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.
New research NETs a fresh angle for treating severe inflammation
Jeffrey Karp | Via Boston Children’s Hospital | October 27, 2021As we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, serious infections sometimes trigger an excessive inflammatory reaction that does as much harm — or more — than the infection itself. New research at Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital suggests a potential way to block this hyperinflammation response by repurposing or modifying an existing drug. […]
Synbio Upgrade Enables Bacterium to Carry Out Unnatural Reaction
Jay Keasling | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | October 23, 2021Yeast and bacteria eagerly manufacture all sorts of natural products—pharmaceuticals, biofuels, building materials, and so on. However, yeast and bacteria can’t manufacture unnatural products, that is, products of the kind that are synthesized in chemistry laboratories. Yeast and bacteria are simply ill-equipped. A member of any living species is limited to its own reactions or […]
Linda Griffith elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2021
Linda Griffith | Via MIT | October 20, 2021The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has announced the election of 100 new members for 2021, including two MIT faculty members and three additional Institute affiliates. Faculty honorees include Linda G. Griffith, a professor in the MIT departments of Biological Engineering and Mechanical Engineering; and Feng Zhang, a professor in the MIT departments of Brain […]
Carla Pugh elected to the National Academy of Medicine
Carla Pugh | Via Stanford University | October 20, 2021The National Academy of Medicine has elected four professors at the Stanford School of Medicine to its membership. They are among the 90 regular members and 10 international members elected this year to the academy, which provides policymakers, professionals, business leaders and the public with independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on issues related to […]
Preventing Postsurgical Adhesions using Hydrogel Barriers
Ali Khademhosseini | Via Terasaki Institute | October 20, 2021Following surgery within the abdominal or pelvic cavities, scar tissue often forms on the inner linings of these cavities and may adhere to the organs which are found within them. This adhesion occurs in 93% of these patients and can affect the intestines, liver, urinary bladder, gall bladder and female reproductive organs. In up to […]
New cancer treatment may reawaken the immune system
Darrell Irvine | Via MIT | October 19, 2021Immunotherapy is a promising strategy to treat cancer by stimulating the body’s own immune system to destroy tumor cells, but it only works for a handful of cancers. MIT researchers have now discovered a new way to jump-start the immune system to attack tumors, which they hope could allow immunotherapy to be used against more […]
Elisa Konofagou Elected to National Academy of Medicine
Elisa Konofagou | Via Columbia University | October 18, 2021The National Academy of Medicine today announced that three members of the Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons faculty—René Hen, PhD, Elisa E. Konofagou, PhD, and Jennifer Manly, PhD—have been elected to the academy. Membership in the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, is one of the highest honors bestowed […]
Andrés García Elected to National Academy of Medicine
Andrés García | Via Georgia Tech | October 18, 2021Georgia Tech Professor Andrés J. García, director of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. One of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine, election to NAM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. García is the third […]
Yuman Fong, M.D., City of Hope’s Chair in Surgical Oncology, Elected to National Academy of Medicine
Yuman Fong | Via BusinessWire | October 18, 2021Yuman Fong, M.D., the Sangiacomo Family Chair in Surgical Oncology at City of Hope, a world-renowned cancer research and treatment organization, was presented with one of the highest honors in health and medicine today. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored Fong “for transforming the fields of liver surgery, robotics in surgery, imaging and display […]
Ameer Named to National Academy of Medicine
Guillermo Ameer | Via Northwestern University | October 18, 2021Northwestern Engineering’s Guillermo A. Ameer was one of three University faculty elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and a professor of surgery in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and also the founding director of Northwestern’s Center for […]
Prototype headband device developed for home use with young ADHD patients
Audrey Bowden | Via Vanderbilt University | October 18, 2021A Vanderbilt biomedical engineering professor has developed a prototype headband to measure brain activity that could have widespread application in studying and ultimately treating ADHD and other neurological disorders. The device is lightweight, portable, and inexpensive to construct. Prototype components cost less than $250, compared to costs exceeding $10,000 for commercial systems… Continue reading.
Sam Achilefu elected to National Academy of Medicine
Sam Achilefu | Via Washington University in St. Louis | October 18, 2021Medical imaging scientist Samuel Achilefu, PhD, and child psychiatrist Joan L. Luby, MD, both of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences. Membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of […]
Ranu Jung to Lead Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research
Ranu Jung | Via University of Arkansas | October 13, 2021Ranu Jung has been named the founding executive director of the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R). She will begin in December. “We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Jung to the University of Arkansas,” said Charles Robinson, interim chancellor. “The Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research will propel the University of Arkansas as a […]
Fluorescent spray lights up tumors for easy detection during surgery
Ching Tung | Via American Chemical Society | October 13, 2021The prognosis for a cancer patient who undergoes surgery is better if the surgeon removes all of the tumor, but it can be hard to tell where a tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. Now, scientists report in ACS Sensors that they have developed a fluorescent spray that specifically lights up cancerous tissue so it […]
New PET Tracer May Better Capture Brain Inflammation in ALS
Jeffrey Cleland | Via ALS News Today | October 11, 2021An imaging agent developed by Ashvattha Therapeutics can accurately detect brain inflammation caused by microglia, immune cells that play a key role in neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a mouse study reported. The company is planning to initiate a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in ALS patients next year, using its PET tracer […]
New drug targets vascular inflammation, drastically improving the long-term effectiveness of vascular procedures
Craig Duvall | Via Vanderbilt University | October 11, 2021Cardiovascular procedures like bypass grafting and vessel stenting are some of the most common surgeries performed in the United States, but about half of them will require additional corrective measures, according to Craig Duvall, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair and undergraduate director of biomedical engineering. The need for follow-up procedures is often due to intimal hyperplasia, a […]
Research points to a strategy for overcoming colorectal cancers’ immunotherapy resistance
Dai Fukumura | Via California News Times | October 11, 2021Immune checkpoint inhibitors that unleash the immune response to tumor cells have revolutionized cancer treatment. However, this drug is ineffective in many patients, including those with colorectal cancer.New research published in PNAS This, led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE), provides insights into why some types of […]
Team to create framework for evaluating AI-based medical imaging
Kyle Myers | Via Washington University in St. Louis | October 8, 2021Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in multiple medical imaging applications. Yet rigorous evaluation of these methods is important before they are introduced into clinical practice. A multi-institutional and multiagency team led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis is outlining a framework for objective task-based evaluation of AI-based methods and outlining the key […]
Newly developed gel helps improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in glioblastoma
Shawn Hingtgen | Via News-Medical.Net | October 7, 2021Pairing a newly developed gel with immunotherapy that was delivered to post-surgical mouse brains with glioblastoma, a highly malignant and deadly cancer, improved the immunotherapy’s effectiveness, report researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues. The findings appeared on Oct. 6, 2021, in Science Advances. The researchers used CAR-T cell […]
Newly developed gel helps improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in glioblastoma
Zhen Gu | Via News-Medical.Net | October 7, 2021Pairing a newly developed gel with immunotherapy that was delivered to post-surgical mouse brains with glioblastoma, a highly malignant and deadly cancer, improved the immunotherapy’s effectiveness, report researchers from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues. The findings appeared on Oct. 6, 2021, in Science Advances. The researchers used CAR-T cell […]