The low-cost, accurate device that uses sound waves to diagnose pneumonia, created by BioE PhD student Adam Rao with Berkeley MEng graduates Chen Bao and Jorge Ruiz, is the winner of the student category of Fast Company‘s 2017 Innovation by Design Awards.
From Homelessness to a Doctoral Fellowship at Berkeley
PhD student Zachery Robinson had a long road to become a Chancellor’s Fellow in bioengineering.
Alumna Woodruff studies toxic exposure at UCSF
Professor Tracey Woodruff, PhD 1991, is now the director of UC San Francisco’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE). Her work identifying, measuring and preventing exposure to environmental contaminants that affect human reproduction and development is featured in the latest issue of the UCSF magazine.
BioE sweeps top three at AAPM
BioE PhD student Daniel Hensley of Professor Steven Conolly’s lab took first prize at the 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine Young Investigators Symposium. Jessie Lee, student of Professors Chris Diederich and John Kurhanewicz, took second place, and Zhi Wei Tay of Conolly Lab took third.
Su named NSF GROW Fellow
PhD student Elaine Su has received an NSF Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide Fellowship, which will enable her to conduct research in Ireland.
Vlassakis named 2017 SLAS fellow
Congratulations to Julea Vlassakis, the 2017 recipient of the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening Graduate Education Fellowship Grant.
2017 Departmental Fellows
Congratulations to our 2017 recipients of departmental fellowships! We are pleased to announce our new Brodie Scholar, Thomas Carey, Craven Scholar, Shakked Halperin, Lloyd Scholars, Xinyi Zhou and Cameron Nemeth, and Lewis Scholar, Andrew Sczesnak.
2017 Outstanding GSIs
Congratulations to Daniel Hensley, George Lin, Monica Lin, and Hector Neira, 2016-2017 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors at UC Berkeley. These GSIs were nominated by their instructor for excellent teaching and mentoring as GSIs in a bioengineering class. Congratulations!
Carey awarded Kang Family Graduate Fellowship
PhD student Thomas Carey has been granted a Kang Family Graduate Fellowship for Biotechnology for 2017-18.
Olivia Scheideler named P.E.O Scholar
PhD student Olivia Scheideler has been awarded a prestigious Scholar award from the P.E.O. International philanthropic organization.
Congratulations new NSF Fellows!
Prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships have been awarded to nine continuing and two incoming Berkeley-UCSF graduate students!
Kumar lab sheds new light on cellular stress fiber networks
New research from Professor Sanjay Kumar’s lab uncovers fundamental design principles of how cells and tissues define and maintain their structure, combining sophisticated micropatterning technologies to engineer cell shape, laser nanosurgery to cut individual stress fibers with light and probe their internal structure, and mathematical modeling. Cell shape is critical in development, wound healing, stem cell differentiation, and cancer, among other processes. The lead author is bioengineering PhD student Elena Kassianidou.
Ten faculty named Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators
Ten graduate program faculty have been named to the inaugural class of Investigators in the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Congratulations to UCSF faculty Adam Abate, Hana El-Samad, Zev Gartner, Bo Huang, and Tanja Kortemme, and Berkeley faculty Dan Fletcher, Amy Herr, Michel Maharbiz, Aaron Streets, and Ke Xu!
Altemose represents Berkeley in Regeneron Prize
PhD student Nicholas Altemose has been selected as one of only two Berkeley graduate students to represent the campus in competition for the 2017 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation. The Prize is a national competition honoring excellence in Biomedical Science conducted by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Downing in 2017 30 Under 30
Congratulations 2013 PhD Tim Downing, now a professor at UC Irvine, named to the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 for his work examining how extracellular signals can influence the final fate of cells.
BioE startup Lygos raises $13 million
Lygos Biotech, founded by PhD alumni Jeffrey Dietrich and Eric Steen, has raised $13 million in Series A funding to continue their work producing high-value specialty chemicals through synthetic biology. Their process uses domestic sugars instead of petroleum for chemical production, and has already resulted in the world’s first bio-based production of malonic acid.
Desai named to new endowed chair
PhD alumna and chair of the UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, Tejal Desai, will hold the Ernest L. Prien Endowed Professorship in Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences.
BioE startup Diassess featured in Wired
John Waldeisen, CEO and Co-founder of Diassess, talks with Wired about the diagnostic tech landscape post-Theranos.
Carmena receives federal BRAIN initiative grant
Professor Jose Carmena will receive one of the third round of grants to support the goals of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative announced three years ago by President Barack Obama. Carmena will receive $225,000 from the National Eye Institute to test newly developed wireless sensors, dubbed neural dust, to record activity in the central nervous system.
Ke Xu new 2016 Packard Fellow
UC Berkeley professor of chemistry Ke Xu has received one of 18 prestigious 2016 fellowships from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Xu develops new tools to interrogate biological, chemical, and materials systems at the nanoscale with extraordinary resolution and sensitivity.
Orsborn named 2016 L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellow
BioE alumna Dr. Amy Orsborn was named a 2016 L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellow, a program that awards research grants to five women postdoctoral scientists annually for their contributions in STEM fields and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations. Orsborn is now a postdoctoral researcher at New York University, studying improved treatments for people with motor disabilities caused by limb loss, stroke or spinal injury.
Ramasubramanian wins at BioX-ADATE Tissue Engineering Symposium
PhD student Anusuya Ramasubramanian’s team presented a winning oral talk and poster at the BioX-ADATE Tissue Engineering Symposium at Stanford this September. Congratulations!
DeRisi to lead Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
UCSF Professor Joe DeRisi, professor and chair of biochemistry and biophysics, will co-lead the new collaborative center joining UCSF, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. The first philanthropic science investment made by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Biohub will provide basic researchers and clinical scientists with flexible laboratory space, the latest technological tools and funding for ambitious research projects.
2017 Siebel Scholars named
Matthew Bakalar, Benjamin Epstein, Elena Kassianidou, Sylvia Natividad-Diaz, and Kevin Yamauchi have been named the 2017 UC Berkeley Siebel Scholars in Bioengineering by the Siebel Foundation.