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.
A new model of metabolism draws from thermodynamics and ‘omics’
Vassily Hatzimanikatis | Via EurekAlert | January 13, 2020All living things are made of carbon, and sugars, e.g. glucose, are a very common source of it. Consequently, most cells are good at eating sugars, using enzymes to digest them through a series of chemical reactions that transform the initial sugar into a variety of cell components, including amino acids, DNA building blocks, and […]
Robotic Trainer Helps Paraplegics Sit More Stably
Sunil Agrawal | Via HospiMedica | January 13, 2020A new study shows how a robotic device can assist and train people with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) to sit more stably by improving their trunk control. Developed at Columbia University (New York, NY, USA), the Trunk-Support Trainer (TruST) is based on a motorized-cable belt placed around the torso that helps determine the individual postural […]
Chromatin organizes itself into 3D forests in single cells
Igal Szleifer | Via Northwestern University | January 10, 2020A single cell contains the genetic instructions for an entire organism. This genomic information is managed and processed by the complex machinery of chromatin — a mix of DNA and protein within chromosomes whose function and role in disease are of increasing interest to scientists. A Northwestern University research team — using mathematical modeling and […]
Nanoparticle Slips Suicide Gene into Pediatric Brain Cancer Cells
Jordan Green | Via GenengNews | January 8, 2020If you dispatch a suicide gene, you want to make sure that it bypasses healthy cells on its way to harmful cells, such as cancer cells. What’s more, you want to make sure that the suicide gene is sent via a delivery system that treads lightly—especially if the suicide gene is meant to treat pediatric […]
Disorderly DNA helps cancer cells evade treatment
Igal Szleifer | Via Northwestern University | January 8, 2020Each cell in the human body holds a full two meters of DNA. In order for that DNA to fit into the cell nucleus — a cozy space just one hundredth of a millimeter of space — it needs to be packed extremely tight. A new Northwestern University study has discovered that the packing of […]
Temozolomide in Combination With NF-κB Inhibitor Significantly Disrupts the Glioblastoma Multiforme Spheroid Formation
Metin Akay | Via IEEE | December 30, 2019Impact Statement: Drug test on cancer spheroids in improved brain-chip demonstrate that the combined effect of temozolomide and NF-κB inhibitor on disrupting GBM spheroid formation outperforms each of the drugs alone. Abstract: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor, accounting for 50% of all cases. GBM patients have a five-year survival […]
For CRISPR, tweaking DNA fragments before inserting yields highest efficiency rates yet
Huimin Zhao | Via Science Daily | December 23, 2019By chemically tweaking the ends of the DNA to be inserted, the new technique is up to five times more efficient than current approaches. The researchers saw improvements at various genetic locations tested in a human kidney cell line, even seeing 65% insertion at one site where the previous high had been 15%. Led by […]
New treatment Strategy may thwart deadly brain tumors
Rakesh Jain | Via EurekAlert | December 23, 2019Immune checkpoint inhibitors are important medications that boost the immune system’s response against certain cancers; however, they tend to be ineffective against glioblastoma, the most deadly primary brain tumor in adults. New research in mice led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Florida reveals a promising strategy that makes glioblastoma […]
Dean Peterson Re-elected to Lead International Exoskeleton Standards Committee
Donald Peterson | Via Northern Illinois University | December 20, 2019Donald R. Peterson, Ph.D., NIU’s dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology and mechanical engineering professor, was re-elected to a two-year term this month as chair of ASTM International’s exoskeletons and exosuits committee (F48). The committee’s task is to develop industry standards in the growing field of exoskeletons and exosuits. An exoskeleton is […]
Xin Zhang Elected to National Academy of Inventors
Xin Zhang | Via Boston University | December 16, 2019When she’s not captivated by a Patriots or Celtics game, Boston University engineer Xin Zhang is inventing new materials that seem straight out of science fiction—using magnetic properties to increase the clarity of MRI imaging or leveraging acoustics to “cancel” sounds by sending them back in the direction they came from. Now she’s being recognized […]
Why we talk with our hands – and how that may help give speech to the speechless
Krishna Shenoy | Via Stanford Medicine | December 10, 2019Ever wonder why people talk with their hands? We all do — across cultures, throughout history. Now, a serendipitous discovery building on years of meticulous work tells us what may be the reason — or at least a reason — for it. The discovery may also portend a potential breakthrough for those with aphasia, the […]
An Evolutionary Connection Between Pregnancy and Cancer Metastasis
Andre Levchenko | Via UConn Today | December 5, 2019A UConn School of Dental Medicine researcher used pregnancy to unlock a missing link between various species of mammals and cancer malignancy—fundamentally changing the way we look at cancer metastasis. Kshitiz, assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering – a shared department between the School of Dental Medicine, School of Medicine, and School of […]
Zhang Receives Award from the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Xin Zhang | Via Boston University College of Engineering | December 5, 2019Professor Xin Zhang (ME, ECE, BME, MSE) has received a 2019 Innovation Award from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for Emerging Technology Design. “It is an honor to receive international recognition from the IET and I am immensely proud of my team at Boston University.” The IET Innovation Awards recognize the most pioneering […]
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) Scientists Push Bioprinting Capability Forward
Anthony Atala | Via News Wise | December 4, 2019Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists are the first to report using bioprinting to print a tracheal tissue construct comprised of multiple different functional materials. They printed different designs of smooth muscle and cartilage regions in artificial tracheal substitutes showing similar mechanical properties to human tracheal tissue. Previous attempts of tissue-engineered tracheal constructs […]
Coaxial Electrospinning Creates New Platform for Treating Glioblastoma
Henry Brem | Via Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | December 4, 2019Andrew Steckl, PhD, an Ohio eminent scholar and professor of electrical engineering in the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) college of engineering and applied science, working with researchers from Johns Hopkins University, said they have developed a new treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive form of brain cancer. Steckl’s nanoelectronics laboratory applied an industrial fabrication […]
Yuehe Lin named to National Academy of Inventors
Yuehe Lin | Via Washington State University | December 4, 2019Yuehe Lin, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He was cited for his “highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society,” […]
Artificial intelligence software for breast cancer diagnosis makes TIME’s list of Best Inventions for 2019
Maryellen Giger | Via U Chicago Medicine | December 4, 2019Artificial intelligence software developed by University of Chicago Medicine researchers to help radiologists more accurately diagnose breast cancer made TIME’s list of Inventions for 2019. QuantX — the first-ever, FDA-cleared software to aid in breast cancer diagnosis — aims to reduce missed cancers as well as false positives that can lead to unnecessary biopsies. The […]
Investigating the human intestinal mucus barrier up-close and personal
Donald Ingber | Via EurekAlert | December 3, 2019We have a mutualistic but complicated relationship with the collection of microbes in our gut known as the intestinal microbiome. This complex community of bacteria breaks down different food components, and releases nutrients such as vitamins and a plethora of other factors that control functions in tissues way beyond the intestinal tract. However, the sheer […]
Dr. Priyabrata Mukherjee has been elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
Priyabrata Mukherjee | Via PR Newswire | December 3, 2019The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has named 168 prolific academic innovators from across the world to NAI Fellow status. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare […]