News
Professor and Head of Biomedical Engineering Yu-li Wang is elected as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), which represents a select group of top 2% of most accomplished medical and biological engineers.
Prof. Adam Feinberg received an NSF CAREER Award for his project on "3D printing of heart muscle using soft hydrogels". In addition, his group published a paper in Nature Methods, entitled "Conformal nanopatterning of extracellular matrix proteins onto topographically complex surfaces" (read the article and news release; see also an interview in Huffington Post).
Graduate student Stephanie Wong, advised by Prof. Yu-li Wang, is the leading author of a paper published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., where she showed how fibroblasts use thin extensions at the front to probe surface rigidity before migrating onto the area (read the article)
Watch a video of Sara Saheb Kashaf (B.S. '14) describing her senior research project entitled "Effect of varying the number and location of voltage gated calcium channels on synaptic facilitation in the frog".
Graduate student Jian Zhang, advised by Prof. Yu-li Wang, is the leading author of a paper published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. entitled "Microtubules stabilize cell polarity by localizing rear signals". The study sheds light on the control circuit that stabilizes the direction of cell migration, a key event during tissue formation (see an introduction in Phys.org)
Graduate student Molly Blank's paper, entitled "Low-Cost Quantitative Palpation Device for Breast Lesion Tracking and Telehealth", won the Third Place of the Best Paper Award at the 2014 IEEE Healthcare Innovation on Point-of-Care Technologies Conference (HIPCT '14).
Prof. Keith Cook received a $2.4M NIH grant, entitled "Compliant Thoracic Artificial Lungs", to develop artificial lungs that that patients may use for long term in the comfort of their own homes while waiting for a lung transplant (read more...).
Carmell Therapeutics, a startup of Profs. Jim Burgess, Phil Campbell, and Lee Weiss, completed its clinical trial with the REPAIR™ Bone Putty, where the blood plasma-based material was found to reduce infections, speed bone healing, and promote wound closure (read more...).
Prof. Katie Whitehead is named by the Technology Review as one of the 2014 TR35 - 35 innovators under the age of 35. The announcement mentioned that her "systematic search discovered nanoparticles that could improve drug delivery (read the announcement page).
Prof. Dennis Trumble received an NIH grant entitled "Computational and In Vivo Analysis of Applied Apical Torsion for Cardiac Support", to develop an artificial heart pump that mimics the heart's natural twisting motion. This innovative design will eliminate the possibility of blood clots, giving it a huge advantage over similar devices (read more...).
Prof. Tzahi Cohen-Karni, who studies electrical properties of pancreatic islet cells using nano-technology, is a recipient of the 2014 New Investigator Research Award of the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation, a private grantmaking organization that supports cutting-edge scientific research in Pennsylvania (see the announcement).
Kelly Collier (B.S. '11), whose capstone design project formed the foundation of a fledging small business, ActivAided Orthotics, is named "2014 Young Entrepreneur of the Year" by the Western Pennsylvania Small Business Administration (read the news, and more about Kelly Collier).
