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.
AIMBE Fellow Xiaobing Fu elected to National Academy of Engineering
Xiaobing Fu | Via National Academy of Engineering | February 9, 2021National Academy of Engineering elected Xiaobing Fu, an AIMBE Fellow, Professor and director, College of Life Sciences, The General Hospital of PLA, China for achievements in elucidating wound healing mechanisms and sweat gland regeneration, and national leadership in clinical management of trauma. — The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 106 new members and […]
AIMBE Fellow David Kaplan elected to National Academy of Engineering
David Kaplan | Via National Academy of Engineering | February 9, 2021National Academy of Engineering elected David Kaplan, an AIMBE Fellow and Stern Family Professor in Engineering and Distinguished University Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, for contributions to silk-based materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. — The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 106 new members and 23 international members, announced NAE […]
A UT Southwestern Machine Learning Algorithm Finds COVID-19 Cases Significantly Higher Than Reported
Gaudenz Danuser | Via Dallas Innovates | February 8, 2021Researchers in the Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics have estimated that the amount of COVID-19 cases is nearly triple those confirmed in the U.S. While it has long been speculated that the number of COVID-19 cases is significantly higher than those reported, a new machine learning algorithm created by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers from […]
MAL2 Identified as a Novel Immunotherapy Target for Breast Cancer
Xiongbin Lu | Via Clinical Omics | February 2, 2021Evading the immune system is the go-to survival strategy for cancer cells. One primary mechanism by which they do so is to downregulate their antigen presentation. New research shows that breast cancer cells bearing high levels of the MAL2 protein on their surfaces do just that. As a consequence, they are therefore more adept at […]
Protein biosensors show promise for SARS-CoV-2 testing
David Baker | Via Science Board | February 1, 2021Scientists have developed biosensors to detect SARS-CoV-2 proteins and antibodies in simulated nasal fluids and human sera, according to a study published in Nature on January 27. The approach promises to be less costly and time-consuming than current COVID-19 testing methods. Biosensors are devices used to detect the presence or concentration of specific biomolecules or […]
Wonder Fungi
Michelle O'Malley | Via UCSB | February 1, 2021From biofuels and other commodity chemicals to methane production, genomic study peers into the mysteries of a goat’s gut Michelle O’Malley has long been inspired by gut microbes. Since she began studying the herbivore digestive tract, the UC Santa Barbara chemical engineering professor has guided several students to their doctoral degrees, won early and mid-career […]
Future Meat Technologies Reduces Cost of Cultured Chicken Breast Below $10
Yaakov Nahmias | Via PR News Wire | February 1, 2021Future Meat Technologies, an Israel-based company developing innovative technology to produce cultured meat, beat market expectations by reducing the production cost of a cultured chicken breast to $7.50. The company has also raised an additional $26.75 million in funding through its strategic partners, enabling it to scale up its production and accelerate research and development. […]
Inhibition of prostaglandin-degrading enzyme 15-PGDH rejuvenates aged muscle mass and strength
Helen Blau | Via National Library of Medicine | January 29, 2021Treatments are lacking for sarcopenia, a debilitating age-related skeletal muscle wasting syndrome. We identifed increased amounts of 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH), the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-degrading enzyme, as a hallmark of aged tissues, including skeletal muscle. The consequent reduction in PGE2 signaling contributed to muscle atrophy in aged mice and results from 15-PGDH-expressing myofibers and interstitial cells, […]
Scientists “Farm” Natural Killer Cells Using a Microfluidic Chip in Novel Cancer Fighting Approach
Sunitha Nagrath | Via Scitech Daily | January 28, 2021Engineers and oncologists teamed to develop a microfluidic chip capable of capturing the body’s natural killer immune cells to harvest their cancer-killing exosomes. Building on the promise of emerging therapies to deploy the body’s “natural killer” immune cells to fight cancer, researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and U-M College of Engineering […]
IU researchers discover how breast cancer cells hide from immune attack
Xiongbin Lu | Via EurekAlert | January 27, 2021Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified how breast cancer cells hide from immune cells to stay alive. The discovery could lead to better immunotherapy treatment for patients. Xinna Zhang, PhD, and colleagues found that when breast cancer cells have an increased level of a protein called MAL2 […]
