Category Archives: BioEngineering

Guided by a faculty committed to the undergraduate and graduate research experience, bioengineering students apply engineering principles to understand and treat disease. Collaboration with physicians and entrepreneurs ensures that research focuses on high-priority health care challenges. By providing high-quality undergraduate and graduate education, Clemson bioengineering prepares students to The Page Morton Hunter Distinguished Seminar Series is held in Rhodes Annex 111 at 3:30 p.m. The C. Dayton Riddle Distinguished Seminar Series is held at CUBEInC at 5:30 p.m. Page Morton Hunter seminars01-16-2014 Dr. Junghae Suh, Bioengineering, Rice University 01-30-2014 Dr. Patrea Pabst, Pabst Patent Group 02-20-2014 Dr. Patrick Stayton, Bioengineering, University of Washington 03-06-2014 Dr. Samir N. Ghadiali, Biomedical Engineering, OSU 04-10-2014 Dr. Na Ji, Howard Hughes Medical Institute C. Dayton Riddle Seminars February 27, 2014Dr. Markus A. Wimmer, Rush University Medical Center March 27-2014 Dr. Baowei Fei, Emory University School of Medicine Tell us where you are and what youre doing by updating your information. If we know where you are, we can tell you about upcoming events! 2014 National Science Foundation Graduate Research FellowshipsScott Cole, a senior, and Jonathan Matheny, a 2013 graduate now studying at Cornell University for his PhD, are 2014 awardees. Seniors Jessica Lau and … Continue reading →

Science Nation explores how bioengineering is helping Parkinsons patients and uncovering the secrets of brain plasticity. Video courtesy Science Nation. For Parkinsons sufferers, the connection between the brain and the body breaks down. The disease causes nerve cells to die, which leads to rigid movement and tremors. With the help of computer technology and the brains ability to rewire itself, Parkinsons patients may regain some of the control they have lost. Using a cap fitted with electrodes, Gert Cauwenberghs, a bioengineer of the Jacobs School of Engineering and the Institute for Neural Computation at the University of California San Diego, and his colleagues study neurons in Parkinsons patients as they move through a series of computer tests. Their goal is to develop new technologies to help patients with Parkinsons disease better navigate the world, but these studies also teach scientists how our brain controls our movements. They want to know how nerve cells can create new connections and regain function. Parkinsons disease is not just about one location in the brain thats impaired. Its the whole body Were using advanced technology, but in a means that is more proactive in helping the brain to get around some of its problems … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 8-Apr-2014 Contact: Margot Kern nibibpress@mail.nih.gov 301-496-3500 NIH/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering Four people with paraplegia are able to voluntarily move previously paralyzed muscles as a result of a novel therapy that involves electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The participants, each of whom had been paralyzed for more than two years, were able to voluntarily flex their toes, ankles, and knees while the stimulator was active, and the movements were enhanced over time when combined with physical rehabilitation. Researchers involved in the study say the therapy has the potential to change the prognosis of people with paralysis even years after injury. "When we first learned that a patient had regained voluntary control as a result of spinal stimulation, we were cautiously optimistic," said Roderic Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D., director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at NIH, which provided support for the study. "Now that spinal stimulation has been successful in 4 out of 4 patients, there is evidence to suggest that a large cohort of individuals, previously with little realistic hope … Continue reading →

Last Updated Apr 8, 2014 7:20 PM EDT "When I think to move my leg, my toe or my ankles, when I'm turned on I can do it. It's really exciting," he told CBS News' chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health used spinal cord stimulation to help Shillcox and three other people with lower body paralysis temporarily regain muscle control in their legs, feet, toes, ankles and knees. The four men who participated in the study each had electric stimulators implanted on their spines, and they were all able to regain some control of their muscles within a few days after undergoing the surgery. The neurostimulator used for the study is made by Medtronic, a medical technology company, and is currently is available as a maintenance therapy to individuals with chronic back pain. CBS News "It's a device that has 16 electrodes," Dr. Grace C.Y. Peng, program director of rehabilitation engineering for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at NIH, told CBS News. "They implant these electrodes just below the sight the injury and stimulate the motor neurons in the spinal cord that would … Continue reading →

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, April 8, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Four men paralyzed below the waist have regained some movement in their legs after a series of electrodes implanted along their spinal cord reawakened nerves long thought deadened, researchers are reporting. Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord has given the men the ability to voluntarily flex their toes, ankles and knees, and the strength and precision of their movements has improved over time through intense physical rehabilitation, the researchers said. "The really exciting news that has emerged from the study is that spinal cord injury may no longer mean a lifelong sentence of paralysis," said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. "This is a substantial milestone that has been reached." All participants are now able to synchronize leg, ankle and toe movements in unison with the rise and fall of a wave displayed on a computer screen. Three of the four are able to change the force at which they flex their leg. The findings were published online April 8 in the journal Brain. The first man to receive the implants, Rob Summers, can … Continue reading →

January 29, 2014 [ Watch the Video: What Mechanisms Are Behind Cuttlefish Camouflage? ] Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Capable of producing zebra-like camouflage or hypnotic color oscillations, the skin of the cuttlefish has long fascinated scientists looking to unlock its secrets. Now, a new study from Harvard University has revealed a natural nanoscale photonic device that allows the so-called chameleon of the sea to dynamically change its colors. Nature solved the riddle of adaptive camouflage a long time ago, said study author Kevin Kit Parker, a professor of bioengineering and applied physics at the Harvard. Now the challenge is to reverse-engineer this system in a cost-efficient, synthetic system that is amenable to mass manufacturing. By using pigmented organs called chromatophores, the cephalopod can change the look of its skin in response to visual stimuli. Scientists have been unable to understand the biological, chemical, and optical mechanics behind this adaptive coloration. To change skin color, the cuttlefish uses a system of vertically arranged optical components: the leucophore, a light scatterer that spreads light evenly over the visible spectrum; the iridophore, a reflector made from thin films; and the chromatophore. This layered system allows the cuttlefish skin to selectively … Continue reading →

7 hours ago The Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium is a common cause of opportunistic infections in humans and has a tendency to acquire resistance to a number of standard antibiotics. Credit: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Janice Haney Carr Some pathogens can adapt to the presence of drugs that would normally be lethal, and such antibiotic-resistant microbes are now the scourge of hospitals worldwide. Discovering new antibiotics is a laborious process, but research from a team led by Yi Yan Yang of the A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore, and James Hedrick of the IBM Almaden Research Center, United States, could breathe new life into existing drugs. One of the standard escape mechanisms employed by bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (see image) entails increased production of proteins that purge or break down drug molecules. Polymers that stick to and disrupt bacterial membranes offer an alternative means for killing resistant cells. However, at elevated concentrations these polymers can also inflict damage on bystander host cells. Yang and Hedrick's team explored whether a combination of polymers and antibiotics might offer a safer alternative that draws on the strengths of both approaches. They generated two different polymerswhich they combined with vitamin E, … Continue reading →