Bioengineering News and Research

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Skin's outmost layer is the first line of defense against UV radiation

Reinhold Dauskardt, PhD, of Stanford's Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been studying skin for years. But when he sent his students to look for data on the mechanical properties of skin, they came back empty-handed. A lot was known about skin structure and disease, but few papers actually talked about its mechanical function - its ability to stretch and resist tension without tearing.

6 Oct 2012

UT Austin chair to receive Founders Award from National Academy of Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering has selected Nicholas Peppas as its 2012 Founders Award recipient in recognition of his pioneering work in the areas of polymer chemistry, bioengineering, pharmaceutical sciences and advanced drug delivery.

5 Oct 2012

New nanodevice lays foundations for future development of novel therapies against aging

A team of Spanish scientists has developed an intelligent nanodevice that lays the foundations for the future development of new therapies against aging. The device consists of nanoparticles that can selectively release drugs in aged human cells.

4 Oct 2012

Clemson University launches Medical Device Recycling and Reprocessing Certificate Program

Clemson University has established the first program to train engineers to recycle and reprocess medical devices. The Medical Device Recycling and Reprocessing Certificate Program offered by the Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Innovation Campus (CUBEInC) was developed in response to the dramatic market adoption of reprocessing in recent years.

3 Oct 2012

UCSF to create first implantable device for patients with kidney failure

A $750,000 gift from the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation is spurring a UCSF-led effort to create the first implantable artificial kidney for patients with kidney failure.

3 Oct 2012

KSU creates simple blood test that can accurately detect lung and breast cancer’s early stages

Researchers at Kansas State University have developed a simple blood test that can accurately detect the beginning stages of cancer.

27 Sep 2012

k-MITOMI device can simultaneously measure up to 768 biomolecular interactions

Inside our cells, molecules are constantly binding and separating from one another. It's this game of constant flux that drives gene expression asides essentially every other biological process.

26 Sep 2012

New computer program predicts most stable structures of nanometer-sized collagen

The human body is proficient at making collagen. And human laboratories are getting better at it all the time. In a development that could lead to better drug design and new treatments for disease, Rice University researchers have made a major step toward synthesizing custom collagen. Rice scientists who have learned how to make collagen - the fibrous protein that binds cells together into organs and tissues - are now digging into its molecular structure to see how it forms and interacts with biological systems.

26 Sep 2012

UCSD bioengineers to play a central role in new NIH program to accelerate metabolomics

With a $6 million grant over five years, bioengineers from the University of California, San Diego will play a central role in a new program from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate "metabolomics", an emerging field of biomedical research that offers a path to a wealth of information about a person's nutrition, infection, health, disease status and more.

25 Sep 2012

NVIDIA video cards can help reduce radiation exposure from X-ray and CT scans

Video gamers are generally the biggest consumers of computer graphics cards, using the devices to boost the speed and resolution of their digital quests to fend off invading extraterrestrials or outwit hostile dragons. But researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute seek to harness the power of these computer graphics cards to solve one of the world's most pressing health care technology challenges: radiation exposure from X-ray and CT imaging scans.

25 Sep 2012

Titan Spine receives U.S. patent for competitive interbody devices

Titan Spine, a medical device surface technology company focused on the development of innovative spinal interbody fusion implants, announced today that it has been awarded patent #US 8,262,737 B2 by the United States Patent Office that protects the Company against competitive interbody devices with a roughened surface topography, anti-expulsion edges, and access to a hollow center.

21 Sep 2012

AyoxxA Biosystems closes 2.6M Euro Series A financing round

AyoxxA Biosystems, an international biotechnology company, today announces it has closed a 2.6 million Euro Series A financing round. The round was led by Wellington Partners Venture Capital and included NRW.BANK, HTGF - High-Tech-Gründerfonds, and private investors, Rainer Christine and Dr. Gregor Siebenkotten, both formerly executive board members and co-founders of amaxa biosystems.

20 Sep 2012

Nanoparticles for non-invasive photodynamic therapy of deep cancer

National University of Singapore researchers at the Faculty of Engineering's Department of Bioengineering have discovered a new technology that paves the way for a new safe and non-invasive method of treating deep cancer. Led by Associate Professor Zhang Yong, the team has so far, proven that their technology could inhibit tumour growth and control gene expression in mice. This is a world's first for the use of nanoparticles for non-invasive photodynamic therapy of deep cancer.

17 Sep 2012

Popular Science magazine names UCLA professor among ‘Brilliant 10’

Popular Science magazine has named Aydogan Ozcan, an associate professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at UCLA, one of the world's "Brilliant 10" scientists in its October 2012 issue.

15 Sep 2012

Legs of grasshoppers and crabs have ideal shape to resist bending and compression

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have recently shown that the legs of grasshoppers and crabs have the ideal shape to resist bending and compression. If human leg bones were built the same way, they could be twice as strong.

13 Sep 2012

Insight into how tissue stiffness drives cancer

The stiffness of breast tissue is increasingly recognized as an important factor explaining the onset of breast cancer. Stiffening induces molecular changes that promote cancerous behavior in cells. Bioengineering studies have found that breast cancer cells grown on a 3-D gel have enhanced cell replication and decreased organization as rigidity increases.

10 Sep 2012

Clemson’s bioengineering senior design team wins NCIIA BMEStart competition for AssureFit

Clemson University's bioengineering senior design team won the annual National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) BMEStart undergraduate design competition for its project AssureFit, a novel chest tube anchoring device.

7 Sep 2012

Clathrin protein plays a key role in cell division

A protein called "clathrin," which is found in every human cell and plays a critical role in transporting materials within them, also plays a key role in cell division, according to new research at the University of California, San Francisco.

7 Sep 2012

Harvard experts create biocompatible hydrogel

A team of experts in mechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering at Harvard have created an extremely stretchy and tough gel that may pave the way to replacing damaged cartilage in human joints.

6 Sep 2012

New strategy for outsmarting cancer through its own social intelligence

In the face of mounting evidence that cancer cells communicate, cooperate and even engage in collective decision-making, biophysicists and cancer researchers at Rice University, Tel Aviv University and Johns Hopkins University are suggesting a new strategy for outsmarting cancer through its own social intelligence.

5 Sep 2012