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 imaging technology could buy time for pancreatic cancer patients
Marvin Doyley | Via University of Rochester | November 18, 2021The insidiousness of pancreatic cancer is how it develops without showing any definitive symptoms. In most cases, by the time it is diagnosed, it is beyond cure. And yet, for 10 to 20 percent of patients, pancreatic cancer is caught soon enough, before it has metastasized. This provides surgeons a narrow window of time to […]
Artificial Intelligence Successfully Predicts Protein Interactions
David Baker | Via Lab Manager | November 17, 2021University of Texas (UT) Southwestern and University of Washington researchers led an international team that used artificial intelligence (AI) and evolutionary analysis to produce 3D models of eukaryotic protein interactions. The study, published in Science, identified more than 100 probable protein complexes for the first time and provided structural models for more than 700 previously uncharacterized ones. […]
Sylvia Wilson Thomas named interim VP of Research & Innovation
Sylvia Wilson Thomas | Via University of South Florida | November 17, 2021USF President Rhea Law has named College of Engineering Professor Sylvia Wilson Thomas, a pioneering researcher whose national leadership and advocacy is opening the field of engineering to historically underrepresented students, as interim vice president for USF Research & Innovation. In her new duties, Dr. Thomas will lead the division of the university responsible for […]
Akay Elected To Lead Medical And Biological Engineering Academy
Metin Akay | Via University of Houston | November 16, 2021The chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Cullen College of Engineering has been elected to lead an international academy of his peers through September 2023. Metin Akay, Ph.D., the founding chairman and the John S. Dunn Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering, was elected chairman of the governing council for the International Academy of […]
Headband device suitable for use at home with young ADHD patients
Audrey Bowden | Via Vanderbilt University | November 16, 2021Vanderbilt 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. Audrey Bowden, associate professor […]
New Synthetic Cancer Immunotherapy Effective in Mouse Study
Jennifer Cochran | Via Clinical OMICs | November 12, 2021Stanford researchers have developed a new synthetic molecule, called PIP-CpG, that combines a tumor-targeting agent with a molecule that triggers immune activation. This treatment, can be administered intravenously and can make its way to multiple tumor sites, where it recruits immune cells against cancer. Three doses of this new immunotherapy prolonged the survival of six […]
New therapy harnesses “dancing molecules” to reverse paralysis, repair tissue after spinal cord injuries
Samuel Stupp | Via News-Medical.Net | November 11, 2021Northwestern University investigators have developed a new injectable therapy that harnesses “dancing molecules” to reverse paralysis and repair tissue after severe spinal cord injuries. In the new study, published in Science, investigators administered a single injection to tissues surrounding the spinal cords of paralyzed mice. Just four weeks later, the animals regained the ability to […]
Anthony Weiss wins 2021 Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation
Tony Weiss | Via Australian Department of Industry | November 6, 2021The University of Sydney’s Professor Anthony (Tony) Weiss AM is recognised for his pioneering research and commercialisation of synthetic tropoelastin-based biomaterials, which can accelerate and improve the repair of human tissue. For the past two decades, he has pioneered global research into tropoelastin and elastic fibres, which are found in human tissue ranging from the […]
Closer Look at Unexamined Interactions Could Improve Drug Purification Process
Steven Cramer | Via Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | November 3, 2021The process of purifying biopharmaceutical drugs remains a costly and time-consuming challenge. A deeper understanding of how unwanted elements within biomanufactured proteins bind to the molecules developed to remove them could help researchers make purity processes more efficient, more complex, and increasingly scalable. In research published in Langmuir, a team led by Steven Cramer, an […]
Combining two ‘old therapies’ packs a powerful punch against pediatric brain tumors
Henry Brem | Via Science Daily | November 3, 2021Copper has been clinically improving the lives of people since about 1500 BCE, when an Egyptian physician first recorded its use as a treatment for inflammation. Some 35 centuries later, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Italy’s Catholic University of the Sacred Heart medical school have provided solid evidence that the first metal used medicinally […]
New chair of UW Department of Bioengineering named
Princess Imoukhuede | Via UW Medicine | November 2, 2021Princess Imoukhuede, a leader in systems biology research, engineering education, and academic diversity initiatives, has been named the new chair of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. The department is located in both the UW College of Engineering and the UW School of Medicine. Her appointment is effective Jan. 1, […]
Encoding hierarchical assembly pathways of proteins
Chad Mirkin | Via Phys.org | November 1, 2021Northwestern investigators have identified a novel approach to control the hierarchical assembly of protein pathways with DNA, according to a study published the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The approach may facilitate the construction of synthetic protein materials, which can be used for a variety of medical and scientific purposes. “Hierarchical assembly methods […]
UA professors win prize for robotic technology that addresses climate change, labor shortage
Wolfgang Fink | Via KOLD | November 1, 2021Two University of Arizona professors just won $200,000 for an invention to help cut down on carbon emissions. Jonathan Bean, assistant professor of architecture, and Wolfgang Fink, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, worked together to create a robot that can address the climate crisis by helping to improve the energy performance of existing […]
Engineers devise a way to selectively turn on RNA therapies in human cells
James Collins | Via MIT | October 28, 2021Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a way to selectively turn on gene therapies in target cells, including human cells. Their technology can detect specific messenger RNA sequences in cells, and that detection then triggers production of a specific protein from a transgene, or artificial gene. Because transgenes can have negative and even […]
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 […]