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.
Vanderbilt performs world’s first heart, lung transplant of COVID-19 patient
Matthew Bacchetta | Via News Channel 5 Nashville | October 9, 2020Vanderbilt University Medical Center says it performed the world’s first dual heart-lung transplant of a COVID-19 patient in September. Vanderbilt says the patient, described as a young man, had cardiomyopathy – a disease of the heart tissue that can lead to heart failure – before he contracted COVID-19 in June. The procedure, which was completed […]
Vanderbilt researchers develop publicly available COVID-19 animal susceptibility prediction tool; suggests increased risk to horses
John Wikswo | Via Vanderbilt University | October 6, 2020A Vanderbilt team of experts in virology, genetics, structural biology, chemistry, physiology, medicine, immunology and pharmacology have together developed technology to understand and predict animal susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the strain of coronavirus causing COVID-19. providing evidence that horses and camels may be at increased risk of the virus. The group has […]
Wyss Institute’s nasal swab and toehold switch technologies licensed to facilitate SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic efforts
Jim Collins | Via Harvard University | October 5, 2020… Toehold switches could come into play at the other end of the COVID-19 diagnostic process. Pioneered in the groups of Wyss Core Faculty members James Collins, Ph.D., and Peng Yin, Ph.D., they are synthetic nucleic acid-based devices that function as sensors for external stimuli (“inputs”), like RNA molecules derived from pathogenic viruses. When integrated […]
Wyss Institute’s nasal swab and toehold switch technologies licensed to facilitate SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic efforts
Donald Ingber | Via Harvard University | October 5, 2020The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that its nasopharyngeal swab and toehold switch technologies have been licensed to Alabama-based Agile Biodetection, which will use them to develop solutions for unmet diagnostic needs in the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in environmental or clinical settings. The licensing agreement was coordinated […]
NAE announces winners of 2020 Simon Ramo Founders and Arthur M. Bueche Awards
Frances Ligler | Via EurekAlert | October 2, 2020On Sunday, Oct. 4, during the 2020 annual meeting, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) will present two awards for extraordinary impact on the engineering profession. The Simon Ramo Founders Award will be presented to Frances S. Ligler for her research contributions and leadership in engineering. The Arthur M. Bueche Award will be given to […]
Anticipating heart failure with machine learning
Peter Szolovits | Via MIT | October 1, 2020Every year, roughly one out of eight U.S. deaths is caused at least in part by heart failure. One of acute heart failure’s most common warning signs is excess fluid in the lungs, a condition known as “pulmonary edema.” A patient’s exact level of excess fluid often dictates the doctor’s course of action, but making […]
AI tool created to guide colorectal cancer care with more precision
Lei Xing | Via Stanford University | October 1, 2020A new modeling tool may be able to help doctors assess which treatments are best for individual patients with colorectal cancer. The artificial intelligence program analyzes a patient’s disease details — such as the stage of cancer and other chronic conditions — and compares those details to other colorectal cancer cases to predict the patient’s […]
Karen Moxon Leads $36M Effort to Improve Recovery From Spinal Cord Injuries
Karen Moxon | Via UC Davis | September 30, 2020Engineers at the University of California, Davis, will lead a consortium of universities, biomedical startups and nonprofit organizations to develop interventions for spinal cord injuries that can be applied within days of injury to improve long-term outcomes. Karen Moxon, professor of biomedical engineering at UC Davis, will lead the five-year, $36 million contract as part […]
Prototype Graft, Designed to Replace Damaged Heart Vessels, Shows Promise in Cell Study
Ozan Akkus | Via NC State University | September 29, 2020In a proof-of-concept study, North Carolina State University researchers reported promising preclinical findings for a prototype of a vascular graft designed as a replacement for a damaged or blocked coronary artery, which supplies blood to the heart. The findings, which were made in partnership with researchers from Case Western Reserve University, are part of an […]
Meditation for mind-control
Bin He | Via Carnegie Mellon | September 28, 2020A brain-computer interface, or BCI, is an apparatus that allows an individual to control a machine or computer directly from their brain. Non-invasive means of control like electroencephalogram (EEG) readings taken through the skull are safe and convenient compared to more risky, invasive methods using a brain implant, but they take longer to learn and […]