Waging War on Metastatic Cancer
Shawn He | Via University of Maryland | January 19, 2021Across nearly all types of cancer, the number one cause of death is not the primary tumor itself, rather, it is the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. This spread, known as metastasis, occurs when cancer cells break away from a primary tumor site and travel via the bloodstream or the lymphatic […]
Arnold Named Co-Chair of President-elect Biden’s Science and Technology Advisory Council
Frances Arnold | Via Caltech | January 15, 2021President-elect Joe Biden has appointed Frances Arnold, Caltech’s Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry and director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center, to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Arnold, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the recipient of numerous other honors […]
Algorithms Designed to Study Language Can Predict Immune “Escape” Mutations for HIV, Influenza, and SARS-CoV-2
Bonnie Berger | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | January 15, 2021By bridging the conceptual divide between human language and viral evolution, MIT researchers have developed a powerful new computational tool for predicting the mutations that allow viruses to “escape” human immunity or vaccines. Its use could negate the need for high-throughput experimental techniques that are currently employed to identify potential mutations that could allow a […]
Discovery of a new approach to inhibiting a highly treatment-refractory liver cancer
Dan Duda | Via EurekAlert | January 12, 2021Reprogramming the rich connective tissue microenvironment of a liver cancer known as intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) inhibits its progression and resistance to standard chemotherapy in animal models, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found. This new treatment for a disease with extremely poor outcomes uses antibodies to block placental growth factor (PlGF), a member of […]
Mapping Brain Networks to Understand Epilepsy
Victoria Morgan | Via Scientia | January 8, 2021Epilepsy is one of the most common causes of disability worldwide, but for many patients, treatment fails to be effective. Dr Victoria Morgan and her team from the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are using functional connectivity mapping to find out why some patients respond better to treatment and […]
3D printing helps improve biocompatibility of metallic implants
Amit Bandyopadhyay | Via Materials Today | January 7, 2021With over half of all commercial biomedical implants containing metal, a new study by researchers at Washington State University, the Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University Medical Center has shown the value of using 3D printing to identify new alloys that improve upon metals that have been in surgical use for decades. As reported in Materials […]
3D printing helps improve biocompatibility of metallic implants
Susmita Bose | Via Materials Today | January 7, 2021With over half of all commercial biomedical implants containing metal, a new study by researchers at Washington State University, the Mayo Clinic, and Stanford University Medical Center has shown the value of using 3D printing to identify new alloys that improve upon metals that have been in surgical use for decades. As reported in Materials […]
COVID’s Collateral Damage: Germicidal UV Lamps Can Damage Corneas
Jean-Marie Parel | Via Scitech Daily | January 7, 2021In a paper published in the journal of Ocular Immunology and Inflammation, physicians from the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine reported that several patients using germicidal lamps in an attempt to sanitize against the coronavirus, developed painful inflammation of the cornea, a condition called photokeratitis. These consumer-available […]
Nanodroplets and ultrasound ‘drills’ prove effective at tackling tough blood clots
Paul Dayton | Via Phys.org | January 7, 2021Engineering researchers have developed a new technique for eliminating particularly tough blood clots, using engineered nanodroplets and an ultrasound “drill” to break up the clots from the inside out. The technique has not yet gone through clinical testing. In vitro testing has shown promising results. Specifically, the new approach is designed to treat retracted blood […]
Bone Fracture Risk May Increase When Critical Enzymatic Processes Decline
Deepak Vashishth | Via Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | January 5, 2021A loss of enzymatic processes within the body can increase a person’s risk of bone fracture. This new insight was recently published in eLife by an international team of scientists and engineers led by Deepak Vashishth, the director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Enzymatic processes are essential […]