Tejal Desai elected to National Academy of Inventors
Tejal Desai, PhD alumna and chair of the UCSF Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
Todd McDevitt on The Stem Cell Podcast
Bioengineering faculty member Todd McDevitt appears on The Stem Cell Podcast to discuss his recent work using machine learning in stem cell bioengineering.
Novome Biotechnologies Raises $33 Million Series A Financing
BioE startup Novome Biotechnologies, founded by BioE PhDs Will DeLoache, Zachary Russ, and Weston Whitaker, has secured $33 million in a Series A financing. Novome is focused on treating chronic diseases with the first platform for controlled and robust colonization of the human gut with engineered therapeutic bacteria.
Machine, Meet Stem Cells
Professor Todd McDevitt, with colleagues at Gladstone Institutes and Boston University, have used a computational model to learn how to coax stem cells into forming new arrangements, including those that might eventually be useful in generating personalized organs.
Kassianidou’s cell images featured in CellPress
Striking images showing the intricate beauty of actin network formation taken by Dr. Elena Kassianidou when she was a graduate student in Sanjay Kumar’s lab are featured in the micropatterning edition of the Cell Picture Show at CellPress.
Gopal takes 3rd place poster at FACSS annual meeting
BioE graduate student Anjali Gopal of Prof Amy Herr’s lab took 3rd place this weekend at the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies SciX meeting.
Desai inducted into International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering
Tejal Desai, alumna and Chair of UCSF Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, joined the 2019 class of fellows of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE) for her in research in microparticle and nanoparticle engineering.
Prof Wendell Lim named to Wired25: Stories of People Who Are Racing to Save Us
UCSF Professor and graduate program faculty Wendell Lim is featured in WIRED25: Stories of People Who Are Racing to Save Us, for his work refining CAR-T therapy, genetically engineered T cells, to be safer, more versatile, and more reliable.
Shipman and Qi named to ScienceNews “SN 10: Scientists to Watch”
Graduate group faculty member Seth Shipman and PhD alumnus Stanley Qi have both been named to the annual SN 10: Scientists to Watch by Science News! Shipman is an Assistant Professor at UCSF Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, recognized for his success developing innovative strategies to manipulate cells for discovery and therapeutic purposes. Stanley Qi, PhD 2012, now Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford, has modified CRISPR/Cas9 to make a powerful suite of tools to manipulate DNA.
Unlocking the biochemical treasure chest within microbes
PhD alumna Yasuo Yoshikuni, a scientist at the Joint Genome Institute, and colleagues have invented a genetic engineering tool, called CRAGE, that could not only make studying secondary metabolites much easier, but also fill significant gaps in our understanding of how microbes interact with their surroundings and evolve.
Congratulations 2020 Siebel Scholars
We’re proud to announce five new PhD students named 2020 Siebel Scholars: Roberto Falcon-Banchs, Christina Fuentes, Ari Joffe, Sally Winkler, and Kayla Wolf! The Siebel Scholars program annually recognizes top students at the world’s leading graduate schools of bioengineering, business, computer science and energy science and provides funding to pursue high-risk, high-reward research.
Lygos named in Next 50 Companies to Disrupt the World
Alumni synthetic biology startup Lygos was recognized by The Biofuels Digest as one of “the 50 Next Companies to Disrupt the World” — bioeconomy companies that are on the journey to commercial scale with an emerging technology.
Congratulations new alumni faculty members
Congratulations to THREE PhD alumni, Joe Leach, MD (2009), Yan Li (2008), and Joseph Vu (2011), all new faculty of the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in 2019.
With AI and other tech, Anat Caspi focuses on helping people with disabilities
Great article in the Seattle Times on PhD alumna Anat Caspi, director of the University of Washington’s Taskar Center for Accessible Technology.
Grad student chairs Gordon Research Seminar
Bioengineering PhD student Louise Hansen, of Amy Herr’s lab, has been named co-chair of the 2021 Gordon Research Seminar on The Physics & Chemistry of Microfluidics. Chairing a prestigious Gordon Research Seminar is a major honor for a graduate student, and Louise is the third Berkeley student to do so. She follows Julea Vlassakis, who chaired in 2017, and Marc Chooljian in 2019.
Congratulations Louise!
Tejal Desai named IAMBE Fellow
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.