BioE News – Page 55 – UC Berkeley Department of Bioengineering

Where’d you get those threads?

Alumni company Bolt Threads has launched its first direct to consumers clothing made of synthetic spider silk – a snazzy tie! Only 50 will be made, but more engineered clothing is on the horizon.

Liepmann and Murthy Lab invention could make vaccinations needle-free

A recent proof-of-concept study shows that a tiny portable microjet injector called MucoJet can deliver a high-pressure stream of liquid and immune system-triggering molecules that penetrate the mucosal layer of the mouth to stimulate an immune response in the buccal region. The jet is pressurized, but not uncomfortably so, and would remove the sting of needles. Postdoctoral scholar Kiana Aran is lead investigator on the study.

Healy leads Berkeley arm of C-DOCTOR

UC Berkeley is a partner in one of two newly established Resource Centers as part of the The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research’s Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Tissue Regeneration Consortium (DOCTRC). Aimed at developing resources and strategies for regenerating dental, oral, and craniofacial tissues that have been damaged by disease or injury, the Center for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Tissue and Organ Regeneration (C-DOCTOR) is a partnership between UC Berkeley, UCSF, USC, UC Davis, UCLA, and Stanford. Professor Kevin Healy is the principal investigator at Berkeley.

Yartsev named Sloan Research Fellow

Professor Michael Yartsev was named a 2017 Sloan Research Fellow. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation selected 126 outstanding U.S.
and Canadian researchers as the recipients of the 2017 fellowships, honoring early-career scholars whose achievements mark them as the
next generation of scientific leaders.

Kumar lab sheds new light on cellular stress fiber networks

New research from Professor Sanjay Kumar’s lab uncovers fundamental design principles of how cells and tissues define and maintain their structure, combining sophisticated micropatterning technologies to engineer cell shape, laser nanosurgery to cut individual stress fibers with light and probe their internal structure, and mathematical modeling. Cell shape is critical in development, wound healing, stem cell differentiation, and cancer, among other processes. The lead author is bioengineering PhD student Elena Kassianidou .

Arkin will lead new NASA Center

Professor Adam Arkin will lead the new NASA Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES), a Space Technology Research Institute to advance research into an integrated, multi-function, multi-organism bio-manufacturing system to produce fuel, materials, pharmaceuticals and food on long-term space missions.

Three faculty named Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has announced it’s inaugural class of 47 faculty investigators from UC Berkeley, UCSF and Stanford, including three Berkeley Bioengineers. Professors Dan Fletcher, Amy Herr and Aaron Streets are among the 13 Berkeley faculty who will receive up to $1.5 million each over the next five years to conduct cutting-edge biomedical research.

Connolly Lab wins safety award

Professor Steven Conolly’s lab has won the 2017 Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award in the Large Physical Sciences Lab category. Winners were selected based on consideration of the lab’s safety inspection results, internal safety communications, and collaboration with EH&S and Department Safety Coordinators.

Arkin and Keasling break ground on the IGB

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab began construction of the Integrative Genomics Building (IGB), which will house researchers from the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute with those from the Systems Biology Knowledgebase under one roof. Bioengineering professors Adam Arkin, Director of Kbase, and Jay Keasling, Biosciences Associate Laboratory Director, were on hand for the groundbreaking.

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