UCSF Professor and program alumna Tejal Desai has been named a 2019 Fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE). Congratulations!
Alumna develops protein cancer atlas to accelerate personalized medicine for leukemia patients
Alumna Amina Qutub, now Associate Professor at the University of Texas, created an online atlas to identify and classify protein signatures present at acute myelogenous leukemia diagnosis.
Muncie presents at UCSF Page Symposium
2016 UCSF Discovery Fellow Jon Muncie, of Professor Valerie Weaver’s lab, was selected to present at the 2019 Michael Page, PhD Research Symposium. The symposium showcases the research of basic science PhD students, and celebrates six years of igniting scientific curiosity through the Discovery Fellows Program.
How Lygos CEO Eric Steen is tackling the petrochemical industry
PhD alumnus Eric Steen is interviewed on BioE startup Lygos’ environmentally friendly process for creating malonic acid, a petrochemical-intensive substance used in everything from food flavorings to auto coatings.
Professor Sarah Nelson, 1954-2019
It is with great sadness that we announce that Professor Sarah J. Nelson, a long-time leader of the Bioengineering Graduate Program, has passed away after a struggle with cancer. In addition to being an internationally recognized researcher in metabolic imaging, Sarah was instrumental in growing the joint graduate program and establishing the Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences at UC San Francisco. A tireless educator, she mentored over 90 students and postdoctoral fellows and lent advice and support to countless others. She will be missed.
Tejal Desai named President-Elect, AIMBE
Tejal Desai, program alumna and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, was announced as president-elect at the March 24, 2019 annual meeting. “Beyond recognizing excellence, AIMBE is unique in its commitment to advancing public understanding, showcasing the impact of biologic and medical engineering on society, and serving as a thought leader in public policy,” Desai said. “I look forward to serving as the organization’s future president.”
Prof Tanja Kortemme named AIMBE Fellow
Graduate program member and UCSF Professor Tanja Kortemme has been named a 2019 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, for “outstanding contributions in computational protein design including energy functions, sampling algorithms, and molecules to rewire cellular control circuits.” Fellows fulfill AIMBE’s mission of providing leadership and advocacy in medical and biological engineering for the advancement of society.
Desai named President-Elect of AIMBE
Professor and alumna Tejal Desai was named President-Elect of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering at their annual event March 24-25. She has been Chair of the AIMBE College of Fellows for the past year. Great leadership Dr. Desai!
Creasey takes 2nd at UCSF Grad Slam
Bioengineer Olivia Creasey took second place in this year’s UCSF Grad Slam, which challenges students to give a compelling presentation of their research in 3 minutes or less. Creasey presented “An Instruction Manual for Islet Assembly”.
Therapy could improve, prolong sight
Research from the lab of UC Berkeley Professor Richard Kramer, Bioengineering Graduate Program faculty member, could help prolong useful vision and delay total blindness in those suffering vision loss. Rather than a cure for their underlying disease, this treatment works by reducing the noise generated by nerve cells in the eye to should bring images more sharply into view for people with some types of retinal degeneration, including age-related macular degeneration.
Three Bioengineers finalists at UCSF Grad Slam
Lindsey Osimiri, Olivia Creasey, and Hardik Kothare are all finalists in the UCSF Grad Slam, which challenges students to give a compelling presentation of their research in 3 minutes or less
UCSF receives record NIH funding
UC San Francisco was the top public recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2018, the 12th year in a row that UCSF claimed the top spot among public institutions, and the eighth straight year in which the University ranked second overall among institutions nationwide.
Tejal Desai Named Director of UCSF Health Innovation Via Engineering Program
The Health Innovation Via Engineering (HIVE) program will drive connections and collaborations with faculty members in UCSF’s schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy to address unsolved challenges at the intersection of engineering and health.
Athena Award for Winkler and Wolf
BioE PhD students Sally Winkler and Kayla Wolf are receiving a 2018 Women In Technology Initiative Athena Award for Next Generation Engagement, for Double Shelix, their podcast all about women in STEM, the grad school grind, and inclusive science.
House and Senate delegation meets with bioengineers
Visitors from the US House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services visited UC Berkeley on Tuesday, October 16 and toured Professor Amy Herr’s laboratory. The appropriations staff met with several bioengineering graduate students, as well as Professor Herr, who were able to provide specific stories of NIH funding impact on both research and the […]
Rao wins UCSF Shark Tank Pitch Competition
PhD student Adam Rao won the UCSF Shark Tank 2018 competition with his ongoing project, Tabla: Acoustic Pneumonia Detection Device. Six Surgical Innovations Accelerator finalists pitched their devices to a panel of experts, with Tabla winning the $50k in seed funding prize.
5 students named 2019 Siebel Scholars
Andrew Bremer, Marc Steven Chooljian, Phillip Kang, Stacey Lee, and Nicole Anne Repina have been named the 2019 UC Berkeley Siebel Scholars in Bioengineering by the Siebel Foundation.
Kwasi Amofa receives LBNL Bridge Fellowship
First-year PhD student Kwasi Amofa has been awarded a summer 2019 Bridge Fellowship by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Bridge Fellowship program immerses graduate students into Berkeley Lab research with a paid summer internship partnered with a laboratory researcher.
Alumna profile: Laura Croft
Get to know PhD alumna Laura’s work with Booz Allen Hamilton.
CRISPR diversifies: Cut, paste, on, off, and now– evolve!
Researchers led by BioE PhD student Shakked Halperin, working in the laboratories of David Schaffer and John Dueber at UC Berkeley, have described yet another creative application for CRISPR: a platform to spur evolution of specific genes inside cells.
Diassess wins HHS BARDA award for home influenza test
Alumni startup Diassess has been selected for an award of up to $21M for further development of a consumer at-home influenza diagnostic, which could have significant impact on controlling the spread of the flu. The company was founded by PhD alumni Debkishore Mitra and John Waldeisen.
Thomas Carey – Using Saliva For Cancer Diagnostics
Learn more about Thomas Carey’s work developing a microfluidic-based platform to detect the presence of biomarkers present in virtually every fluid, particularly saliva. Carey won the 2018 Early Innovator Award at the Molecular Medicine Tri Conference for this research.
Alumna Sode at MIT SOLVE
Watch PhD Alumna Miki Sode, Commercial Innovation Program Manager, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, discuss how the technologies being designed to make future life in space safe, efficient, and sustainable might be adapted to do the same on Earth.
Yiqi Cao takes second at UC GradSlam
Congratulations Yiqi Cao, who took second place at the 2018 UC System-wide GradSlam! Yiqi represented all of UCSF against students from across the UC system, competing to do the best 3-minute explanation of their PhD thesis.