News Archive
June 14, 2019
Graduating students honored at Ring Ceremony
On June 15, about 1,600 students will earn baccalaureate degrees in engineering, making the Jacobs School the third largest engineering school in the country, and second in the number of women earning engineering baccalaureates. All of these students are exceptional and have made a positive impact on our community, but 11 students were selected from among their peers as particularly outstanding. Full Story
June 13, 2019
Changing the World One Startup at a Time
UC San Diego celebrates a year of innovation, including several engineering startups and technology license deals. Full Story
May 28, 2019
Fast-Food Breakfast Combo May Feature Digestive Enzymes on the Prowl and Diabetes
In a paper recently published online in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, physicians and bioengineers at the University of California San Diego used a new set of fluorescent peptides to illuminate a molecular digestive enzyme mechanism that occurs after consumption of a typical fast-food chain American-style breakfast, one that may be contributing to the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Full Story
May 22, 2019
Two engineers win Excellence in Stewardship awards
Shu Chien, a professor of bioengineering and the department’s founding chair, and Jesse DeWald, staff director of the Envision Arts and Engineering Maker Studio, were both recognized with Excellence in Stewardship awards this year. Full Story
May 16, 2019
UC San Diego Ranked Ninth in World in Biomedical Sciences
In its first-ever assessment of biomedical institutions around the world, based upon published research in a targeted set of high-quality scientific journals, the 2019 Nature Index ranked University of California San Diego ninth among the top 200 institutions in biomedical sciences worldwide. Among the top 200 academic institutions in biomedical sciences in the United States, UC San Diego ranked sixth. Full Story
April 24, 2019
Blood substitute made from nanoparticles wins top prize at Research Expo 2019
Research Expo 2019 got some new blood this year, thanks to UC San Diego nanoengineering PhD student Jia Zhuang. He won the grand prize at Research Expo for his work to develop nanoparticles that could serve as a more stable and easy way to store and mimic red blood cells for transfusions. Full Story
April 24, 2019
Fixing a broken heart: Exploring new ways to heal damage after a heart attack
For people who survive a heart attack, the days immediately following the event are critical for their longevity and long-term healing of the heart's tissue. Now researchers at Northwestern University and University of California, San Diego have designed a minimally invasive platform to deliver a nanomaterial that turns the body's inflammatory response into a signal to heal rather than a means of scarring following a heart attack. Full Story
March 25, 2019
Bioengineers are inducted into renowned biomedical engineering institute
Two researchers at Jacobs School of Engineering were inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the organization announced. Professors Pedro Cabrales and Todd Coleman from the Department of Bioengineering were recognized during a ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences Great Hall in Washington, DC, on March 25. Full Story
March 21, 2019
Working to Change the Future of Prosthetics
Taylor Henderson, an electrical and computer engineering master’s student, is working to lower the barriers to entry for fabricating artificial muscle actuators. She’s developing an algorithm that uses supervised learning to model actuator configurations and return the necessary specifications. Full Story
March 14, 2019
Anticancer vaccines, natural language for computers, and multifunctional materials take center stage at UC San Diego Research Expo
The University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering was just ranked the #11 graduate engineering program in the country by US News. Hear from more than 200 of these talented graduate students as they present their research at the 38th annual Jacobs School Research Expo, a showcase of the top engineering and computer science work underway at UC San Diego. Full Story
February 12, 2019
How breast tissue stiffening promotes breast cancer development
By examining how mammary cells respond in a stiffness-changing hydrogel, researchers discovered that several pathways work together to signal breast cells to turn cancerous. The work could inspire new approaches to treating patients and inhibiting tumor growth. Full Story
February 5, 2019
UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine
At the University of California San Diego, engineers, computer scientists, physicians and clinical researchers work together to improve human health. The collaborations span the lab, the clinic and the classroom. The work addresses a broad array of medical innovations, drives the next generation of medical care, and helps people live longer, healthier lives. Full Story
February 5, 2019
Physician-Engineer Match-Making at UC San Diego
Matching physicians with engineers and computer scientists, and then providing seed funding for their research collaborations, are two critical tasks that take place through UC San Diego’s Galvanizing Engineering in Medicine (GEM) Initiative. UC San Diego clinicians identify unmet needs in patient care and then work with teams of engineers and computer scientists to solve the problem and move the technology to the clinic. Full Story
February 5, 2019
Programming White Blood Cells to Fight Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the third most lethal cancer in the United States. Patients typically don’t know they have it until it’s too late, making it difficult to treat. Only 9 percent survive five years after diagnosis. But recent discoveries at the UC San Diego Institute of Engineering in Medicine are raising hope. Engineers and surgeons are working on a treatment by reprogramming white blood cells to target and eradicate pancreatic cancer tumors. Full Story
February 4, 2019
Training Clinical Engineers
UC San Diego's Clinical Bioengineering course offers undergraduate engineering students hands-on learning experience to solve clinical problems. The course reflects the Institute of Engineering in Medicine's mission to connect engineers with physicians to produce medical innovations. Full Story
January 28, 2019
Study uncovers why heart attack triggers arrhythmia in some, explores potential treatment
A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has identified a genetic pathway that causes some individuals to develop an abnormal heart rhythm, or arrhythmia, after experiencing a heart attack. They have also identified a drug candidate that can block this pathway. Full Story
January 24, 2019
Bioengineer describes the promise of biomaterials for tissue repair in Science
“Biomaterials that can promote tissue repair and regeneration on their own without the need for delivering cells or other therapeutics have emerged as a potentially powerful paradigm for regenerative medicine.” That’s one of the key statements in a perspective piece written by Karen L. Christman, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California San Diego in the Jan. 24 issue of the journal Science. Full Story
December 10, 2018
Undergraduate team wins 2nd place at global synthetic biology competition
A team of 11 undergraduate students from UC San Diego earned second place out of 250 teams from around the world at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGem) competition for their approach to creating an accurate liquid biopsy test for cancer. Full Story
December 6, 2018
Scientists cut main heart disease risk locus out of DNA by genome editing
Over the past decade we’ve learned that billions of people carry a mysterious specter in their DNA that strongly increases their risk for life threatening cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, aneurysms or strokes, no matter what diet, exercise or medical regimen they follow. Now, a team led by Scripps Research scientists and involving UC San Diego bioengineers have made a major breakthrough in unveiling this medical mystery by precisely cutting the DNA culprit from the genome, which prevents blood vessel cell abnormalities related to these devastating diseases. Full Story
November 28, 2018
Easy to use 3D bioprinting technique creates lifelike tissues from natural materials
Bioengineers have developed a 3D bioprinting technique that works with natural materials and is easy to use, allowing researchers of varying levels of technical expertise to create lifelike tissues, such as blood vessels and a vascularized gut. The goal is to make human organ models that can be studied outside the body or used to test new drugs ex vivo. Full Story