Bioinstrumentation
Recent news:
Professor Emeritus Boris Rubinsky has been awarded the 2023 H.R. Lissner Medal in Bioengineering from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Medal recognizes achievements in the form of significant research contributions in bioengineering; development of new methods of measuring in bioengineering; design of new equipment and instrumentation in bioengineering; and/or educational impact in the training of bioengineers. Rubinsky is known for developing several technologies that are now clinical standards in the field, including imaging-monitored cryosurgery, non-thermal irreversible electroporation, non-invasive electromagnetic detection of internal bleeding, and MEMS technology for single cell analysis.
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.
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.
In a study published in Nature, a team of researchers in the lab of Professor Michael Yartsev studied neural activity in the hippocampus of freely flying bats and found that the neural codes remained unchanged over days and weeks. The discovery that these GPS-like neural codes remain stable over time has upended previous research and may further our understanding of diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Non Thermal Irreversible Electroporation treatment, developed by Bioenginering and Mechanical Engineering professor Boris Rubinsky, is now the technology behind the Nanoknife. Licensed from Berkeley by AngioDynamics, the Nanoknife uses electric currents to quickly and easily reach remote tumors in prostate cancer. University College London Hospital was recently the first hospital to use the treatment in…
Developed by former BioE postdoc Kiana Aran, the CRISPR-Chip now in use in Cardea Bio’s CRISPR-SNP-Chip has been named one of 2021’s Top 10 Innovations by The Scientist magazine. The new chip is the first device capable of detecting single base differences in DNA without generating millions of copies of the DNA first.
Researchers led by Professor Emeritus Boris Rubinsky successfully revived human heart tissue after it had been preserved in a subfreezing, supercooled state for 1 to 3 days.
Patrick Hsu, Liana Lareau and Daniel Fletcher have collaborated on a new rapid COVID test that rivals the sensitivity of the gold-standard qRT-PCR testing, with results in less than an hour.
Congratulations to BioE PhD alumna Kate Rosenbluth, founder of Cala Health, named to Forbes’ list of “52 Women-Led Startups Driving The Future Of HealthTech And FemTech”. Cala Health creates non-invasive wearable neuromodulation therapies for patients living with chronic diseases.