Bioengineering

A new tool enables researchers to test millions of mutated proteins in a matter of hours or days, speeding the search for new medicines, industrial enzymes and biosensors.

All living things require proteins, members of a vast family of molecules that nature "makes to order" according to the blueprints in DNA.

Through the natural process of evolution, DNA mutations generate new or more effective proteins. Humans have found so many alternative uses for these molecules – as foods, industrial enzymes, anti-cancer drugs – that scientists are eager to better understand how to engineer protein variants designed for specific uses.

Last modified Thu, 10 Dec, 2015 at 16:25

Three Stanford professors honored by Breakthrough Prize Foundation

Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, won a $3 million 2016 Breakthrough Prize in life sciences for his contributions to the development of optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control the behavior of cells and has proved especially invaluable in the study of nerve-cell circuits in the brain.

Last modified Tue, 10 Nov, 2015 at 14:26

Fifteen Stanford graduate students in business, computer science and bioengineering were recently named 2016 Siebel Scholars for outstanding academic performance and leadership in their fields.

(Photo: Joel Simon Images)

Last modified Thu, 5 Nov, 2015 at 15:31

Stanford has added a permanent undergraduate training program to this new field “at the interface of life sciences and engineering.”

Ever since Stanford Engineering and Stanford Medicine joined together to create the Bioengineering Department in 2002, the ultimate plan was to begin with a Master’s and PhD program and eventually add an undergraduate major.

The Faculty Senate brought this plan to fruition during the last academic year by approving Bioengineering an undergraduate major in perpetuity. Faculty Senate President Russell Berman described the new major as a milestone in Stanford’s academic life.

Last modified Thu, 22 Oct, 2015 at 14:51

Brandeis University bestows the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine on the Stanford bioengineer whose analyses using microscopic amounts of fluids are providing new medical insights.

Stephen Quake, a pioneering Stanford bioengineer whose work with microscopic amounts of fluid is transforming medicine, has received Brandeis University’s Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine.

Last modified Wed, 21 Oct, 2015 at 13:28

Researchers stripped a virus of its infectious machinery and turned its benign core into a delivery vehicle that can target sick cells while leaving healthy tissue alone.

Stanford researchers have ripped the guts out of a virus and totally redesigned its core to repurpose its infectious capabilities into a safe vehicle for delivering vaccines and therapies directly where they are needed.

The study reported today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences breathes new life into the field of targeted delivery, the ongoing effort to fashion treatments that affect diseased areas but leave healthy tissue alone.

Last modified Mon, 28 Sep, 2015 at 9:09

As scientists zero in on the skull motions that can cause concussions, David Camarillo's lab has found that many commercially available sensors worn by athletes to gather this data are prone to significant error.

Amid growing concern about sports-related concussions, some athletes are beginning to wear head-mounted sensors that gauge the speed and force of impacts they receive during competition. Scientists are still working on identifying baseline parameters for injury, but research suggests that certain skull motions can contribute to concussions, and constant in-game monitoring of those motions promises to help limit injuries.

Last modified Thu, 3 Sep, 2015 at 9:53

It typically takes a year to produce hydrocodone from plants, but Christina Smolke and colleagues have genetically modified yeast to make it in just a few days. The technique could improve access to medicines in impoverished nations, and later be used to develop treatments for other diseases.

For thousands of years, people have used yeast to ferment wine, brew beer and leaven bread.

Now researchers at Stanford have genetically engineered yeast to make painkilling medicines, a breakthrough that heralds a faster and potentially less expensive way to produce many different types of plant-based medicines.

Last modified Thu, 3 Sep, 2015 at 9:54

A blue glowing device the size of a peppercorn can activate neurons of the brain, spinal cord or limbs in mice and is powered wirelessly using the mouse's own body to transfer energy. Developed by a Stanford Bio-X team, the device is the first to deliver optogenetic nerve stimulation in a fully implantable format.

A miniature device that combines optogenetics – using light to control the activity of the brain – with a newly developed technique for wirelessly powering implanted devices is the first fully internal method of delivering optogenetics. 

The device dramatically expands the scope of research that can be carried out through optogenetics to include experiments involving mice in enclosed spaces or interacting freely with other animals. The work is published in the Aug. 17 edition of Nature Methods.

Last modified Thu, 3 Sep, 2015 at 9:53

Mounting evidence suggests that concussions in football are caused by the sudden rotation of the skull. David Camarillo's lab at Stanford has evidence that suggests current football helmet tests don't account for these movements.

When modern football helmets were introduced, they all but eliminated traumatic skull fractures caused by blunt force impacts. Mounting evidence, however, suggests that concussions are caused by a different type of head motion, namely brain and skull rotation.

Now, a group of Stanford engineers has produced a collection of results that suggest that current helmet-testing equipment and techniques are not optimized for evaluating these additional injury-causing elements.

Last modified Mon, 20 Jul, 2015 at 11:16