At the age of five, second-year UW Bioengineering Ph.D. student Gary Liu was diagnosed with a chronic condition called minimal change kidney disease. His experience with the disease inspired him to study bioengineering and develop solutions to treat kidney disease. With bioengineering, Gary aims to improve his own health and help others suffering from kidney disease.
UW Bioengineering research assistant professor Anthony Convertine was named the Royal Society of Chemistry's Polymer Chemistry Blog Author of the Month. In an interview on the RSC Polymer Chemistry blog, Dr. Convertine, whose academic background is in polymer science and engineering, talks about his latest work, inspiration to become a chemist and what he enjoys doing in his free time.
UW Bioengineering Professors Suzie Pun and Valerie Daggett have been elected to the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2015. Drs. Pun and Daggett join UW Bioengineering's 18 other AIMBE Fellows. AIMBE, or the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering,is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to improving lives through medical and biological engineering.
UW Bioengineering Assistant Professor receives Pilcher Faculty Fellowship, a new award for faculty who demonstrate outstanding potential for scholarly and professional contributions to the field of bioengineering and a commitment to biomedical innovation and commercialization.
UW Bioengineering Professor and former department chair (2007-13) Dr. Paul Yager presented at TEDXRainier in Seattle's McCaw Hall on November 22, in which he discussed how his research group is developing paper-based devices for diagnosing infectious disease, revolutionizing the world of medicine and increasing access to healthcare to everyone, everywhere.
What do at-home disease test kits, neuroscience and the fit of artificial limbs share in common the researchers’ dedication to serving the public good and improving health. We talk with three researchers about the motivations for their work and the impact it stands to make.
Mike Averkiou knows a thing or two about bringing worlds together. He’s lived half [...]
Barry Lutz was appointed tenure-track assistant professor of bioengineering on September 16, 2014. Dr. Lutz will establish an independent laboratory to develop devices for detecting and treating disease as well as develop and teach new courses. He will continue his commercialization-driven projects to develop an implantable microfluidic device for treating hydrocephalus and similar neurological conditions.
New UW Bioengineering research assistant professor Gianluca Interlandi studies the molecular function of blood proteins involved in hemostasis and clotting.
In this issue: Chair's Welcome - Features - Bioengineers in the News - Awards & [...]
Inside the Yager lab's at-home medical test kit is a two-dimensional paper network of switches [...]
UW Bioengineering Associate Professor Albert Folch delivered the keynote talk at Duke University's Mahato Memorial Event November 19, 2014, an event that celebrates the intersection of art and science. He was also interviewed by Spanish-language NTN24 on November 25, 2014, and discussed his work with 3D printing and art.
UW Bioengineering Professor Joan Sanders will present in the 2014-2015 Science in Medicine Lecture series. The series, presented on behalf of the School of Medicine and Council on Research and Graduate Education, features talks by UW Medicine faculty researchers and clinicians on topics representing the breadth and diversity of UW Medicine’s cutting-edge research and clinical care.
UW Bioengineering Professor Dr. Valerie Daggett is hosting December 2014's UW Walker Ames lecturer, Dr. Michael Levitt, the Robert W. Vivian K. Cahill Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of Structural Biology at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Levitt is a 2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and was also Dr. Daggett's postdoc advisor in the early 1990s.
UW Bioengineering Research Associate Professor Dr. Eric Chudler recently returned from a trip to Dharmsala, India to teach Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns about neuroscience.
Dr. Buddy D. Ratner, UW joint professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering and Michael L. & Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, was honored with the second-ever UW Medicine Lifetime Innovator Award on November 6. He received the award at UW Medicine's 2014 Inventor of the Year event held at UW Medicine's South Lake Union campus.
UW Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering David Castner was named as the 2014 recipient of the Rivière Prize from the UK Surface Analysis Forum at the November 2014 American Vacuum Society International Symposium and Exhibition. This award recognized Dr. Castner's impact upon the field of surface analysis, particularly his contribution to the study, analysis and understanding of biological and biomaterial interfaces.
