Bioengineering

A device developed by Stanford bioengineers could one day provide real-time measurements of the head impacts received by football players. The research could also help characterize the forces applied in more common head traumas, such as car accidents and falls.

The debilitating effects of repeated concussions on NFL players have been well documented. What scientists still don't clearly know is whether those injuries are the result of thousands of tiny impacts or singular crushing blows to the brain.

A group of bioengineers at Stanford is working to understand the head trauma that footballers experience during a game and is making steps toward developing technology that reports dangerous hits in real time.

Last modified Mon, 6 Oct, 2014 at 13:06

New technique can be used in living cells to track a key family of proteins that regulate health or cause disease.

Think of the human body as an intricate machine whose working parts are proteins: molecules that change shape to enable our organs and tissues to perform tasks such as breathing, eating or thinking.

Of the millions of proteins, 500 in the kinase family are particularly important to drug discovery. Kinases are messengers: They deliver signals that regulate and orchestrate the actions of other proteins. Proper kinase activity maintains health. Irregular activity is linked to cancer and other diseases. For this reason many drugs seek either to boost or suppress kinase activity.

Last modified Thu, 19 Jun, 2014 at 13:23

Noninvasive test detects donor DNA in a recipient's blood when a transplanted heart is being rejected.

Stanford University researchers have devised a noninvasive way to detect heart-transplant rejection weeks or months earlier than previously possible. The test, which relies on the detection of increasing amounts of the donor’s DNA in the blood of the recipient, does not require the removal of any heart tissue.

Last modified Wed, 18 Jun, 2014 at 10:09

The new findings could throw light on psychiatric disorders marked by impaired social interaction such as autism, social anxiety, schizophrenia and depression.

A team of Stanford University investigators has linked a particular brain circuit to mammals’ tendency to interact socially. Stimulating this circuit – one among millions in the brain – instantly increases a mouse’s appetite for getting to know a strange mouse, while inhibiting it shuts down its drive to socialize with the stranger.

Last modified Thu, 19 Jun, 2014 at 13:24

$61 million in support from university trustee and his wife names the Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering and endows the departmental chair.

Stanford University will name a new home for bioengineering and chemical engineering in recognition of gifts from university trustee Kavitark "Ram" Shriram and his wife, Vidjealatchoumy "Vijay" Shriram. The couple have provided $57 million in support for the new Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering, the fourth and final building in the university's new Science and Engineering Quad. The Shrirams also will endow the departmental chair in the Department of Bioengineering, bringing their total philanthropic support in this area to $61 million.

Last modified Tue, 10 Jun, 2014 at 11:08

Researchers use new techniques to document how cells can conceal growth, then suddenly swell like raisins into grapes; study is a ‘paradigm shift’ in understanding osmotic shock that may lead to new strategies for fighting bacterial disease.

For a century biologists have thought they understood how the gooey growth that occurs inside cells caused their protective outer walls to expand.

Now, using new microscopic video techniques, Stanford researchers have captured the visual evidence to prove the prevailing wisdom wrong.

Last modified Thu, 29 May, 2014 at 13:55

Studying the proteins that build and maintain cells helps to reveal the molecular underpinnings of disease and health, and suggests new ways to bioengineer organisms for medicinal or industrial tasks.

Architects often say that “form follows function” to suggest that structures should be designed to fit their intended purposes.

Last modified Fri, 16 May, 2014 at 13:58

This new technique, which tracks RNA levels in blood samples, offers more information than DNA analysis. It's like having a video rather than a snapshot to help figure out what the body is doing, and why.

Recent research has shown that tiny fragments of DNA circulating in a person’s blood can allow scientists to monitor cancer growth and even get a sneak peek into a developing fetus’ gene sequences. But isolating and sequencing these bits of genetic material renders little insight into how that DNA is used to generate the dizzying array of cells, tissues and biological processes that define our bodies and our lives.

Last modified Mon, 2 Jun, 2014 at 9:52

Daphne Koller, Stephen Quake and Mendel Rosenblum to become members of one of the country's oldest and most prestigious honorary learned societies.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected three professors from the Stanford School of Engineering as members of its 2014 class.

Mendel Rosenblum, Stephen Quake and Daphne Koller will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (Photo: Stanford Engineering)

The new members from Stanford Engineering are:

Last modified Wed, 30 Apr, 2014 at 7:15

Stanford bioengineers have developed faster, more energy-efficient microchips based on the human brain – 9,000 times faster and using significantly less power than a typical PC. This offers greater possibilities for advances in robotics and a new way of understanding the brain. For instance, a chip as fast and efficient as the human brain could drive prosthetic limbs that have the speed and complexity of our own actions.

Stanford bioengineers have developed a new circuit board modeled on the human brain, possibly opening up new frontiers in robotics and computing.

For all their sophistication, computers pale in comparison to the brain. The modest cortex of the mouse, for instance, operates 9,000 times faster than a personal computer simulation of its functions.

Last modified Mon, 28 Apr, 2014 at 12:20