Alumni startup Bolt Threads in Businessweek
Bolt Threads, a startup company founded by BioE PhD alum David Breslauer, is planning to revolutionize the clothing industry by spinning spider silk from engineered yeast.
Two faculty named Bakar Fellows
Bioengineering Graduate Program members Michael Lustig and Ke Xu have been named to the second cohort of Bakar Fellows at UC Berkeley. The Bakar Fellows Program supports innovative research by early career faculty at UC Berkeley with a special focus on projects that hold commercial promise in the fields of Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences or multidisciplinary work in these disciplines.
BioE Bakar Fellows profiled
Learn about the disruptive technologies pioneered by four different Bioengineering Graduate Program faculty in Berkeley Engineer magazine – Laura Waller, Shawn Shadden, John Dueber, and Miki Lustig.
Bioengineers receive $3.2 million for visionary retina research
Austin Roorda, UC Berkeley professor of optometry and vision science and member of the graduate program, is lead investigator on an ambitious new project to map the interaction of retinal cells in an effort to better understand how visual data is processed before it is sent to the brain. The research is funded by the National Eye Institute’s Audacious Goals Initiative.
Alum Etemadi profiled at UCSF
BioE PhD alumnus Mozzi Etemadi was profiled this Spring in the UCSF newsletter.
Desai examines inclusivity
Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences professor Tejal Desai talks about the evolution of a more inclusive scientific community in this video.
DeRisi new AAAS Fellow
Professor Joseph DeRisi, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF and member of the graduate program, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which recognizes the world’s most accomplished leaders in science, humanities, arts, business and public affairs.
Datta and Monteiro new NDSEG Fellows
Congratulations to BioE PhD students Esha Datta and David Monteiro, awarded 2015 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowships. The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored and funded by the Department of Defense (DoD). NDSEG selections are made by the Air Force Research Laboratory/Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFRL/AFOSR), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Army Research Office (ARO).
New breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis
Professor Michelle Chang, member of the graduate program in bioengineering and UC Berkeley professor of chemistry, is one of the lead researchers developing a hybrid system of semiconducting nanowires and bacteria that mimics the natural photosynthetic process.
Neira wins Ford Foundation Fellowship
Congratulations to bioengineering PhD student Hector Neira, awarded a prestigious 2015 Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.
Congratulations new BioE NSF fellows
Prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships have been awarded to five continuing Berkeley-UCSF graduate students: Nicole Repina, Suraj Makhija, Jennifer Hu, and Ben Hinton. Incoming students Yiqi Cao, Shakked Halperin, and James Lucas are also NSF recipients.
Congratulations outstanding GSIs
Congratulations to Stacey Lee, Eda Altiok, Malav Desai, and Kevin Yamauchi, 2014-2015 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!
Bioengineers in UCSF video
Check out PhD student Harrison Liu and alum Mozzi Etemadi in the new UCSF Pride video.
Both schools receive top rankings
The Bioengineering Graduate Program was once again ranked 7th in the nation by US News and World Report.
‘Smart bandage’ detects early bedsores
A team of researchers, including UC Berkeley professor Michel Maharbiz and UCSF professor Shuvo Roy, have developed new sensor-packed “smart bandages” that actually detect damage to the skin before it becomes visible, allowing caregivers to prevent the formation of infection-prone bedsores.
Cyborg beetles lead to better insect understanding
UC Berkeley professor Michel Maharbiz is know for his work hard-wiring beetles for radio-controlled flight. That work is now allowing researchers to learn new things about the muscles insects use to steer.
Shadden sharpens diagnosis with computer modeling
A profile from the Bakar Fellows Program explains how UC Berkeley professor Shawn Shadden uses advanced computer modeling to help doctors find the best treatment for patients undergoing a stroke.
BioE startup Lygos produces malonic acid from sugar
Lygos, a company founded by BioE PhD alumni Jeff Dietrich and Eric Steen, has been in the news for their newly announced breakthrough in the production of malonic acid. The acid is a high-value chemical useful for production of pharmaceuticals, flavors, fragrances, and specialty materials. The new process, using engineered microbes, would be cheaper and less polluting than the current petroleum-intensive production methods.
UCSF Schools Lead Nation In NIH Biomedical Research Funds
For the second year in a row, UC San Francisco’s four schools topped the nation in federal biomedical research funding in their fields in 2014, with the graduate-level university as a whole receiving the most of any public recipient and second most overall in funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to annual NIH figures.
Alumna Lee receives NSF CAREER Award
Congratulations to PhD alumna Somin Eunice Lee, now Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan, recipient of an NSF CAREER award for her research project, “Engineering Plasmonic Nanoantenna Architectures for Efficient Nuclear Delivery.”
Meet Professor Grace O’Connell
Check out an interview with graduate faculty member and assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Grace O’Connell.
Keasling and Mathies named to National Academy of Inventors
Jay Keasling and Richard Mathies, UC Berkeley professors and faculty of the graduate program in bioengineering, have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. NAI fellows are nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.
BioE faculty receive first NIH BRAIN grants
Several members of the bioengineering graduate program have received research grants in the highly competitive first wave of National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards to support President Obama’s BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative.
Five students named 2015 Siebel Scholars
The Siebel Foundation has announced the names of five UC Berkeley Bioengineering graduate students who have been named Siebel Scholars.The Siebel Scholars program recognizes outstanding graduate students from the world’s most prestigious business, computer science, and bioengineering graduate schools. Each of the Class of 2015 Siebel Scholars will receive a $35,000 award for his or her final year of graduate studies.
The 2015 UC Berkeley Siebel Scholars in Bioengineering are Sergey Boyarskiy, Wen-Chin Huang, Sophie Wong, Erh-Chia Yeh, and Bo Zheng.
These accomplished bioengineering graduate students will join a growing community of past and present Scholars that includes their peers from top business and computer science programs.
Read more about this year’s Siebel Scholars at the Siebel Foundation
About the Siebel Scholars Foundation
The Siebel Scholars program was founded in 2000 to recognize the most talented students at the world’s leading graduate schools of business, computer science, and bioengineering and to form an active, lifelong community among an ever-growing group of leaders. Today, more than 600 of the world’s brightest minds are Siebel Scholars. This exceptional group has the unique opportunity to directly influence the technologies, policies, and economic and social decisions that shape the future. Siebel Scholars serve
Two bioengineers study abroad as EAPSI scholars
BioE PhD students Augusto Tentori and Todd Duncombe, both of Professor Amy Herr’s lab, were selected as NSF EAPSI scholars for Summer 2014, allowing them to do research in Korea and Taiwan, respectively.