UW Bioengineering Professor Dr. Valerie Daggett's research was featured in an article, "Innovative Medicine", published in the November 2014 issue of Alaska Airlines Magazine. The article discussed novel approaches to treating complex diseases currently being developed by Seattle-area researchers, and details Dr. Daggett's work designing peptides to neutralize harmful changes to proteins thought to have a role in amyloid diseases like Alzheimer's.
UW Bioengineering's BMES chapter engaged scientists of all ages at Life Sciences Research Weekend, held at Seattle Center November 7-9, 2014. Volunteers at the booth led activities demonstrating ultrasound and controlled release.
Since graduating and finishing an internship at Physio-Control, BS Bioengineering alumnus and Fulbright Student Study/Research grant recipient Hani Mahmoud left Seattle in August to travel to Kuwait, eager to begin his project and help establish collaborations between his host country and the United States on mutual interests in biomedicine to improve health.
Welcome to the Fall 2014 issue of UW Bioengineering e-News for Peers In this issue: [...]
Not all swabs used in diagnostic testing are created alike: UW BioE Ph.D student Nuttada Panpradist is lead author of study published recently in PLOS One that offers a quantitative, objective analysis of a common, critical component of diagnostic tests for disease. The study’s results may inform future diagnostic test development, helping test developers select appropriate swab types and transfer methods for diagnosis of a wide variety of disease.
UW Bioengineering Professor Dr. Ruikang Wang's research is featured on the cover of the October issue of the journal Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers & Imaging (OSLI) Retina. Dr. Wang, a noted innovator in the field of optical imaging, and collaborators published two papers in the issue investigating applications of OCT angiography.
UW Bioengineering Professor Dr. Paul Yager will present a talk at TEDxRainier 2014 on November 22nd. Dr. Yager, who served as UW BioE chair from 2007 to 2013, focuses on development of microfluidic devices and systems for analysis of biological fluids for use in biomedical diagnostics. The primary goal of his work is to expand access to healthcare by creating low-cost point-of-care diagnostic devices that can easily be used in low-resource settings.
Dr. Charles Murry, UW professor of pathology, cardiology and bioengineering, will present the first lecture in UW’s 2014 Engineering Lecture Series, “Engineering the Heart: From Cell Therapy to Computer Technology”. Dr. Murry will present a talk entitled “Engineering a Broken Heart”, on October 15, 2014.
An interdisciplinary research team led by PIs Drs. James Lai and Barry Lutz of UW Bioengineering and UW tuberculosis researcher-clinician Dr. David Horne has received the 2014 Global WACh/W.H. Coulter Foundation Seed Grant to develop a point-of-care diagnostic device to diagnose TB from urine samples. The idea originated from a proposal developed by UW BioE student Nuttada Panpradist and UW MPH student and pediatrician Dr. Diana Marangu in a Global Health course, GH 590, “Bioengineering Solutions to Improve the Health of Women, Adolescents and Children”.
UW BIOE Direct freshman admit and recent Ethiopian immigrant Solomon Muche faced a difficult path to UW, including homelessness. However, perseverance and hope guided him to complete high school, apply to UW and study bioengineering.
UW Bioengineering is pleased to announce the hires of faculty Barry Lutz and Gianluca Interlandi, as well as the promotion of Suzie Pun to full professor.
Joint UW professor of bioengineering and otolaryngology Dr. Jay Rubinstein was interviewed for recent piece on radio station WHYY in Philadelphia, Penn. The segment discussed a new type of cochlear implant technology that can help individuals with severe to profound hearing loss at high frequencies. Dr. Rubinstein proposes that improved signal processing, combined with the new hybrid devices, will enable cochlear implant users to “be the superstars of the cochlear implant world”.
“Big Potential in Going Small”: Patrick Stayton’s nanotechnology research mentioned in Alaska Airlines Magazine. The article explores the history of nanotechnology, its current application and Dr. Stayton’s current work developing a nanotechnology delivery system to treat certain diseases, including liver cancer.
UW Bioengineering associate professor Albert Folch, Folch lab senior fellow Nirveek Bhattacharjee and collaborators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina have published research in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examining how cells use systems-level mechanisms to process environmental information. The research shows a promising example of how microfluidics can be used to expose cells to complex signals, a major goal in systems biology studies.
