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 Polymer Heart Valve Implanted in First Patient
Morteza Gharib | Via Caltech | September 17, 2019The new Tria heart valve was created by Foldax® Inc., a Caltech startup cofounded by Mory Gharib, the Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Bioinspired Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. Gharib and his team worked closely with Foldax lead designer Jason Beith in designing the new valve. It was implanted […]
Huge space hotel promises fake gravity and ‘supersized basketball’
Wolfgang Fink | Via NBC News | September 14, 2019For many people, getting away from it all means decamping to a cabin in the woods or a house by the beach. Soon there may be another option: lifting off to a hotel serenely orbiting high above the planet. Though space hotels have long belonged only to the world of make-believe, that’s about to change. […]
On-the-move cancer cells prefer a “comfort cruise,” follow predictable paths of least resistance
Cynthia Reinhart-King | Via Vanderbilt Engineering | September 13, 2019According to the researchers, migrating cancer cells decide which path in the body to travel based on how much energy it takes, opting to move through wider, easier to navigate spaces rather than smaller, confined spaces to reduce energy requirements during movement. These findings suggest energy expenditure and metabolism are significant factors within metastatic migration, […]
Modern medicine: Electrical bandage zaps wounds
Xudong Wang | Via KTVA | September 12, 2019Researchers have created a bandage-like device that can seal up wounds in a revolutionary way. This device could be the next big thing in modern medicine when it comes to healing acute and chronic wounds. We have electric cars, razors and now an electric bandage? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have developed an electrode-dressed […]
Could an Extracellular Matrix Gel Rebuild MI-Damaged Hearts?
Karen Christman | Via Medpage Yoday | September 11, 2019For MI survivors with moderate left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, an injectable biomaterial designed to mimic healthy extracellular matrix (ECM) was found to be safe in a phase I study. Billed as a potential new approach to heart failure, VentriGel is an ECM hydrogel made from decellularized porcine myocardium and delivered by transendocardial injection using a […]
Anaerobically Stored Red Blood Cells May Improve Transfusion Outcomes in Hemorrhagic Shock
Pedro Cabrales | Via News Wise | September 3, 2019Transfusion of red blood cells (RBCs) stored anaerobically – in the absence of oxygen – is a promising technique to improve resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock, according to animal studies reported in SHOCK®: Injury, Inflammation, and Sepsis: Laboratory and Clinical Approaches, Official Journal of the Shock Society. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by […]
Sitting Tall
Rory Cooper | Via Inventors Digest | September 1, 2019Rory Cooper struggled to contain hi pinballing emotions from the podium in Seoul, South Korea, while the world watched. The man always in motion had arrived in an almost unthinkable way. Cooper had won the bronze medal in the 4-by-400-meter wheelchair relay at the 1988 Paralympic Games, his participation the culmination of an impossible dream […]
Biomaterials Smarten up with CRISPR
James Collins | Via Lab Manager | August 23, 2019The CRISPR-Cas system has become the go-to tool for researchers who study genes in an ever-growing list of organisms, and is being used to develop new gene therapies that potentially can correct a defect at a single nucleotide position of the vast reaches of the genome. It is also being harnessed in ongoing diagnostic approaches […]
A Rapid Method for Label-Free Enrichment of Rare Trophoblast Cells from Cervical Samples
Anubhav Tripathi | Via Nature | August 20, 2019Abstract: Extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) have the potential to provide the entire fetal genome for prenatal testing. Previous studies have demonstrated the presence of EVTs in the cervical canal and the ability to retrieve a small quantity of these cells by cervical sampling. However, these small quantities of trophoblasts are far outnumbered by the population of […]
NYU Tandon startup paves the way for pesticide-free cannabis, wine grapes, and other high-value crops
Jin Kim Montclare | Via EurekAlert | August 20, 2019Brooklyn Bioscience, a startup company commercializing university research to detoxify a common and dangerous class of pesticides, recently received another round of funding – this time in the form of a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The New York University School of Engineering team behind Brooklyn Bioscience is engineering proteins to remediate and […]
