In this issue: Innovation and Impact | Faculty Honors and Awards | Student Highlights | Featured Publications

Have feedback? Contact the editors at bioenews@uw.edu.

UW Bioengineering chair Cecilia GiachelliWelcome to UW Bioengineering’s Fall 2016 Innovation and Impact!

I’m pleased to send you this update on our advances in bioengineering research and education, and recognize the recent achievements of our students and faculty.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Sincerely,

Cecilia Giachelli, Ph.D.
W. Hunter and Dorothy Simpson Endowed Chair, Professor
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington

Innovation and Impact

UW Bioengineering's new faculty hires: Andre Berndt, Azadeh Yazdan-Shahmorad, Amy Orsborn, Hao Yuan KuehNew hires build global excellence in neuroengineering and immunoengineering research

New faculty Andre Berndt, Amy Orsborn and Azadeh Yazdan-Shahmorad will create a complementary cluster of research expertise in the area of neuroengineering. Assistant Professor Hao Yuan Kueh , an expert in immunoengineering, joined the department in August. Read more

 

Student working with laboratory equipmentNew Master of Applied Bioengineering program prepares students for biomedical industry, translational research

This one year, full-time degree program trains students to apply engineering design and entrepreneurship education to unmet clinical needs and transform biomedical research into technologies for improving health care. Read more

 

Faculty examining ultrasound equipmentBioEngage program builds mutually beneficial relationships with biomedical industry

The BioEngage program aims to increase engagement of UW Bioengineering students and faculty with the biomedical translation-commercialization sector – companies, non-profits, entrepreneurs and investors. Read more

 

A micrograph of a motor neuron cell showing its extended fibers.TAxI peptide reveals promising new strategies for drug delivery to the central nervous system

Drew Sellers and Suzie Pun have discovered that a small peptide called TAxI, or Targeted Axonal Import, can transport a recombinant protein from muscle into motor neurons. Their findings may lead to new strategies for treating motor neuron diseases like ALS. Read more

 

Stained cellsPun lab researchers win national cancer treatment nanotech challenge

The team is one of 10 selected by the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotech Startup Challenge for their proposal to develop a targeted drug delivery system for breast cancer that targets tumor-associated macrophages. Read more

 

Paul Yager disease diagnosticsScientific American reports on Paul Yager’s paper-based disease diagnostics

The tests being developed by Professor Paul Yager offer a fast, inexpensive, highly sensitive and simple testing platform that could enable faster treatment, limit disease spread, save lives and reduce the cost of healthcare. Read more

Faculty Honors and Awards

Kelly Stevens with lab membersKelly Stevens receives NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

In her project “Thermogenetic activation of engineered tissue for cardiac repair,” Kelly Stevens, assistant professor of bioengineering and pathology, aims to build “smart” human heart tissue using stem cells that can be remotely controlled following implantation in a patient. Read more

 

AIMBE FellowsCharles Murry, Michael Regnier, Ruikang Wang and Tueng Shen inducted as 2016 AIMBE Fellows

AIMBE Fellows represent the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the United States, and are dedicated to improving lives through medical and biological engineering. 25 of BioE’s core and adjunct faculty are AIMBE Fellows. Read more

 


Suzie PunSuzie Pun named 2015 National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Robert F. Rushmer Professor Suzie Pun’s election to this high professional honor recognizes her prolific spirit of innovation. NAI Fellows create or facilitate outstanding inventions that improve quality of life, economic development and societal welfare. Read more

 

Allan HoffmanAllan Hoffman receives Controlled Release Society, Acta Biomaterialia awards

Professor Emeritus Allan Hoffman, UW BioE’s international “ambassador for biomaterials,” accepted the Allan Hoffman CRS Foundation Award earlier this year, and will receive the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal in 2017. Read more

 


Patrick Stayton named Distinguished Career Professor of BioengineeringPat Stayton

Professor Patrick Stayton’s appointment as UW BioE’s first Distinguished Career Professor recognizes his excellence in research, teaching, entrepreneurship, leadership and service. Read more

Student Highlights

Bioengineers without borders student teamBioengineers without Borders team receives PATH Health Innovation Portfolio grant

The team, which recently secured a $15,000 grant from Seattle’s PATH, aims to make anesthesia delivery accessible to low-resource regions where critical medical procedures are often not performed. Read more

 

Nuttada and her student teamNuttada Panpradist wins $50,000 Third Place APF Student Technology Prize

Nuttada, a fourth year Ph.D. student in Associate Professor Barry Lutz’s lab, leads development of OLA-SIMPLE, which aims to be the first rapid instrument-free device that emulates the diagnostic capabilities of a laboratory to determine HIV viral load and drug resistance at the point of care. Read more

 

Krittika D'SilvaSenior Krittika D’Silva receives Cambridge Gates Scholarship

Krittika D’Silva, a UW BioE and computer engineering double major, received a Gates Cambridge Scholarship for Ph.D. study at the University of Cambridge in the UK. At UW, she worked on software and mobile technology solutions for health care, and that empower a world of good. Read more

 

Whitaker awardeesAbbi Helfer, Lael Wentland, Anna Blakney and Emily Krogstad receive Whitaker Awards

Whitaker International Fellows and Scholars Program awards promote the professional development of superb leaders in biomedical engineering who will advance the profession through an international outlook. Read more

 

Featured Publications

Quantitative proteomics identify DAB2 as a cardiac developmental regulator that inhibits WNT/β-catenin signaling

Hofsteen P, Robitaille AM, Chapman DP, Moon RT, Murry CE. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Three-dimensional localization of polymer nanoparticles in cells using TOF-SIMS

Graham DJ, Wilson JT, Lai JJ, Stayton PS, Castner DG. Biointerphases.

Electroconductive nanopatterned substrates for enhanced myogenic differentiation and maturation

Yang HS, Lee B, Tsui JH, Macadangdang J, Jang SY, Im SG, Kim DH. Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Wide-field optical coherence tomography based microangiography for retinal imaging

Zhang Q, Lee CS, Chao J, Chen CL, Zhang T, Sharma U, Zhang A, Liu J, Rezaei K, Pepple KL, Munsen R, Kinyoun J, Johnstone M, Van Gelder RN, Wang RK. Scientific Reports.