Anti-HIV materials being developed by the Woodrow group could be integrated into a dissolvable, "tampon"-like product that is both easy for women to use and also effective, reports the Huffington Post.
UW Bioengineering Assistant Professor Dr. Kim Woodrow led a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation youth educational outreach event on July 23, which exposed 6th to 8th graders to a college campus and laboratory and led participants in inquiry-based learning activities about STEM applications for pediatric HIV.
Bioengineers in Dr. Woodrow’s lab have discovered a faster way to deliver a topical drug that can protect women from contracting HIV. The researchers created a fiber material embedded with the drug through a process called electrospinning that quickly dissolves and releases a potent antiretroviral drug, maraviroc, when it comes into contact with moisture.
UW Bioengineering Summer Camp 2014 wraps up, teaching 24 high school students about the field of bioengineering and and the field's solutions for global health problems.
UW Bioengineering Professor Dr. Valerie Daggett and research team members have designed a peptide structure that can stop harmful changes of proteins in the body that are linked to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS).
UW Bioengineering faculty Charles Murry (joint professor of pathology, bioengineering and medicine/cardiology) and Michael Regnier, as well as adjunct faculty Michael Jensen, MD, director of the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and professor of pediatric hematology-oncology at UW Medicine and Satoshi Minoshima, professor of radiology, were named 2014 UW Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows.
The UW Bioengineering Class of 2014 celebrated their impressive accomplishments, David C. Auth delivered keynote speech, at the 2014 Bioengineering Departmental Graduation Ceremony.
UW Bioengineering Ph.D. student, Cameron Ball, and Assistant Professor Kim Woodrow, demonstrate the potential of a new type of product that may help women protect themselves against sexual HIV transmission. Their research, published online ahead of print in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC) of the American Society for Microbiology, shows the ability of water-soluble electrospun fiber material to rapidly release maraviroc, an antiretroviral drug. The researchers suggest that their material offers advantages over other anti-HIV microbicides currently in development.
Biomaterials: The Platform Technology of Medical Devices. A 2.5 day introduction to biomaterials, medical devices and biocompatibility presented by the experts. August 14 to August 16, 2014.
UW researchers, including BioE Professor Patrick Stayton and many collaborators from the UW and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, have created a protein molecule that can prompt cancer cells infected with the Epstein-Barr virus to self-destruct.
UW researchers develop sensor that may be placed permanently in a person's eye to track changes in pressure, report data wirelessly and monitor for glaucoma
UW Bioengineer Ruikang Wang’s non-invasive method for imaging vascular health holds promise for better diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases.
UW Bioengineering Research Associate Professor Lara Gamble was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Peter M.A. Sherwood Mid-Career Award from AVS Applied Surface Science Division This award recognizes Dr. Gamble's research contributing to the development of surface analytical methods for characterizing biomedical surfaces and interfaces.
UW Bioengineering Professor Ruikang Wang to join AIMBE's College of Fellows Class of 2015.
Kurt Kung, an electrical engineering PhD student and manager of the Pollack lab, recently won two poster competitions at UW with his poster, "The Novel Renewable Energy Technology - Energy Harvesting from Water".
Buddy Ratner, professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering at UW and noted pioneer in the field of biomaterials, is named 2014 UW School of Medicine Lifetime Inventor & Innovator. This award honors an individual whose career has helped pave the way for medical innovation to occur at UW.
UW Bioengineering Robert F. Rushmer Associate Professor Dr. Suzie Pun is the 2014 recipient of the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Young Investigator Award and Biomaterials Science Lectureship.
UW Bioengineering Assistant Professor Deok-Ho Kim recently was appointed to the editorial board of the academic journal Theranostics. The journal, which has an impact factor of 7.806, is one of the leading journals in the field of regenerative medicine and therapeutic applications.
Team Flu Finder receives second place prize ($10,000) and Best Innovation prize ($2,500) at the 2014 UW Business Plan Competition. The team, led by UW Bioengineering PhD candidates Gina Fridley and Carly Holstein and involved UW Foster School of Business MBA students. Flu Finder aims to improve current flu diagnosis tests with a new type of diagnostic device that is accurate, inexpensive, and can be administered by anyone, anywhere, with results in less than 20 minutes.