Suit up with a robot to walk and run more easily
Conor Walsh | Via Science Daily | August 15, 2019Researchers in academic and industry labs have previously developed robotic devices for rehabilitation and other areas of life that can either assist walking or running, but no untethered portable device could efficiently do both. Assisting walking and running with a single device is challenging because of the fundamentally different biomechanics of the two gaits. However, […]
Penn Bioengineering Faculty Member Paul Ducheyne Receives the European Society for Biomaterials’ International Award
Paul Ducheyne | Via University of Pennsylvania Department of Bioengineering | August 15, 2019We would like to congratulate Paul Ducheyne, Ph.D., a Professor in the Bioengineering Department and a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery Research at Penn, on being selected for the International Award by the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB). The International Award is one of the ESB’s highest honors, recognizing scientists who have spent the majority of […]
Making microbes that transform greenhouse gases
Ramon Gonzalez | Via Phys.org | August 13, 2019Researchers at the University of South Florida are harnessing the power of human physiology to transform greenhouse gases into usable chemical compounds—a method that could help lessen industrial dependence on petroleum and reduce our carbon footprint. The new biologically-based technique, published in Nature Chemical Biology, was developed by USF Professor Ramon Gonzalez, Ph.D., and his […]
Improving the efficacy of osteosarcoma therapy: combining drugs that turn cancer cell ‘don’t eat me’ signals off and ‘eat me’ signals on.
Heike Daldrup-Link | Via National Library of Medicine, NIH | August 13, 2019Abstract The long-term survival of osteosarcoma patients with metastatic or recurrent disease remains dismal, and new therapeutic options are urgently needed. The purpose of our study was to compare the efficacy of CD47 mAb plus doxorubicin combination therapy in mouse models of osteosarcoma with CD47 mAb and doxorubicin monotherapy. Forty-eight NOD scid gamma (NSG) mice […]
Tissue model reveals role of blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer’s
Roger Kamm | Via MIT | August 12, 2019Beta-amyloid plaques, the protein aggregates that form in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, disrupt many brain functions and can kill neurons. They can also damage the blood-brain barrier — the normally tight border that prevents harmful molecules in the bloodstream from entering the brain. MIT engineers have now developed a tissue model that mimics beta-amyloid’s […]
Doctors find new ways to reduce unnecessary breast biopsies
Maryellen Giger | Via KTVA | August 6, 2019One out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her lifetime. Early detection is the best tool to increase survival rates. Now researchers are looking at a new way to confirm cancer faster during a mammogram while reducing the need for additional testing. It’s a terrifying moment for any […]
A simple method to improve heart-attack repair using stem cell-derived heart muscle cells
Jay Zhang | Via The University of Alabama at Birmingham | August 5, 2019The heart cannot regenerate muscle tissue after a heart attack has killed part of the muscle wall. That dead tissue can strain surrounding muscle, leading to a lethal heart enlargement. Biomedical engineers believe they can aid the failing heart by using pluripotent stem cells to grow heart muscle cells outside of the body, and then […]
Bin He Honored with IEEE EMBS William J. Morlock Award
Bin He | Via Carnegie Mellon University | July 31, 2019BME Department Head Bin He has been honored with the William J. Morlock Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS). EMBS is the world’s largest member-based international society of biomedical engineers, with 11,000+ members residing in 97 countries around the world. The prestigious Morlock Award […]
How AI Can Be Used to Accurately Diagnose Breast Cancer
Assad Oberai | Via Oncology Times | July 30, 2019Nearly one in 10 cancers is misdiagnosed as not cancerous, meaning that a patient can lose critical treatment time. On the other hand, the more mammograms a woman has, the more likely it is she will see a false-positive result. After 10 years of annual mammograms, roughly two out of three patients who do not […]