Directory with Faculty Research Interests
Dr. Aryn Gittis, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, was named a finalist for the Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation for her discovery of new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease. Check out the details.
BME Prof. Byron Yu and his collaborator from the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Matthew Smith, were awarded an R01 grant entitled "Modulating Neural Population Interactions between Cortical Areas" from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). It's a 5 year grant to study how visual cortex and frontal cortex interact during vision and perception.
BME Prof. Xi (Charlie) Ren and his group are moving the field of organ engineering forward by combining developmental biology with organ engineering. One day his technology could help thousands of patients with end-stage lung disease breathe easier. Click here for details.
BME Prof. Yu-li Wang has been elected as a member Academician of Life Sciences in the Academia Sinica, the national academy established in China in 1928 and relocated to Taiwan in 1949. The honorary lifetime privilege is held by around 280 leading researchers in the areas of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Life Sciences, and Humanities and Social Sciences. Click here to learn more.
Ph.D. student Qinle Ba, advised by Prof. Ge Yang, published an article in the journal Cell Reports titled “Whole-cell scale dynamic organization of lysosomes revealed by spatial statistical analysis”. Findings in her study reveal how lysosomes are dynamically organized across the entire intracellular space and provide insights into how cells organize their organelles and mediate their interactions. See further details here.
BME Prof. Tzahi Cohen-Karni has been named a 2018 Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering. As part of the award, Cohen-Karni and his team published a research paper “Graphene microelectrode arrays for electrical and optical measurements of human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes” in the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering journal. Click this link to learn details.
BME Prof. Phil Campbell has been selected as the 2018 College of Engineering Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award winner for his excellence in teaching. His ability to teach students to both understand and apply physiology to solve real-world medical problems have impacted not only biomedical engineering students, but many other students from across the CMU campus for the last 17 years.
BME Prof. Chris Bettinger and his group designed a novel biomaterial to fabricate neural probes that mimic the mechanical properties of tissues in the nervous system. Bioinspired hydrogel-based neural probes can record from tissue without damage or movement, which means that it’s now possible to record a stronger and more accurate signal from neurons firing in the brain. Click here for more details.
BME PhD student Sara Abdollahi, advised by Prof. Adam Feinberg, and other Carnegie Mellon researchers have developed a novel approach to optimizing soft material 3-D printing. The method combines expert judgment with an optimization algorithm to enable high-fidelity printing of soft materials and devices. Check out the details.
[view image]Last Sunday BME held Diploma Ceremony. We're so proud of all the graduates! All of us in Carnegie Mellon will be watching with pride as you make an impact on the world. Congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors! Check out more pictures on BME’s Facebook page.
[view image]BME students presented in the University-wide symposium for undergraduate research where engineering students from all departments unveil posters, presentations, and demos on their research. Click here for more details.
Biomedical Engineering Prof. Chris Bettinger and collaborators published an article in Science, entitled “Polymeric peptide pigments with sequence-encoded properties”, where the researchers helped contribute to the discovery that subtle changes in the peptide sequence could produce synthetic melanin pigments that chemically and physically mimic the properties of natural melanin pigments. Check out the details.
[view image]CMU College of Engineering launched a major education facility - Tech Spark, which is the cornerstone of CIT's maker ecosystem, an integrated set of resources including simulation cluster, 3D printers, rapid prototyping equipment, electronic fabrication facilities, etc.
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) has announced the induction of Keith Cook, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University to its College of Fellows. Dr. Cook was nominated and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for significant contributions to the development of artificial lungs.
Researchers in Prof. Adam Feinberg's lab have developed a low-cost 3-D bioprinter by modifying a standard desktop 3-D printer, releasing the breakthrough designs as open source. They have also published a paper in HardwareX that contains complete instructions for printing and installing the syringe-based, large volume extruder to modify any typical, commercial plastic printer. More details.
Prof. Jana Kainerstorfer, her PhD student Alexander Ruesch, and collaborators from the University of Pittsburgh have been developing a non-invasive way for doctors to monitor intracranial pressure using an approach based on near infrared spectroscopy. Learn details.
BME Department Head Dr. Bin He is developing a novel method of treating brain disorders by using ultrasonic waves and EEG imaging to noninvasively trigger electrical signals in the brain. To perform this research, Dr. He recently was awarded with a $2.4M NIH BRAIN Initiative Grant to develop this technology. Check out the details.
BME Profs. Steven Chase and Byron Yu published a paper in Nature
Neuroscience, "Learning by neural reassociation", where they used a brain-computer interface to understand how neural activity reorganizes to support learning. They find that the brain repurposes existing neural activity patterns to perform new tasks. Their findings help explain how learning can proceed so quickly -- and why it is sometimes incomplete. This is another work by departmental faculty to delineate the mechanisms of brain using neuroengineering technology. Read details.
BME PhD student Sahil Rastogi, advised by Prof. Tzahi Cohen-Karni, won the first place for the best poster award in the Tissue Engineering category at McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine Annual Retreat. The topic of Sahil’s poster was "Graphene-based Biocompatible and Transparent Micro-Electrode Arrays for Simultaneous Electrical and Optical Measurements of Electrogenic Cells".
As of February 1, new Department Head of Biomedical Engineering Dr. Bin He began his appointment. Dr. He succeeds Yu-li Wang, the R. Mehrabian Professor of Biomedical Engineering, who has served as Department Head since 2008. Dr. Bin He is an internationally renowned scholar, and has made leadership contributions to biomedical engineering research and graduate education. Click here for more details.
Prof. Adam Feinberg has been recognized for his outstanding work and selected as inaugural Arthur Hamerschlag Career Development Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Prof. Feinberg has pioneered the development of materials-based engineering strategies to encode information in the 3-D environment of the cell. Congratulations on this significant achievement!
Prof. Jana Kainerstorfer has been awarded a 3-year, NIH Trailblazer grant “Non-invasive intracranial pressure sensing with near infrared light for monitoring the healthy and diseased brain”. The grant is focused on measuring neuro-vascular coupling with combined electrical and optical recording in an animal model of hydrocephalus.
BME Department congratulates alum Anthony DiGioia M.D. (B.S. 1979, M.S. 1982), on the publication of his book entitled “The Patient Centered Value System: Transforming Healthcare through Co-Design”, in which he articulates on his long passion of teaming medical professionals with patients and family members to deliver integrated patient care.
Prof. Keith Cook discussed his scientific advancement on the PBS show called SciTech Now! He developed an artificial lung that promises to provide needed long term respiratory support for patients waiting for a transplant. Please use this link to watch it.
Prof. Jana Kainerstorfer is awarded with a Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association, entitled “Cerebral autoregulation assessment with near-infrared light during intracranial pressure changes”. The goal of the project is to use near-infrared spectroscopy for non-invasively monitoring changes in intracranial pressure, which may occur as a result of disease or trauma and cause brain damage.
Prof. Steve Chase and collaborators published a paper in the journal eLife, entitled “Dynamic range adaptation in primary motor cortical populations”. The study shows that the brain optimizes how it represents movements, much like a camera with auto contrast control optimizes its sensitivity to light (read the paper, and the news).
