American health […]
Torn rotator cuff or ligament? Northeastern team could speed your recovery
Jeffrey Ruberti | Via Northeastern University | July 15, 2022A Northeastern University professor has teamed up with one of his former graduate students to develop a new soft tissue repair process they believe could revolutionize rehabilitative medicine. Instead of waiting until injuries such as damage to the rotator cuff get bad enough to require surgery, the idea is to inject liquid crystal collagen into […]
Teaching AI to ask clinical questions
Peter Szolovits | Via MIT | July 14, 2022Researchers have made strides toward machine-learning models that can help doctors more efficiently find information in a patient’s health record. Physicians often query a patient’s electronic health record for information that helps them make treatment decisions, but the cumbersome nature of these records hampers the process. Research has shown that even when a doctor has […]
Microparticles could be used to deliver “self-boosting” vaccines
Ana Jaklenec | Via MIT | July 13, 2022Most vaccines, from measles to Covid-19, require a series of multiple shots before the recipient is considered fully vaccinated. To make that easier to achieve, MIT researchers have developed microparticles that can be tuned to deliver their payload at different time points, which could be used to create “self-boosting” vaccines. In a new study, the […]
Microparticles could be used to deliver “self-boosting” vaccines
Robert Langer | Via MIT | July 13, 2022Most vaccines, from measles to Covid-19, require a series of multiple shots before the recipient is considered fully vaccinated. To make that easier to achieve, MIT researchers have developed microparticles that can be tuned to deliver their payload at different time points, which could be used to create “self-boosting” vaccines. In a new study, the […]
Ameer Wins 2022 Innovation Commercialization Award
Guillermo Ameer | Via Northwestern University | July 13, 2022The award recognizes the application of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine that benefits patients Northwestern Engineering’s Guillermo A. Ameer was honored with the 2022 Innovation/Commercialization Award by the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Americas (TERMIS-AM). The award recognizes the application of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine in the production of a product or technology […]
New Technology Could Dramatically Improve Response Time for Biospecimen Samples’ Processing
Frederic Zenhausern | Via University of Arizona | July 13, 2022ANBM’s Smart Shipping Incubator expedites the analysis of biospecimens, potentially cutting the processing time in half Time and safety are essential when transporting human blood samples to laboratories for specialized analysis. A new paper, “Automatic reagent handling and assay processing of human biospecimens inside a transportation container for a medical disaster response against radiation” — […]
Probing the tumor microenvironment
Douglas Lauffenburger | Via Vanderbilt University Medical Center | July 12, 2022The tumor microenvironment, which includes epithelial, immune and connective tissue cells, plays important roles in the pathogenesis of colorectal tumors. Few studies have examined how the microenvironment changes as colorectal tumors transition from advanced adenomas to pre-invasive carcinomas. Ken Lau, PhD, and colleagues have now used single-cell RNA-sequencing, multiplex immunofluorescence imaging, and computational approaches to […]
Study finds cancer cells gravitate toward mechanical ‘sweet spot’ environments
David Odde | Via Science Board | July 12, 2022An international team of researchers, led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities engineers, has discovered that cancer cells invade the body based on the stiffness of their environment, providing a new understanding of how cancer spreads and the potential for improvements to future treatments. Their study, published on July 11 in the journal Nature Materials, […]
When it comes to darker skin, pulse oximeters fall short
Kimani Toussaint | Via NPR | July 11, 2022Over the past two years, the pulse oximeter has become a crucial tool for tracking the health of COVID-19 patients. The small device clips onto a finger and measures the amount of oxygen in a patient’s blood. But a growing body of evidence shows the device can be inaccurate when measuring oxygen levels in people […]
‘Digital human’ helps teach Stanford study participants to walk with less stress on knees
Scott Delp | Via Stanford Medicine | July 7, 2022A computer simulation that relates muscle activation patterns to harmful pressure on the knee helps participants adopt knee-protective strategies as they walk. Researchers at Stanford Medicine have discovered how to reduce force on the knee by teaching study participants to employ different muscles as they walk. Using results from a detailed computer simulation, called a […]
‘Dancing molecules’ in the lab
Samuel Stupp | Via Northwestern University | July 5, 2022Professor Samuel Stupp welcomes congressional champions of biomedical research to his Northwestern lab Professor Samuel Stupp welcomed U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin and Northwestern President Morton Schapiro to his lab recently to discuss his research in the area of regenerative medicine and a new injectable therapy that harnesses “dancing molecules” to reverse […]
Inhalable COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Promise in Rodent Model
Ke Cheng | Via NC State University | July 5, 2022Researchers have created an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine that is shelf stable at room temperature for up to three months, targets the lungs specifically and effectively, and allows for self-administration via an inhaler. The researchers also found that the delivery mechanism for this vaccine – a lung-derived exosome called LSC-Exo – is more effective at evading […]
Can rubrics combat gender bias in faculty hiring?
Stephanie Fraley | Via Science | June 30, 2022Some bias persisted, but rubric use should be encouraged Abstract Research has documented the presence of bias against women in hiring, including in academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Hiring rubrics (also called criterion checklists, decision support tools, and evaluation tools) are widely recommended as a precise, cost-effective remedy to counteract hiring bias, despite […]