INVENTING THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE
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.
UW Bioengineering senior Hani Mahmoud is selected as a Fulbright Student and becomes the first-ever student in the department's history to receive the internationally renowned fellowship. Hani will travel to Kuwait to investigate the rising prevalence of type-2 diabetes in that country at Dasman Diabetes Institute.
UW Bioengineering graduate student Anna Blakney receives 2014 GROW with USAID fellowship to study in South Africa. Anna, currently researching in Kim Woodrow's lab, will spend 6 months at University of Cape Town investigating the timing of the BCG vaccine and HIV acquisition from an immunological perspective.
On March 21, 2014, UW Bioengineering distributed Outstanding Faculty, Graduate Student/TA and Staff Awards. These awards annually recognize outstanding contributions of individual members of the BIOE community. Award recipients include Barry Lutz, Wilbert Copeland and Elizabeth Soberg.
The Seattle Times reports that Dr. Charles Murry, UW professor of pathology, bioengineering and cardiology, and colleagues have successfully regenerated heart muscle in monkeys using human stem cells. This "proof-of-concept" research may one day be applied to humans whose hearts are damaged by heart attack and shows promising progress towards solving the "burgeoning public-health problem" of cardiac disease.
Stem cell therapy regenerates heart muscle in primates, finds a study led by Dr. Charles Murry, UW professor of pathology, bioengineering and cardiology. This approach, which uses heart cells created from human embryonic stem cells, should be feasible in humans and may be ready for clinical trials in humans within four years, researchers say. The study was published in the advanced online April 30, 2014 edition of Nature.
UW Bioengineering faculty, staff and students participated in Engineering Discovery days April 25-26, 2014, teaching bioengineers of all ages through exciting hands-on exhibits and activities.
Hunter Bennett, has been awarded the College of Engineering Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence for 2014. This honor reflects Hunter's hard work, leadership, and tremendous contributions to the Department of Bioengineering during his time here. Congratulations, Hunter!
UW Bioengineering will host BIOE Summer Camp, a day camp for high school students, July 21-25, 2014. With a focus on bioengineering technologies for global health, the camp will bring 24 Seattle-area students to campus.
Whether she’s inspiring undergraduates to explore new areas of knowledge or unlocking the scientific curiosity of K-12 students, Dianne Hendricks looks for way to make a lasting impact. The new full-time lecturer in UW Bioengineering brings to her role expertise in laboratory teaching, mentoring and outreach.
UW Bioengineering professor Buddy Ratner explains the history of biomaterials from antiquity to today in a recent TED Blog story
The heart cannot heal itself very well. However, Dr. Charles Murry, professor of Pathology, Bioengineering and Cardiology, is working on new ways to repair heart damage.
The 2014 BIOE Awards for Faculty Teacher/Mentor, Graduate Student TA/Mentor and Staff were announced on Friday, March 21 during the annual Rushmer Lecture. Award recipients include Barry Lutz, Wilbert Copeland and Elizabeth Soberg.
Eric Chudler, associate research professor of UW Bioengineering and executive director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, recently organized an open house event for elementary and middle school students which celebrated Brain Awareness Week.
UW Bioengineering professor Paul Yager is noted in in Seattle Business Magazine's 2014 Leaders in Health Care Awards for "Achievement in Medical Devices"
James Bassingthwaighte and team receive recognition for best technical paper published in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology during the last year
Winter 2014 UW Bioengineering eNews. Updates on our research in technologies for global health, student profiles, news briefs and more.
The world does not yet have a Star Trek tricorder. But UW bioengineers are developing devices and technology that may be powerful precursors to Dr. McCoy’s handy 23rd century diagnostic device, and may make improving health faster and easier than ever before. Researchers are answering the call for accessible, rapid testing tools, which can speed the time until treatment starts, helping prevent deaths, outbreaks and disability.
A test for infectious disease intended for use in low-resource settings in development by UW Bioengineering professor Paul Yager and industry partners featured in the Puget Sound Business Journal.
UW Bioengineering professor Ruikang Wang and his lab has pioneered fine-resolution, non-invasive imaging technology called optical microangiography which allows visualization and analysis of small blood vessels.
Research conducted by UW Bioengineering professor Dr. James Bryers and collaborators in the UW School of Dentistry, which aimed to discover new ways to use titanium-based materials to fight oral bacteria, has resulted in a recently patented antibacterial agent.
UW Bioengineering associate professor Albert Folch has been elected to the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2015.
Buddy Ratner, professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering at UW, has been selected as a 2014 POLY Fellow of the Polymer Division of the American Chemical Society. This prestigious award recognizes the most outstanding achievements in and contributions to polymer science and the profession.
UW Bioengineering research assistant professor Dr. Barry Lutz and colleagues have demonstrated the concept of "programming" paper microfluidic devices with various concentrations of sugar to control the speed of fluid flow
