Bioengineering undergrads win regional award at iGEM competition
Four Bioengineering undergraduates were named the overall regional winners of the Americas East Jamboree that is part of the prestigious International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Competition, a synthetic biology research contest (http://igem.org/). The Penn team beat out 42 other teams from 40 universities — including Carnegie Mellon, MIT and Cornell — to win the regional […]
An Applied Learning Experience in Africa
Studying abroad continues to hold wide appeal for many U.S. college students. It is an opportunity to become immersed for a short time in a different culture, to step out of the “American-ness” of one’s life and learn to appreciate how others live and work. But when engineering majors go to a developing country and […]
Researchers solve the puzzle of controlled therapeutic release of macromolecules
When a large volume of medication is the prescription, steady and controlled release of the drug sometimes is preferred by physicians over a “burst-release” treatment in which the substance is administered all at once. In recent years, researchers have developed numerous ways to administer substances in a controlled way, but doing so for therapeutics of […]
Penn Engineers and physicians work together to improve patient health
Physicians know that once a patient has a heart attack, he or she is at increased risk for developing heart failure. That’s because of a complex series of physiological events that occur after someone suffers a myocardial infarction (or heart attack). Specifically, there is increased stress in the heart tissue, which leads to heart enlargement […]
Improving Disease Detection in Clinical Settings
The rapid advancement in our understanding of the regulatory and signaling pathways responsible for cell growth, differentiation and death has led to the identification of many anomalies in the genome and proteome that can be associated with disease. The research of Andrew Tsourkas, associate professor of Bioengineering, focuses on developing nanosensors that can be used […]
Laser-like Focus on Nanotech Design
Computer models developed collaboratively by Penn researchers are instrumental in improving nanocarriers Tiny engineered particles that can hold molecules in their hollow interiors can be targeted to specific tissue types by means of the antibodies on their exteriors. Because the choice of antibodies determines what they can bind to, these nanocarriers can serve as markers […]
Brian Chow Joins Bioengineering Faculty
Brian Chow, assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, is an expert in optogenetics, a field in neuroscience that combines the power of optical control with the precision of genetic techniques to manipulate biological systems. This broad area is significant due to its potential in neurobiology, as well as understanding other complex biological systems. “There […]
Cultivating the next generation of women engineers
A conversation with Professor Susan Margulies The number of women choosing to study engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels has been steadily increasing in the United States during the past two decades. And that is excellent news to Susan Margulies, George H. Stephenson Term Chair and professor in the Bioengineering department. Margulies is among […]
Paul Ducheyne publishes new six volume book series, Comprehensive Biomaterials
Edited by Paul Ducheyne, professor of Bioengineering, Comprehensive Biomaterials is a six-volume set that reviews the current status of nearly all biomaterials in the field by analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, performance as well as future prospects; presents appropriate analytical methods and testing procedures in addition to potential device applications; and provides strategic insights for […]
Susan Margulies Receives $6.7 million NIH/NINDS Grant
Susan S. Margulies, Professor and George H. Stephenson Term Chair of Bioengineering, has recently been awarded a $6.7 million, 5-year NIH/NINDS grant to conduct preclinical Cyclosporin A trials to treat pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). This multi-institutional, collaborative study is the first of its kind to use immature porcine models of TBI with developmental and […]