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.
Computational methods for modelling 3D structures of protein complexes
Daisuke Kihara | Via Open Access Government | September 21, 2021Proteins are key working molecules and building blocks in a cell. They are involved in almost all functional activities within and between cells, which include metabolic and signalling pathways, gene expression, cell duplication, diseases, and viral infection. Proteins carry out these functions through physical interactions with other proteins and different molecules, such as DNA and […]
Statistical model defines ketamine anesthesia’s effects on the brain
Emery Brown | Via MIT | September 21, 2021By developing the first statistical model to finely characterize how ketamine anesthesia affects the brain, a team of researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Massachusetts General Hospital have laid new groundwork for three advances: understanding how ketamine induces anesthesia; monitoring the unconsciousness of patients in surgery; and applying a new method […]
Plants as mRNA Factories for Edible Vaccines
Nicole Steinmetz | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | September 17, 2021University of California-Riverside (UCR) researchers say they are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories. One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage. If this new project is successful, plant-based mRNA vaccines, which can be […]
Robotics Bring the White Cane Into the 21st Century
Cang Ye | Via Health Day | September 16, 2021The “white cane” that many blind people rely on for navigating the world hasn’t been upgraded in a century, but researchers are reporting progress on a “robo-cane” they hope will modernize the assistive device. The prototype cane is equipped with a color 3D camera, sensors and an “on-board” computer designed to guide the user to […]
These fridge-free, no-needle vaccines could be ready for the next pandemic
Nicole Steinmetz | Via fastcompany | September 14, 2021The COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been mired in logistical challenges. Millions of doses have gone to waste, some spoiling after being left unrefrigerated for too long, some expiring before they could physically get to those in need. Most of the vaccines need to be kept at incredibly low temperatures, requiring a cold chain for distribution, […]
How a Plant Virus Could Protect and Save Your Lungs From Metastatic Cancer
Nicole Steinmetz | Via UCSD | September 14, 2021Using a virus that grows in black-eyed pea plants, nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego developed a new treatment that could keep metastatic cancers at bay from the lungs. The treatment not only slowed tumor growth in the lungs of mice with either metastatic breast cancer or melanoma, it also prevented or drastically […]
Study: Reversing aging of skeletal muscle
Stelios Andreadis | Via University at Buffalo | September 14, 2021A University at Buffalo-led research team has shown that a protein named for the mythical land of youth in Irish folklore is effective at reversing aging in skeletal muscle cells. Published Sept. 3 in Science Advances, the study centers on the protein NANOG, which is derived from Tír na nÓg, a place in Irish lore […]
Researchers design sensors to rapidly detect plant hormones
Mary Chan-Park | Via MIT | September 13, 2021Researchers from the Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) interdisciplinary research group of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, and their local collaborators from Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), have developed the first-ever nanosensor to enable rapid testing of synthetic auxin […]
UW team’s artificial kidney prototype earns major prize
Jonathan Himmelfarb | Via Mirage News | September 10, 2021A backpack-size kidney-dialysis device, conceived and being developed at the University of Washington Center for Dialysis Innovation (CDI), is one of six winners of a $650,000 prize in an international competition to create components and systems for artificial kidneys. The awards were announced today by KidneyX, a public-private partnership of the American Society of Nephrology […]
UW team’s artificial kidney prototype earns major prize
Buddy Ratner | Via Mirage News | September 10, 2021A backpack-size kidney-dialysis device, conceived and being developed at the University of Washington Center for Dialysis Innovation (CDI), is one of six winners of a $650,000 prize in an international competition to create components and systems for artificial kidneys. The awards were announced today by KidneyX, a public-private partnership of the American Society of Nephrology […]
The Kidney Project successfully tests a prototype bioartificial kidney