Vannevar Bush Award Given to Roderic Pettigrew, Innovator in Biomedicine and Technology
Roderic Pettigrew | Via National Science Board | September 28, 2020On September 28, 2020, the National Science Board (NSB) announced that Roderic Pettigrew will receive its prestigious Vannevar Bush Award. The award honors science and technology leaders who have made substantial contributions to the welfare of the nation through public service in science, technology and public policy. “Roderic Pettigrew’s passion and creativity have spurred innovation […]
COVID test site differences, a fourth option in the works
Rebecca Richards-Kortum | Via Rice University | September 24, 2020Rice’s Crisis Management Team plans to add a fourth and more rapid COVID-19 testing option on the Rice campus. Currently there are three sites that provide daily testing for asymptomatic students, staff and faculty who spend time on campus. All three of these current sites (Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory, East Gym in the Tudor Fieldhouse and […]
Exploring novel gene therapy approaches to treat ocular disease
Jordan Green | Via Ophthalmology Times | September 24, 2020Nanoparticles have been used to deliver gene therapy to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in mice and rats. As reported in ScienceDaily, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) investigators used a uniquely engineered large molecule that facilitated compaction of large bundles of therapeutic DNA to be delivered into the ocular cells. This approach does not depend […]
Introducing COVID19questions.org
Lucila Ohno-Machado | Via UC San Diego Health | September 17, 2020As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is an urgent need to determine who is at greatest risk for severe disease, better understand how the disease and treatments evolve, and predict the need for resources. But to get there, researchers and clinicians need more data about what patients have experienced so far, and what factors are […]
Bone Cancer Treatment Potentially Improved by Soy
Susmita Bose | Via Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News | September 16, 2020Soy is widely studied for its estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects on the body. It has been linked to a reduced risk of breast cancer and recurrence, improved heart and bone health, as well as the reduced risk of other cancers. Now researchers at Washington State University (WSU) see the potential of soy when it comes […]
Farach-Carson, Young win grant to study possible treatment for xerostomia
Cindy Farach-Carson | Via UT Health Science Center | September 14, 2020The OMS Foundation has awarded a $75,000 grant to UTHealth School of Dentistry at Houston for development of stem cell therapy for xerostomia (severe dry mouth) using minor salivary glands. Professor Mary (Cindy) Farach-Carson, PhD, director of clinical and translational research, is the study’s principal investigator, with Simon Young, DDS, MD, PhD, assistant professor in […]
Add human-genome produced RNA to the list of cell surface molecules
Sheng Zhong | Via UCSD | September 10, 2020Bioengineers at UC San Diego have shown that human-genome produced RNA is present on the surface of human cells, suggesting a more expanded role for RNA in cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment interactions than previously thought. This new type of membrane-associated extracellular RNA (maxRNA) is found in human cells that are not undergoing cell death, shedding light […]
A new kind of prosthetics
Dustin Tyler | Via ABC 12, Gray Media Group | September 9, 2020There are nearly two million people in the United States who are living with a loss of a limb. The causes vary … from vascular disease to cancer and trauma. And it’s estimated half of all amputees with powered prosthesis don’t use them. They don’t like how they feel or that they cannot feel. Now […]
Markers may predict patient response to immune therapy of cancer
Rakesh Jain | Via EurekAlert | September 7, 2020For many individuals with different types of cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors can effectively boost their immune system to fight their disease, but not all patients benefit from these medications. Now a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has developed an approach to help identify potential clinical markers […]
First Demonstration of Neuro Therapeutic Tropane Alkaloids Produced in Yeast
Christina Smolke | Via Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News | September 3, 2020Researchers report the first successful microbial biosynthesis of the tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, a class of neuromuscular blockers naturally found in plants in the nightshade family. Describing a first-in-class fermentation-based approach for producing complex molecules, the paper lays the foundation for a controlled, flexible, cell-based manufacturing platform for essential medicines that currently rely on […]