Bioengineering

The 2013 Environmental Venture Projects enable interdisciplinary research studies that propose practical solutions to major sustainability challenges.

More frequent bridge failures are one of the risks the public faces from a changing climate. Swiftly moving storm water can scour the dirt and rocks from around bridge piers, leading to collapse.

 But policymakers soon may have help prioritizing which bridges to strengthen first, thanks to new research funding from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

Last modified Tue, 9 Jul, 2013 at 10:04

Drew Endy named an Open Science Champion of Change.

Drew Endy, a synthetic biologist and assistant professor of bioengineering, has been honored by the White House as part of its Champions of Change Open Science program, which recognizes those who promote and use “open scientific data and publications to accelerate progress and improve our world.”

Last modified Tue, 9 Jul, 2013 at 17:15

Congrats class of 2013!

Come celebrate your upcoming commencement with Stanford Engineering.

Join us in the SEQ on June 12 from 3-5 pm.

Enjoy some yummy ice cream and a pick up your senior gift -- a luggage tag for all those new adventures you're going to have!

Last modified Fri, 31 May, 2013 at 14:32

Bioengineer receives one of nation's highest honors in science. His innovations include a rapid DNA sequencer, a non-invasive prenatal test for Down syndrome and the biological equivalent of the integrated circuit.

Stephen Quake, the Lee Otterson Professor in the School of Engineering and a professor of bioengineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for an American scientist in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Five other Stanford faculty members joined Quake in this year’s class of new members.

Last modified Thu, 2 May, 2013 at 14:44

Stanford bioengineers have transformed an intact, post-mortem mouse brain into a transparent three-dimensional structure that keeps all the fine wiring and molecular structures in place. Known as CLARITY, the technique stands to transform our understanding of the brain and indeed of any biological tissue.

Combining neuroscience and chemical engineering, researchers at Stanford University have developed a process that renders a mouse brain transparent. The postmortem brain remains whole — not sliced or sectioned in any way — with its three-dimensional complexity of fine wiring and molecular structures completely intact and able to be measured and probed with visible light and chemicals.

Last modified Fri, 6 Dec, 2013 at 13:45

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project, which calls for initial federal funding of $100 million, will make use of several innovative technologies invented by Stanford scientists.

President Barack Obama announced today a bold research initiative aimed at developing new technologies and methods for understanding the human brain. Several Stanford scientists will play critical roles in the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project, which calls for initial funding of $100 million.

Last modified Wed, 3 Apr, 2013 at 9:19

A team of Stanford University bioengineers has taken computing beyond mechanics and electronics into the living realm of biology. They have developed a biological transistor made from genetic material — DNA and RNA. The team calls its invention the “transcriptor.”

When Charles Babbage prototyped the first computing machine in the 19th century, he imagined using mechanical gears and latches to control information. ENIAC, the first modern computer developed in the 1940s, used vacuum tubes and electricity. Today, computers use transistors made from highly engineered semiconducting materials to carry out their logical operations.

Last modified Thu, 28 Mar, 2013 at 10:01

Cafe Scientifique: Is the Genome Useful in Medicine?

– with Stephen Quake, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Stanford University

We are living in the genome age, where the productivity of DNA sequencers is advancing faster than Moore's Law. Dr. Quake will describe the development of the first single molecule DNA sequencer. He will then go on to discuss several applications of high throughput DNA sequencing in medicine, ranging from non-invasive diagnostics to the first clinically annotated human genome.

Last modified Mon, 11 Mar, 2013 at 13:32

Stanford Professor Karl Deisseroth joins a super-team of scientists to propose the Brain Activity map, a collaborative initiative akin to the Human Genome Project, to better understand how the brain works.

Neuroscience has come a long way since the Roman physician Galen prodded gladiators' head wounds and surmised that the brain, and not the heart, was the home of human intelligence. Nowadays, scientists can create three-dimensional maps of intact neuronal networks, observe individual neurons firing in real time within animals, and even control how those neurons fire using a technique that involves gene therapy and lasers.

Last modified Mon, 11 Mar, 2013 at 10:17

Bioengineer receives $1.5 million Distinguished Investigator grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation for his work to create computer models of entire cells.

Markus Covert, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, has been awarded a $1.5 million Distinguished Investigator exploratory grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Covert was one of five recipients of this year’s award, which, according to the foundation, “aims to unlock fundamental questions in biology.”

Last modified Wed, 27 Mar, 2013 at 14:32