Bioengineering News and Research

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Researchers team up to study stomach flu

Rice University bioengineers are teaming with colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center to apply the latest techniques in tissue engineering toward the study of one of the most common and deadly human illnesses -- the stomach flu.

17 Mar 2015

Organ-on-a-chip could replace use of animals to test drugs for safety and efficacy

When University of California, Berkeley, bioengineers say they are holding their hearts in the palms of their hands, they are not talking about emotional vulnerability.

12 Mar 2015

New injectable polymer could strengthen blood clots

Most military battlefield casualties die before ever reaching a surgical hospital. Of those soldiers who might potentially survive, most die from uncontrolled bleeding.

11 Mar 2015

Researchers develop improved MRI technique to provide effective treatment for prostate cancer

A research team including NIBIB-funded scientists has developed an improved MRI technique with the potential to provide more precise and effective treatment for prostate cancer. The imaging technique improves upon standard MRI to obtain clearer images of the extent of the tumor and its exact location. A sharper image can provide more accurate biopsies, enable better treatment planning, and help surgeons pinpoint the tumor while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.

10 Mar 2015

Researchers discover that cell's skeleton can trigger cell multiplication

A research team from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC; Portugal), led by Florence Janody, in collaboration with Nicolas Tapon from London Research Institute (LRI; UK), discovered that the cell's skeleton can trigger the multiplication of cells through the action of proteins that control cellular rigidity.

27 Feb 2015

New study shows how anterior cingulate cortex can be stimulated to control pain

A new study by a University of Texas at Arlington physics team in collaboration with bioengineering and psychology researchers shows for the first time how a small area of the brain can be optically stimulated to control pain.

27 Feb 2015

Preliminary NIBIB-funded study may improve prediction of mild traumatic brain injury

A preliminary study conducted by researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering may improve our prediction of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Every year more than 40 million people worldwide suffer from mTBI. 3.8 million concussions occur in the US each year during sports and recreation alone.

26 Feb 2015

Intrinsically disordered proteins have ability to alter their configuration

Like the shape-shifting robots of "Transformers" fame, a unique class of proteins in the human body also has the ability to alter their configuration. These so-named intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) lack a fixed or ordered three-dimensional structure, which can be influenced by exposure to various chemicals and cellular modifications.

26 Feb 2015

Monell Center to promote Anosmia Awareness Day with new educational outreach initiatives

The Monell Center announces three new educational outreach initiatives to promote Anosmia Awareness Day, which takes place on February 27. Each was designed to increase awareness and increase the limited information currently available about anosmia, the loss of our sense of smell, which affects over six million Americans and many millions more worldwide.

25 Feb 2015

Researchers develop revolutionary approach to treat drug-resistant tumors

In greater than 90 percent of cases in which treatment for metastatic cancer fails, the reason is that the cancer is resistant to the drugs being used. To treat drug-resistant tumors, doctors typically use multiple drugs simultaneously, a practice called combination therapy.

25 Feb 2015

UT Dallas study reports new gene therapy approach

Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created a novel gene-delivery system that shuttles a gene into a cell, but only for a temporary stay, providing a potential new gene-therapy strategy for treating disease.

19 Feb 2015

Novel image-analysis technique improves breast cancer detection and diagnosis

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma have developed an image-analysis technique that is designed to improve breast cancer detection and diagnosis.

13 Feb 2015

Epigem contribute to PhD research into Multiple Sclerosis

Epigem, a high-tech British micro engineering company, is supporting research into Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with a new PhD programme to create a novel drug screening platform. This will accelerate the production of MS models and pre-clinical drug development, in order to understand better the disease process and its periods of remission.

10 Feb 2015

Three groups of researchers receive BRAIN Initiative funding to improve artificial limb technology

Three groups of researchers who have received support from the National Institutes of Health will obtain funding from the President's BRAIN Initiative to improve artificial limb technology. The new awards will be funded and administered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and will build on the fundamental discoveries that were made possible by NIH support.

10 Feb 2015

Utah researchers receive $1.4 million to develop implantable neural interface

University of Utah researchers have received $1.4 million to further develop an implantable neural interface that will allow an amputee to move an advanced prosthetic hand with just his or her thoughts. The neural interface will also convey feelings of touch and movement.

9 Feb 2015

Nanoscale DNA tool to detect molecular behavior

A complex interplay of molecular components governs almost all aspects of biological sciences - healthy organism development, disease progression, and drug efficacy are all dependent on the way life's molecules interact in the body. Understanding these bio-molecular interactions is critical for the discovery of new, more effective therapeutics and diagnostics to treat cancer and other diseases, but currently requires scientists to have access to expensive and elaborate laboratory equipment.

31 Jan 2015

CHLA researchers develop new protein-based therapy against drug-resistant leukemia cells

Resistance of leukemia cells to contemporary chemotherapy is one of the most formidable obstacles to treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. Now researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have designed and developed a new protein-based therapy they believe will prove highly effective against drug-resistant leukemia cells.

27 Jan 2015

Researchers find methods to manipulate natural proteins that self-assemble into amyloid fibrils

Nature has many examples of self-assembly, and bioengineers are interested in copying or manipulating these systems to create useful new materials or devices. Amyloid proteins, for example, can self-assemble into the tangled plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease -- but similar proteins can also form very useful materials, such as spider silk, or biofilms around living cells.

27 Jan 2015

Researchers invent new imaging system to help detect malignant tissue during surgery

With the goal of making it easier for surgeons to detect malignant tissue during surgery and hopefully reduce the rate of cancer recurrence, scientists have invented a new imaging system that causes tumors to "light up" when a hand-held laser is directed at them.

21 Jan 2015

UCLA researchers develop lens-free microscope that can detect cancer, other cell-level abnormalities

UCLA researchers have developed a lens-free microscope that can be used to detect the presence of cancer or other cell-level abnormalities with the same accuracy as larger and more expensive optical microscopes.

17 Dec 2014