News Archive
April 20, 2012
'Blinking microbubbles' for early cancer screening take grand prize at Research Expo 2012
Carolyn Schutt, a Ph.D student in bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego is developing a new imaging technique that would enable highly-sensitive light imaging deeper inside the body, improving the way we diagnose breast cancer. Schutt’s research received the grand prize April 12 at the UC San Diego Jacob School of Engineering Research Expo 2012. Full Story
April 2, 2012
Research Expo: Access Game-Changing Research and Technologies
There are many ways to engage with the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, but the only way to get face time with 230-plus graduate students working on game-changing research in a single afternoon is to attend Research Expo on April 12. Research Expo provides a glimpse into the engineering future – a future that will touch all of San Diego’s technology sectors. With $146.4 million in research expenditures in fiscal year 2010-2011, there’s a lot to look at. Full Story
March 27, 2012
Faculty researchers share their experiences turning discoveries into marketable products
Four engineering faculty members with technology transfer success stories discussed the challenges of the commercialization process during a March 14 dinner celebrating the 10th anniversary of the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement. The von Liebig Center offers seed funding and advisory services and is part of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. Full Story
March 12, 2012
A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock
A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schönbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications, and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding. Full Story
March 5, 2012
Smart, self-healing hydrogels open far-reaching possibilities in medicine, engineering
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full Story
February 21, 2012
Injectable Gel Could Repair Tissue Damaged by Heart Attack
University of California, San Diego researchers have developed a new injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks. Full Story
February 13, 2012
New Method Makes Culture of Complex Tissue Possible in any Lab
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and material Full Story
February 9, 2012
UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Faculty Elected to National Academy of Engineering
Three faculty members in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Peter C. Farrell, founder, chairman and CEO of ResMed, and a member of the Council of Advisors of the Dean of the Jacobs School, also was elected to the academy. Full Story
January 26, 2012
Need Muscle for a Tough Spot? Turn to Fat Stem Cells, UC San Diego Researchers Say
Stem cells derived from fat have a surprising trick up their sleeves: Encouraged to develop on a stiff surface, they undergo a remarkable transformation toward becoming mature muscle cells. The new research appears in the journal Biomaterials. Full Story
December 19, 2011
Researchers Create Living 'Neon Signs' Composed of Millions of Glowing Bacteria
In an example of life imitating art, biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego have created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells that periodically fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs. Their achievement, detailed in this week’s advance online issue of the journal Nature, involved attaching a fluorescent protein to the biological clocks of the bacteria, synchronizing the clocks of the thousands of bacteria within a colony, then synchronizing thousands of the blinking bacterial colonies to glow on and off in unison. Full Story
December 7, 2011
New Shu Chien Lab in New Research Building to Investigate Best Environment to Grow Stem Cells
Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien, who recently received a National Medal of Science at the White House, will have a laboratory in the new Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine building. Chien’s lab will be dedicated to further developing a technology that allows scientists to identify the best environments to grow stem cells. Creating these environments requires mixing many proteins in a wide range of combinations. The new technology allows researchers to test hundreds of them at once. Full Story
November 28, 2011
Jacobs School Recruiting for 10 Positions in 2011-12
The Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego currently is recruiting for 10 open faculty positions in the 2011-12 academic year. The positions fall within three strategic research focus areas identified by the school: energy, sustainability and environment; engineering in medicine; and information technology and applications. An additional position focuses on the applicants’ contributions to diversity, in addition to research and scholarship. Full Story
November 21, 2011
New UC San Diego Bioengineering Professor Uncovers Cancer Metabolism Insights
Research from a new member of the bioengineering faculty at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering demonstrates that our cells metabolize nutrients in a very different manner than has long been thought. According to new research published in the journal Nature by Christian Metallo, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, cells growing under conditions similar to those inside tumors prefer to convert amino acids to lipids rather than carbohydrates. Full Story
October 28, 2011
Explosives, Rock n' Roll and Rollercoasters: Scientists' Lives Showcased in Newspaper Feature
One performs in a rock band while perfecting computer vision systems. Another spent time in the Amazon forest in his youth and is drawing on that experience to look for ways to create new materials inspired by the rainforest’s fauna. Another is a rollercoaster fanatic and helps explore how different parts of the brain work together as a system. Yet another is a football fan who is improving the brain-machine interface. And yet another had dinner with the King of Sweden without even knowing it and aims to build smart solar farms. All five are professors at the Jacobs School of Engineering and have appeared in the Union-Tribune’s “10 Things” feature. Full Story
October 24, 2011
A Call for Increased Funding for Education and Research at National Medal of Science Awards Ceremony
What did Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien and Barack Obama talk about as Chien received the National Medal of Science from the president Friday at the White House? About the importance of science education and research, of course. Full Story
October 19, 2011
Shu Chien to Receive National Medal of Science in White House Ceremony on Oct. 21
President Barack Obama will present University of California, San Diego bioengineering Professor Shu Chien with the National Medal of Science in a White House ceremony Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). The ceremony will be carried live by satellite feed and webcast on the White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live. Full Story
September 27, 2011
White House Awards UC San Diego Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien National Medal of Science
President Barack Obama today named University of California, San Diego bioengineering professor Shu Chien one of the seven eminent researchers to receive the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers. Chien is the only engineer among the seven medalists. Full Story
September 12, 2011
UC San Diego Bioengineers Named 2012 Siebel Scholars
With the 2012 class of Siebel Scholars, 85 new scholars – including five from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering – join an ever-growing, lifelong community of leaders. Today, 700 Siebel Scholars are active in a program that fosters leadership, academic achievement, and the collaborative search for solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Full Story
September 7, 2011
Accessible and Affordable Care at Heart of Healthcare Technology Grants
Five teams of scientists from multiple campuses of the University of California and a Southern California hospital have been awarded up to $100,000 each to commercialize their ideas for new, lower cost health care technologies that will address a long-standing need for more affordable and efficient chronic disease management and preventive health care, particularly in underserved communities. The commercialization grant program is led by the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
September 1, 2011
Glowing, Blinking Bacteria Reveal How Cells Synchronize Biological Clocks
Biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego created a model biological system consisting of glowing, blinking E. coli bacteria. This simple circadian system, the researchers report in the September 2 issue of Science,allowed them to study in detail how a population of cells synchronizes their biological clocks and enabled the researchers for the first time to describe this process mathematically. Full Story