Health

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.

Modular exoskeleton will make more workers bionic

11/17/16 MIT Technology Review — SuitX, a startup founded by mechanical engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni, has launched a trio of devices - backX, shoulderX and legX - that use robotic technologies to enhance the abilities of able-bodied workers and prevent common workplace injuries.

Launching the Fung Fellowship

11/08/16 University of California — With the launch this fall of the Fung Fellowship program, tech visionary Coleman Fung, public health and engineering leaders and curious UC Berkeley students joined forces to create a new educational paradigm.

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.

Neural dust

11/01/16 — Scientists have created a dust-sized ultrasound sensor that can be placed in the human body to monitor nerves, muscles, or even organs and potentially lead to new treatments for epilepsy or immune system disorders.

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.

Drawing of rural well-water treatment system

Berkeley startup helps people find out what they’re drinking

10/04/16 California magazine — SimpleWater, launched by a team of Berkeley engineers and entrepreneurs, offers a water-testing and product-recommendation service called Tap Score that helps users of private wells learn about and treat potential contaminants in their drinking water.

Q&A on homebrewed drugs with John Dueber

09/20/16 — Bioengineering professor John Dueber talks about the risks and potential rewards of using yeast to convert glucose into a key opioid compound.

Adam Arkin on Big Data and big problems

09/02/16 — Bioengineering professor Adam Arkin digs deep on current and future efforts to to harness the genetic potential of the earth to solve problems in soil quality, water quality, plant productivity, nutrition, and human-impacted health.

Child plays a video game synced to a spirometer

Startup creates device to predict asthma attacks in kids

09/02/16 ABC-7 News — Charvi Shetty (B.S.'12 BioE), founder of Knox Medical Diagnostics, has introduced a video game that records respiratory readings from pediatric asthma patients using the company's pioneering portable spirometer and smartphone app.

Eleanor Allen delivering her TEDx talk on access to water

Why water is a women’s issue

08/22/16 — Every year, half a million children die from drinking contaminated water. In a TEDx talk in Denver, Eleanor Allen (M.S.'97 CE) explains why access to water is a women's issue.

mHealth researchers William Haskell (Stanford), Yoshimi Fukuoka (UCSF) and Anil Aswani (Berkeley IEOR)

How data can personalize mobile health

08/10/16 — IEOR professor Anil Aswani, in partnership with colleagues from UCSF and Stanford, is investigating how mobile health applications can help individuals live healthier lifestyles.

Kenyan children drinking water from a fountain

Bringing clean water to Kenya’s largest slum

08/04/16 California magazine — Paul Sagues (M.S.'80 ME), chairman of the Marin-based water systems firm Xio, and energy professor Dan Kammen were part of a high-profile Berkeley-driven team bringing a model clean water project to Kibera, Africa's largest slum.

Sprinkling of neural dust opens door to electroceuticals

08/04/16 — Tiny, implantable wireless sensors have been developed by a team led by EECS professors Michel Maharbiz and Jose Carmena. The dust-sized prototypes could stimulate and monitor internal nerves, muscles and organs, as well as introduce the possibility of "electroceuticals" to be used in a wide variety of treatments.

BIE student Matt Chen examining a spring winding machine

Blogging the Biodesign Immersion Experience

07/13/16 — An eight-week summer program for Berkeley juniors and seniors, the BIE prepares bioengineers to bridge engineering innovation and unmet clinical needs.

Fetal surgery stands to advance from new glues inspired by mussels

06/30/16 — Using lessons learned from a lowly mollusk, bioengineer Phillip Messersmith is making better glues that can be used for fetal surgery and other medical procedures.

Diagram of the effect of transforming growth factor-beta 1 on stem cell activity and aging

The bloody battle against aging

06/29/16 Berkeley Science Review — By examining the chemical makeup of young blood, bioengineers Irina Conboy and David Schaffer have discovered a drug that could turn back the age clock.

Size comparison of liposomes and 3HM nanocarriers

Finding chemo

06/17/16 Berkeley Science Review — New cancer treatments come in tiny packages, like the 3HM nanocarriers being developed by materials science professor Ting Xu and her collaborators to protect drugs during their journey through the bloodstream to brain tumors.

Q&A: Lead, chloramines and drinking water safety

06/10/16 — Water 4.0 author David Sedlak answers questions about water quality issues in the news.

The science of football: Which positions take the hardest hits?

06/06/16 Live Science — Mechanical engineering professor Dennis Lieu, who has studied blunt trauma injury in sports for decades, says a new study on football-related injury impact is "high-quality and unique" in its finding that running backs are the most severely battered offensive players.