Shuvo Roy | Via University of California, San Francisco | September 9, 2021The Kidney Project’s implantable bioartificial kidney, one that promises to free kidney disease patients from dialysis machines and transplant waiting lists, took another big step toward becoming reality, earning a $650,000 prize from KidneyX for its first-ever demonstration of a functional prototype of its implantable artificial kidney. KidneyX is a public–private partnership between the U.S. […]
Deep learning provides a better estimate of breast cancer risk
John Shepherd | Via News-Medical.Net | September 7, 2021Compared with commonly used clinical risk factors, a sophisticated type of artificial intelligence (AI) called deep learning does a better job distinguishing between the mammograms of women who will later develop breast cancer and those who will not, according to a new study in the journal Radiology. Researchers said the findings underscore AI’s potential as […]
Dr. Lieber and Dr. Son Publish Results of Groundbreaking Reconstructive Surgery to Improve Hand Function After Tetraplegia
Rick Lieber | Via Shirley Ryan Ability Lab | September 2, 2021In 2014, a previously healthy 25-year-old man experienced a diving accident that resulted in a C4 spinal cord injury with tetraplegia. He was unable to control movements in both his upper and lower body. Some individuals with tetraplegia can benefit from reconstructive hand surgery to improve their ability to control wrist and finger movements. To […]
Dual-energy three-compartment breast imaging for compositional biomarkers to improve detection of malignant lesions
John Shepherd | Via Nature | September 2, 2021Breast cancer screening using mammography has drastically improved early detection and reduced the cancer mortality (1, 2). However, mammography is only able to describe the radiopacity (brightness) and morphometry (shape characteristics) of suspicious lesions. Radiologists subjectively use these visual properties when deciding if a suspicious lesion is likely to be cancerous, and it is common […]
UArizona Team Led by Architecture Professor Jonathan Bean and Engineering Professor Wolfgang Fink Wins $200,000 ‘American-Made Challenge’ E-ROBOT Prize
Wolfgang Fink | Via University of Arizona | September 2, 2021wall-EIFS, a robotically applied, 3D-sprayable exterior insulation and finish system for building envelope retrofits, is one of 10 finalist prize winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Envelope Retrofit Opportunities for Building Optimization Technologies Prize, or E-ROBOT Prize. Each finalist team is awarded $200,000. View the team’s winning video entry. The E-ROBOT Prize’s goal is […]
A fountain of youth for aging muscles
Helen Blau | Via Mayo Clinic | September 2, 2021Regenerative medicine could hold the keys to rejuvenating older muscles, and research supporting that will be featured at the Mayo Clinic Symposium on Regenerative Medicine and Surgery. Preclinical research by Helen Blau, Ph.D., Stanford University School of Medicine, discovered a protein that triggers muscle loss and a way to block it to restore youthful muscle […]
Oxygen-delivering hydrogel accelerates diabetic wound healing
Jianjun Guan | Via Washington University in St. Louis | August 27, 2021About one-fourth of people with diabetes develop painful foot ulcers, which are slow to heal due to low oxygen in the wound from impaired blood vessels and increased inflammation. These wounds can become chronic, leading to poor quality of life and potential amputation. Jianjun Guan, a professor of mechanical engineering & materials science in the […]
MOGONET provides more holistic view of biological processes underlying disease
Kun Huang | Via Phys.org | August 26, 2021Genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics—rapid advances in high-throughput biomedical technologies has enabled the collection of data with unprecedented detail from the growing number of omics. But, how best to take advantage of the interactions and complementary information in omics data? To fully exploit the advances in omics technologies to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the […]
Revving Up to Advance Battery Research for Electric Vehicles
Esther Takeuchi | Via Stony Brook University | August 24, 2021Stony Brook University’s Institute for Electrochemically Stored Energy, through the Research Foundation of SUNY, has received a major grant from the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) to further develop battery technology that could potentially be used in the creation of more efficient electric vehicles (EVs). The research, led by Esther Takeuchi, PhD, is funded through […]
Building a better chemical factory – out of microbes
Kristala Prather | Via MIT Technology Review | August 24, 2021Metabolic engineers have a problem: cells are selfish. The scientists want to use microbes to produce chemical compounds for industrial applications. The microbes prefer to concentrate on their own growth. Kristala L. Jones Prather ’94 has devised a tool that satisfies both conflicting objectives. Her metabolite valve acts like a train switch: it senses when […]