News
February 28, 2005
UCSD Bioengineer Shu Chien Accepts Lifetime Achievement Award
UCSD bioengineering chair Shu Chien received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Asian American Engineer of the Year (AAEOY) Awards Committee on February 26 during National Engineers Week. Chien was cited for his pioneering work in the field of bioengineering and the role he has played in grooming the next generation of Asian American bioengineers. It's the second year in a row that the prize went to a UCSD faculty member: in 2004, Y.C. 'Bert' Fung -- the founder of the bioengineering program at UCSD -- accepted the award. Full Story
February 22, 2005
New Course at UCSD Prepares Undergraduates for Success in Bioinformatics Research
CSE professor Eleazar Eskin's new course, "Research Training in Bioinformatics" is designed for students majoring in bioinformatics as part of the joint degree program offered by CSE, Biology, Chemistry and Bioengineering departments at UCSD. Full Story
February 18, 2005
UCSD Bioengineering Professor Coauthors Book on Neuroinformatics
Shankar Subramaniam, a professor in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSD and director of the Bioinformatics Graduate Program, has co-authored the first comprehensive book on neuroinformatics. The extensively illustrated book covers everything from relevant computational science and modeling issues to their diverse applications. Full Story
February 11, 2005
UCSD Bioengineering Professor Elected to the National Academy of Engineering
Geert Schmid-Schönbein, a professor of bioengineering and an adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Schmid-Schönbein is an expert on experimental and mathematical tools used to identify mechanism of cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and shock. Full Story
February 10, 2005
Jacobs School to Expand 'Teams in Engineering Service' Program
The Jacobs School is recruiting new students, community partners and corporate sponsors for its innovative Teams in Engineering Service (TIES) program, the first of its kind in San Diego, with plans to go from just over 40 students this quarter, to roughly 100 by next fall, and 200 eventually. Teams are currently working technologoy projects for two non-profit organizations in the San Diego area. Full Story
February 8, 2005
Examination of Internal 'Wiring' of Yeast, Worm, and Fly Reveals Conserved Circuits
Researchers in California, Israel, and Germany have compared three distantly related species – baker’s yeast, a worm, and the fruit fly – and reported that protein “wiring” connections in one species are often conserved in all three. This first-of-its-kind analysis of three higher level organisms published in the February 8 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports both the concept of a basic wiring diagram for all eukaryotic cells, and the idea that more selective pharmaceuticals could be designed to tweak the wiring plan of human cells to more effectively treat diseases while also generating fewer side-effects. Full Story
February 3, 2005
Calit2 Launches Prize Program to Encourage Bioinformatics Research by UCSD Undergraduates
The UCSD division of Calit2 is funding two new multidisciplinary programs to encourage more undergraduates to do research in the field of bioinformatics. The first two Calit2 Undergraduate Bioinformatics Scholar Awards were announced at a Feb. 2 research symposium organized by UCSD computer science and engineering professor Eleazar Eskin, who hopes to make the symposium a quarterly event, thanks to funding from the institute. Full Story
January 24, 2005
UC San Diego Expands Overseas Research Program for Undergrads to China, Thailand
Engineering and other UCSD undergraduates attended an orientation session for the NSF-funded Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experiences (PRIME) program in summer 2005, when they will get the chance to do cyber infrastructure research at leading institutions in Japan, Taiwan, Australia, China or Thailand. Up to 18 internships will be awarded, double the number in the inaugural program last summer. Full Story
January 21, 2005
Priming Embryonic Stem Cells to Fulfill Their Promise
Bioengineering researchers at the University of California, San Diego have invented a process to help turn embryonic stem cells into the types of specialized cells being sought as possible treatments for dozens of human diseases and health conditions. Sangeeta Bhatia, a UCSD bioengineering professor, Shu Chien and Christopher J. Flaim, a bioengineering graduate student, described the cell-culture technique in a paper published by Nature Methods in its Jan. 21 online edition. Full Story