Bioengineering

Synthetic spider silk for sale in a $314 necktie

03/15/17 MIT Technology Review — Bolt Threads, co-founded by bioengineering grad David Breslauer (Ph.D.'10), is releasing its first commercially available spider-silk product: a $314 limited-edition necktie, spun from fibers grown in the startup's lab.

Berkeley engineers join $24 million push for craniofacial repair therapies

03/09/17 — UC Berkeley is part of a California-based, six-university consortium that has been awarded $12 million by the National Institutes of Health to develop strategies for treating craniofacial defects, which affect millions of Americans.

MucoJet system for delivering vaccine inside the mouth

Oral delivery system could make vaccinations needle-free

03/08/17 — Patients could one day self-administer vaccines using a needleless, pill-sized technology that releases a stream of vaccine inside the mouth, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by Berkeley bioengineering researchers.

New NASA teams will make human Mars missions light and efficient

02/17/17 New Scientist — For a crewed mission into deep space, every piece of technology and equipment has to be better: lighter, stronger, multi-purpose. NASA just funded two new teams of researchers, one led by Berkeley bioengineering professor Adam Arkin, to work toward that goal.

Kumar lab sheds new light on cellular stress fiber networks

02/17/17 — New research from Professor Sanjay Kumar's lab, led by bioengineering PhD student Elena Kassianidou, uncovers fundamental design principles of how cells and tissues define and maintain their structure, combining sophisticated micropatterning technologies to engineer cell shape, laser nanosurgery to cut individual stress fibers with light and probe their internal structure, and mathematical modeling.

Dan Fletcher, Amy Herr, Michel Maharbiz, Rikky Muller, Yun Song, Aaron Streets, Laura Waller, Nir Yosef

CZ Biohub awards nearly $14.5 million to Berkeley researchers

02/08/17 — Thirteen UC Berkeley faculty, including 8 from EECS and bioengineering, are among 47 new investigators chosen by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to receive up to $1.5 million each over the next five years to conduct cutting-edge biomedical research - with no strings attached.

Heart-on-a-chip

01/26/17 Futurism — Berkeley scientists, led by bioengineering professor Kevin Healy, have developed technology that allows you to grow a model of your organs on a microchip.

Amy Herr to lead Bakar Fellows

01/18/17 — Bioengineering professor, Amy Herr, has been named the faculty director of the Bakar Fellows Program. The program supports the commercialization of faculty-led research with potential for positive impact in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and related areas (STEM+).

Arkin lab method may save lives during blood transfusion

01/05/17 Science Translational Medicine — Bioengineering professor Adam Arkin and collaborators have developed a method, using dynamic modeling, that can quickly calculate individualized blood transfusion requirements during an emergency.

Timothy Downing, Ankur Aggarwal, Thibault Duchemin and Tim Wang

Berkeley engineers named to 30 Under 30

01/04/17 — Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 list for 2017, a compilation of the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers across 20 industries, includes four Berkeley Engineering alumni.

A crystallized version of malonic acid, made by yeast, at Lygos

Clean tech rises again, retooling nature for industrial use

01/04/17 New York Times — Clean tech companies are aiming for a comeback in their quest to use genetic editing to make industrial chemicals. Among them is Lygos, spun out of Berkeley bioengineering in 2011 to create malonic acid from yeast (instead of the usual cyanide) for use in fragrances and cosmetics.

Alivisatos and Herr named National Academy of Inventors fellows

12/13/16 — Two Berkeley engineers - nanotechnology pioneer and materials scientist Paul Alivisatos and bioengineer Amy Herr - were among 175 distinguished academic inventors named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, along with Berkeley chemical engineer Enrique Iglesia.

Young blood doesn’t reverse aging in old mice, study finds

11/23/16 — A new study from Berkeley bioengineering associate professor Irina Conboy found that tissue health and repair dramatically decline in young mice when half of their blood is replaced with blood from old mice.

Q+A on homebrewed drugs with John Dueber

11/01/16 — Bioengineering professor John Dueber discusses the possible risks and benefits of laboratory research aimed at converting glucose to morphine.

Brand new glue

11/01/16 — Inspired by marine mussels, professor Phillip Messersmith is developing a new kind of glue to be used in fetal surgery.

Portraits of seven Berkeley engineers named the Top Innovators Under 35 of 2016

7 Berkeley engineers among 35 top innovators under 35

11/01/16 — Five alumni - among seven engineers in all from the college - were named the Top Innovators Under 35 of 2016 by MIT Technology Review.

Michael Yartsev and Egyptian rousette bats

$1.5 million to study language development, via bats

10/26/16 — Seeking insight into the neurobiological basis of language learning, the New York Stem Cell Foundation has granted a $1.5 million Robertson Neuroscience Investigator award to Michael Yartsev, assistant professor of bioengineering, for his novel studies involving bats.