News Archive
March 5, 2012
Smart, self-healing hydrogels open far-reaching possibilities in medicine, engineering
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full Story
February 21, 2012
Injectable Gel Could Repair Tissue Damaged by Heart Attack
University of California, San Diego researchers have developed a new injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks. Full Story
February 13, 2012
New Method Makes Culture of Complex Tissue Possible in any Lab
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and material Full Story
February 9, 2012
UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Faculty Elected to National Academy of Engineering
Three faculty members in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Peter C. Farrell, founder, chairman and CEO of ResMed, and a member of the Council of Advisors of the Dean of the Jacobs School, also was elected to the academy. Full Story
January 26, 2012
Need Muscle for a Tough Spot? Turn to Fat Stem Cells, UC San Diego Researchers Say
Stem cells derived from fat have a surprising trick up their sleeves: Encouraged to develop on a stiff surface, they undergo a remarkable transformation toward becoming mature muscle cells. The new research appears in the journal Biomaterials. Full Story
December 19, 2011
Researchers Create Living 'Neon Signs' Composed of Millions of Glowing Bacteria
In an example of life imitating art, biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego have created a living neon sign composed of millions of bacterial cells that periodically fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs. Their achievement, detailed in this week’s advance online issue of the journal Nature, involved attaching a fluorescent protein to the biological clocks of the bacteria, synchronizing the clocks of the thousands of bacteria within a colony, then synchronizing thousands of the blinking bacterial colonies to glow on and off in unison. Full Story
December 7, 2011
New Shu Chien Lab in New Research Building to Investigate Best Environment to Grow Stem Cells
Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien, who recently received a National Medal of Science at the White House, will have a laboratory in the new Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine building. Chien’s lab will be dedicated to further developing a technology that allows scientists to identify the best environments to grow stem cells. Creating these environments requires mixing many proteins in a wide range of combinations. The new technology allows researchers to test hundreds of them at once. Full Story
November 28, 2011
Jacobs School Recruiting for 10 Positions in 2011-12
The Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego currently is recruiting for 10 open faculty positions in the 2011-12 academic year. The positions fall within three strategic research focus areas identified by the school: energy, sustainability and environment; engineering in medicine; and information technology and applications. An additional position focuses on the applicants’ contributions to diversity, in addition to research and scholarship. Full Story
November 21, 2011
New UC San Diego Bioengineering Professor Uncovers Cancer Metabolism Insights
Research from a new member of the bioengineering faculty at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering demonstrates that our cells metabolize nutrients in a very different manner than has long been thought. According to new research published in the journal Nature by Christian Metallo, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, cells growing under conditions similar to those inside tumors prefer to convert amino acids to lipids rather than carbohydrates. Full Story
October 28, 2011
Explosives, Rock n' Roll and Rollercoasters: Scientists' Lives Showcased in Newspaper Feature
One performs in a rock band while perfecting computer vision systems. Another spent time in the Amazon forest in his youth and is drawing on that experience to look for ways to create new materials inspired by the rainforest’s fauna. Another is a rollercoaster fanatic and helps explore how different parts of the brain work together as a system. Yet another is a football fan who is improving the brain-machine interface. And yet another had dinner with the King of Sweden without even knowing it and aims to build smart solar farms. All five are professors at the Jacobs School of Engineering and have appeared in the Union-Tribune’s “10 Things” feature. Full Story
October 24, 2011
A Call for Increased Funding for Education and Research at National Medal of Science Awards Ceremony
What did Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien and Barack Obama talk about as Chien received the National Medal of Science from the president Friday at the White House? About the importance of science education and research, of course. Full Story
October 19, 2011
Shu Chien to Receive National Medal of Science in White House Ceremony on Oct. 21
President Barack Obama will present University of California, San Diego bioengineering Professor Shu Chien with the National Medal of Science in a White House ceremony Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). The ceremony will be carried live by satellite feed and webcast on the White House website at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live. Full Story
September 27, 2011
White House Awards UC San Diego Bioengineering Professor Shu Chien National Medal of Science
President Barack Obama today named University of California, San Diego bioengineering professor Shu Chien one of the seven eminent researchers to receive the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers. Chien is the only engineer among the seven medalists. Full Story
September 12, 2011
UC San Diego Bioengineers Named 2012 Siebel Scholars
With the 2012 class of Siebel Scholars, 85 new scholars – including five from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering – join an ever-growing, lifelong community of leaders. Today, 700 Siebel Scholars are active in a program that fosters leadership, academic achievement, and the collaborative search for solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Full Story
September 7, 2011
Accessible and Affordable Care at Heart of Healthcare Technology Grants
Five teams of scientists from multiple campuses of the University of California and a Southern California hospital have been awarded up to $100,000 each to commercialize their ideas for new, lower cost health care technologies that will address a long-standing need for more affordable and efficient chronic disease management and preventive health care, particularly in underserved communities. The commercialization grant program is led by the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Full Story
September 1, 2011
Glowing, Blinking Bacteria Reveal How Cells Synchronize Biological Clocks
Biologists and bioengineers at UC San Diego created a model biological system consisting of glowing, blinking E. coli bacteria. This simple circadian system, the researchers report in the September 2 issue of Science,allowed them to study in detail how a population of cells synchronizes their biological clocks and enabled the researchers for the first time to describe this process mathematically. Full Story
August 25, 2011
Genomatica Files Registration Statement for Proposed IPO
Renewable chemicals developer Genomatica announced that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of shares of its common stock. Full Story
August 10, 2011
Wearable Electronics Demonstrate Promise of Brain-Machine Interfaces
Research conducted by a new member of the bioengineering faculty at the University of California, San Diego has demonstrated that a thin flexible, skin-like device, mounted with tiny electronic components, is capable of acquiring electrical signals from the brain and skeletal muscles and potentially transmitting the information wirelessly to an external computer. The development, published Aug. 12 in the journal Science, means that in the future, patients struggling with reduced motor or brain function, or research subjects, could be monitored in their natural environment outside the lab. It also opens up a slew of previously unimaginable possibilities in the field of brain-machine interfaces well beyond biomedical applications, said Professor Todd Coleman, who joined the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering this summer. Full Story
July 29, 2011
UC San Diego Bioengineering Startup Genomatica Tops New Biofuels Ranking
Renewable chemicals developer Genomatica recently took the #1 spot in the 2011-12 30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials rankings by BiofuelsDigest. Full Story
July 26, 2011
New UC San Diego Master Degree Program Aims to Keep the Medical Device and Medical Diagnosis Workforce Competitive
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are launching a new graduate degree program this fall that will help medical device and medical diagnosis engineers in Southern California, and their employers, innovate and remain competitive. Full Story