In this issue: Faculty News | School & College Leadership | Featured Publications
Princess Imoukhuede named new chair of UW Bioengineering
UW BioE welcomes Dr. Imoukhuede, a leader in systems biology research and academic diversity initiatives, on Jan. 1, 2022. She will hold the Hunter and Dorothy Simpson Endowed Chair.
Faculty News
UW spinout gets $14.9M boost from NIH for COVID-19 rapid test
UW spinout gets $14.9M boost from NIH for COVID-19 rapid testAnavasi Diagnostics, recently spun out of Barry Lutz’s lab, will advance commercialization of its PCR-equivalent, affordable, rapid molecular COVID-19 test. It is one of the 44+ active startups generated by UW BioE faculty and students.
Imaging method captures deep layers of collagen in 3D
Imaging method captures deep layers of collagen in 3DNew non-invasive method may help detect heart attacks, monitor healing after bypass procedure and improve image-guided plastic surgery.
Precision-engineered porous, flexible grafts promote healing, reduce scarring
New study from Buddy Ratner’s lab presents the first biomaterial designed for vascular grafts with tuned mechanical properties and a precision-engineered porous structure optimized for healing.
Stevens named to National Academies New Voices cohort
Kelly Stevens will provide new perspectives to National Academies, expanding on her call to fund Black scientists in Cell earlier this year.
Yazdan receives $3.2M to study optogenetics to precisely rewire brain networks, treat stroke
Azadeh Yazdan’s neurotechnology research, funded by NIH, targets neural connections to heal the brain.
$3.9M NIH and Keck grants back Stevens lab research on 3D liver printing, regrowth
Research focuses on scaling up 3D printed liver tissues; studying mechanical properties in liver regeneration.
Hope and Healing: UW tools, doctors and colleagues help one of our own
UW BioE’s Barry Lutz and his compelling journey with cancer were profiled this fall in a UW article. BioE’s Mike Averkiou and colleagues in UW Medicine collaborated on his care, illustrating the essence of UW BioE.
Eric Chudler’s BRAIN photo featured in 2022 NIH calendar
A photo by BioE’s Eric Chudler was selected for NIH’s BRAIN Initiative 2022 “Show Us Your BRAINs!” contest calendar. His photo is featured the month of June. Learn more & request a free calendar from the BRAIN Initiative.
School & College Leadership
Leading an innovation partnership
The College of Engineering and UW School of Medicine have created a position to expand health innovation. Meet Dr. Tueng Shen (adjunct in BioE), the first to serve in this role.
Meet Karen Thomas-Brown
The College of Engineering’s new associate dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion shares what drew her to the role and offers advice on what we all can do to support DEI efforts.
Featured Publications
Black Dots: High-Yield Traction Force Microscopy Reveals Structural Factors Contributing to Platelet Forces
Kevin Beussman et al.
Wendy Thomas and UW Depts. of Mechanical Engineering; Biostatistics; Computer Science & Engineering / Bloodworks Northwest Research Institute / Michigan Technological University
Acta Biomaterials
Gain-of-function cardiomyopathic mutations in RBM20 rewire splicing regulation and re-distribute ribonucleoprotein granules within processing bodies
Aidan Fenix and Yuichiro Miyaoka et al.
Charles Murry lab and UW Depts. of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology; Mechanical Engineering / Gladstone Institutes / UC San Diego / University of Cincinnati / Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Nature Communications
Precision-porous polyurethane elastomers engineered for application in pro-healing vascular grafts: Synthesis, fabrication and detailed biocompatibility assessment
Le Zhen et al.
Buddy Ratner lab and UW Depts. of Chemical Engineering, Comparative Medicine / UW Histology and Imaging Core / UW Division of Nephrology
Biomaterials
Well-Defined Mannosylated Polymer for Peptide Vaccine Delivery with Enhanced Antitumor Immunity
Shixian Lv et al.
Pat Stayton and Suzie Pun labs
Advanced Healthcare Materials
1700 nm broadband laser source enables deep brain optical biopsy
Peijun Tang and Ruikang Wang
Light: Science & Applications
Discovery and Characterization of Spike N-Terminal Domain-Binding Aptamers for Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Detection
Nataly Kacherovsky et al.
Drew Sellers and Suzie Pun labs and UW Depts. of Biochemistry, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology / Humabs BioMed SA
Angewandte Chemie Internat’l Ed.
Magnetically-propelled fecal surrogates for modeling the impact of solid-induced shear forces on primary colonic epithelial cells
Samuel Hinman et al.
Cole DeForest and Nancy Allbritton labs and Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/North Carolina State Univ.
Biomaterials
Embryo-scale, single-cell spatial transcriptomics
Sanjay Srivatsan and Mary Regier et al.
Kelly Stevens lab and UW Dept. of Genome Sciences / Foresite Labs / University of Lübeck / CalTech / Fred Hutch
Science