Bioengineering News
The San Francisco Business Times examines crucial work by Dan Fletcher, Melanie Ott and Jennifer Doudna to create an efficient, smartphone-based CRISPR-cellscope hybrid COVID-19 test.
Adam Arkin’s lab is leading research to harness tailocins – protein machines made by bacteria that are able to target and attack very specific strains of bacteria. They hope to understand and use these natural spring-powered microneedles to study the microbiome, and eventually to attack and treat harmful infections.
Former BioE postdoc Kiana Aran, now a professor at KGI, along with Professor Irina Conboy and other collaborators, have demonstrated new disease-detection capabilities of a hand-held device based on CRISPR gene editing technology, a development that could lead to faster, portable genetic testing for diagnostics and research.
An MEng capstone team of BioE, ME and IEOR students developed a smart device to track patients’ eye drop medication adherence.
Researchers co-led by Professor Aaron Streets have invented a computer algorithm that uses deep learning to integrate gene and protein data about single cells that were gathered from different tissues and donors and were processed in different labs. Part of a global effort to build a Human Cell Atlas (HCA), the new algorithm will allow integration of data from different types of experiments to compile detailed protein information.
Congratulations to bioengineers receiving new NSF Graduate Research Fellowships! Current PhD students: Niroshan Anandasivam, Cynthia Perez, Preethi Raghavan, and Clay Smyth, also a BS BioE 2017. Graduating seniors Saarang Panchavati and Vikram Shivakumar, and recent undergraduate alumni Luis Caldera (2018), Eszter Mihaly (2017), Andrew Sum (2015), and Madelynn Whittaker (2019).
Congratulations to Outstanding GSI Award Winners for 2020-21 from BioE courses: Kristen Cotner, Andrew Dickson, Louise Hansen and Lily Shang! The UC Berkeley Outstanding GSI Awards are given to the best GSIs of the year, nominated by the course instructor.
Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering David Schaffer explains how he “plays Darwin” in his Berkeley lab, using high throughput genetic sequencing technology to test over a billion genetic samples for the desired biological activity.
Bolt Threads, founded by PhD alumnus David Breslauer to produce textiles through synthetic biology, has been named one of the 10 most innovative fashion and style companies of 2021 by Fast Company. They are recognized for their new Mylo product, a leather substitute made from fungal mycelium.
This project by a team of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering MEng students uses machine learning techniques to allow the EvoWalk to analyze patients’ gait patterns and provide a personalized stimulation algorithm that most efficiently improves their walking outcome.
Tim Guertin, CEO Emeritus of Varian Medical Systems and BioE supporter, will receive a 2021 Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award. Guertin (EECS ’72) is extraordinarily committed to improving healthcare locally and globally. He has endowed the Timothy and Karen Guertin Chair in Bioengineering and graduate fellowship, and his philanthropy and active involvement helped the department to establish our first Medical Advisory Board.
Master of Engineering students in BioE and Mechanical Engineering have developed GaitTrac, providing wireless, real-time gait analysis for clinical gait diagnosis through seven custom motion sensors.
Non-biodegradeable, petroleum-derived, polyacrylic acid is used in everything from detergents to industrial fluids. Lygos, an alumni spinoff company that creates environmentally friendly chemicals through synthetic biology, has formed a partnership with NanoChem Solutions to produce an alternative: polyaspartate polymers. Together they will develop a process to make aspartic acid, the raw material for the polymers, from sugar via fermentation.
Check out an interview with PhD alumnus and Bolt Threads Co-Founder David Breslauer on the Business For Good podcast!
Professor Liana Lareau has been co-leading the Innovative Genomics Institute effort to monitor mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the local community. The team’s rapid sequencing turnaround is crucial for tracking the spread of new variants, including the more infectious B.1.1.7 recently detected in two cases at Berkeley.
Bioengineering Master of Engineering students discovering inaccurate extracted information from unstructured Clinical notes using Natural Language Processing.
Professor Aaron Streets’ lab has developed a novel technique for unraveling and imaging lengthy strands of DNA.
Check out this video interview with Professor Dan Fletcher on his collaboration with CRISPR researchers to produce a rapid COVID-19 test using a smartphone camera.
An international research team including Professor Teresa Head-Gordon have investigated why cages can increase the catalytic activity of enclosed molecules. Using terahertz spectroscopy and complex computer simulations, they showed that water encapsulated in a tiny cage has special properties that are structurally and dynamically distinct from any known phase of water.
Congratulations to three bioengineering alumni named to the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Joshua Yang (MTM 2016) and Robert Chen (BS 2013) were named in Healthcare: Yang for his work on developing non-invasive tools to measure kidney injuries through startup company Nephrosant, and Chen for designing therapies for undernourished children, using links between certain gut bacteria and stunted growth. Joshua Nixon (BS 2016) and co-founder were named in the Social Impact list for founding Prime Roots, a company developing plant-based meat and seafood alternatives.
Professor Phil Messersmith’s lab has collaborated on a new chemical process that converts polyethylene plastic into a strong and valuable adhesive, and could make plastic bag recycling economically worthwhile.
Adam Arkin is one of the leaders of a new approach for studying which bacterial receptors phages exploit to infect cells, and what cellular mechanisms the bacteria use to respond to a phage infection. These microscopic battles have implications for medicine development, agricultural research, and climate science.
BioE graduate student Connor Tsuchida talks about the experience of working in Nobel prize-winning labs.
Fletcher Lab, in collaboration with the Gladstone Institutes and Doudna Lab, have developed a new CRISPR-based COVID-19 diagnostic test that, with the help of a smartphone camera, can provide a positive or negative result in 15 to 30 minutes. This test also gives an estimate of viral load, or the number of virus particles in a sample, which can help doctors monitor the progression of a COVID-19 infection and estimate how contagious a patient might be.
PhD alumni Lily Peng (2012) and Kate Rosenbluth (2009) have been named to the 2020 Fortune Magazine “40 Under 40”, an annual list of 40 young professionals of exceptional talent and influence in their fields. Peng, now Product Manager at Google Health, aims to bring health care to the masses through the use of artificial intelligence. She has personally designed algorithms including the firm’s diabetes-related eye disease detection program. Rosenbluth, Founder and CEO of Cala Health, has designed an FDA-cleared wrist device that eases hand tremors for the 7 million Americans who suffer from essential tremors.