BioE News – Page 14 – UC Berkeley Department of Bioengineering

Phil Messersmith named Department Chair

Phil Messersmith, Class of 1941 Memorial Endowed Professor of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering, will take office as the next Chair of the bioengineering department on January 1. He will take over from Interim Chair Dorian Liepmann, who has been filling the role since Sanjay Kumar stepped down to lead QB3 Berkeley in September.

Interview with Charvi Shetty, Co-Founder and CEO at Aluna

Check out this Medgadget interview with BioE alumna Charvi Shetty, founder and CEO of Aluna, which makes an FDA-approved at-home spirometer for asthma management.

Streets receives CZI Science Diversity Leadership Award

Aaron Streets has been named to the inaugural class of Science Diversity Leadership Award winners, a new partnership between the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The program aims to recognize and further the leadership of excellent biomedical researchers who — through their outreach, mentoring, teaching, and leadership — have a record of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in their scientific fields.

Aaron Streets named to Brilliant 10

Professor Aaron Streets has been named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10, a list honoring trailblazing early-career scientists and engineers who are tackling pressing challenges with innovative solutions. Streets is bioengineering’s Vice-Chair of Undergraduate Affairs, Faculty Director of the BioEngineering Scholars Program, and a talented researcher who combines mathematics, physics and engineering to develop novel tools for precision measurement of biological systems.

Congratulations 2023 Siebel Scholars

Five Bioengineering PhD students have been named Siebel Scholars of the class of 2023: Jordan Baker, Kelsey Gray DeFrates, Juan Eduardo Hurtado, Gabriela Lomeli, and Connor Tsuchida. The Siebel Scholars program annually recognizes top students at the world’s leading graduate schools of bioengineering, business, computer science and energy science.

Streamlined detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva

Patrick Hsu’s lab has developed an RNA-extraction-free test for rapid viral detection using saliva via a microfluidic device. The fast, accurate, and portable prototype shows potential as a point-of-care system to support frequent, on-site molecular diagnostics. This work was the August 2022 cover story for Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Old plasma dilution reduces human biological age

New work from Irina Conboy’s lab extends to humans their previous animal studies on age-specific differences in blood plasma, and establishes a novel direct measurement of biological age. Their results continue to demonstrate that aging may be driven by an excess of certain molecules and proteins, and point to potential treatments for age-related conditions.

Sanjay Kumar named QB3-Berkeley director

Current Bioengineering Chair Sanjay Kumar has been selected to serve as the next director of the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences at UC Berkeley (QB3-Berkeley) effective September 1, 2022. He will succeed David Schaffer, who was recently appointed as faculty director of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub and executive director of QB3’s central office. Kumar will step down as Chair of the Department of Bioengineering effective September 1, where former Chair Dorian Liepmann will return to the role until a permanent appointment is made in 2023.

Single-cell studies offer new view of how HIV infections persist

Professor Iain Clark, in partnership with graduate program faculty member Adam Abate, was able to analyze single cells harboring latent HIV using a technique that isolates single, infected cells as tiny amounts of blood move through their microfluidic devices. Their work was featured in Science news.

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