Welcome to UW Bioengineering’s Innovation & Impact!
Welcome to UW Bioengineering’s Innovation & Impact!I’m pleased to share with you this update on the recent achievements of our faculty, fellows and students. Their work advances our mission to engineer better health care for a boundless future, for Washington and for the world.
Also, congratulations to the many award winners featured in this issue, and to our Class of 2019! With warm regards,
Cecilia Giachelli, Ph.D.
W. Hunter and Dorothy Simpson Endowed Chair, Professor
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington
Alumnus Honored for Impact on Drug Development, Health
Wayne Gombotz Ph.D. ’88 receives Diamond Award for Distinguished Achievement in Industry
UW Bioengineering alumnus Wayne Gombotz (M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’88) received the College of Engineering’s 2019 Diamond Award for Distinguished Achievement in Industry. He has developed multiple successful drugs and processes to treat cancer, and infectious and autoimmune diseases, and spurred the biotechnology industry in Seattle.
Faculty Research and Awards
Biomaterials developer and protein engineer Cole DeForest joins core faculty
UW Bioengineering faculty member Cole DeForest joined the core faculty in January 2019 as joint assistant professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering. He brings expertise in applying synthetic chemistry and materials science to the department’s biomaterials, protein engineering and regenerative medicine research.
Jay Rubinstein inducted as 2019 AIMBE Fellow
Jay Rubinstein, joint professor of bioengineering and otolaryngology, was inducted to the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2019.
Kelly Stevens collaboration builds complex networks needed to supply nutrients in 3D bioprinted organs
Dr. Kelly Stevens’s lab teamed with Rice University to create 3D bioprinted vascular networks and tested them in mice. Bioprinted tissues with entangled vascular networks for air and blood are a major step toward 3D printing of replacement organs.
Synthetic peptide can inhibit toxicity, aggregation of protein in Alzheimer’s Disease, finds team led by Valerie Daggett
Researchers led by UW Bioengineering Professor Valerie Daggett have developed synthetic peptides that can target and inhibit the small, toxic protein aggregates that are thought to trigger Alzheimer’s disease.
Trainee Awards
Nanodropper wins Grand Prize; Pulmora, Insulin Anywhere also win at 2019 Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge
Eight teams involving UW BioE students were among 22 teams competing in the 2019 Holloman Health Innovation Challenge in March. Of these teams, Nanodropper and Pulmora captured the first and third place prizes, respectively, and Insulin Anywhere took home a “Judges Also Really Liked” award.
Six BioE students selected for Husky 100 Class of 2019
UW BioE undergraduates Caleb Ellington, Ritika Jain, Divya Lakshmanan, Sarah Slack, Mohammed Mushtak Talib and Renae Tessem are among 100 students selected from the Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses who are making the most of their education at UW.
Ph.D. student Bowen Li wins Engineering Student Research Award
BrainWorks is co-produced and hosted by Eric Chudler, research associate professor of bioengineering and the executive director of the Center for Neurotechnology at UW. The episode explores the promising opportunities of brain-computer interface technology to treat stroke, spinal cord injuries and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Meet student athlete Sam Kokoska
UW Bioengineering undergraduate Sam Kokoska finds balance in making time for her many passions: engineering, soccer, mentoring and service.
Featured Publications
De novo design of potent and selective mimics of IL-2 and IL-15
Daniel-Adriano Silva et al. David Baker’s lab / UW Institute for Protein Design, Bioengineering, Biochemistry, Immunology / Howard Hughes Medical Institute / Johns Hopkins University / Stanford University / University of Lisbon / Harvard Medical School / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center / University of Cambridge / Nature
a-Sheet secondary structure in amyloid B-peptide drives aggregation and toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease
Dylan Shea et al. Valerie Daggett’s lab Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Immunostimulatory Effects Triggered by Self-Assembled Microspheres with Tandem Repeats of Polymerized RNA Strands
Dajeong Kim et al. Deok-Ho Kim, Marta Scatena labs / University of Seoul Advanced Healthcare Materials
Multivascular networks and functional intravascular topologies within biocompatible hydrogels
Bagrat Grigoryan et al. Kelly Stevens’s lab / Rice University / Duke University / Rowan University Science
Dynamics of genome reorganization during human cardiogenesis reveal an RBM20-dependent splicing factory
Alessandro Bertero et al. Charles Murry lab / UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Pathology, Cardiology and Genome Sciences Nature Communications
Glycan targeted polymeric antibiotic prodrugs for alveolar macrophage infections
Jasmin Chen et al. Pat Stayton and Daniel Ratner labs / UW Harborview Medical Center, Medicinal Chemistry Biomaterials
Evaluation of Force Sensing Resistors for the Measurement of Interface Pressures in Lower Limb Prosthetics
Eric Swanson et al. Joan Sanders’s lab Journal of Biomechanical Engineering
Hybrid nanocarriers incorporating mechanistically distinct drugs for lymphatic CD4+ T cell activation and HIV-1 latency reversal
Shijie Cao et al. Kim Woodrow’s lab / UW Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laboratory Medicine / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Science Advances