March 2023 Biomedical Engineering Newsletter

March 2023

Dear colleagues, students and faculty,

During this academic year, we concluded a university-wide strategic planning process, Here and Next, that engaged all stakeholders in charting a path for enhanced community, focused research advances and educational progress at Washington University. BME faculty were instrumental in helping form Here and Next, which marks our entry into a period of dynamic change with stated initiatives in medical research, public health and digital transformation, and a focus on fostering collaboration between units, schools and campuses.

Collaboration and a commitment to human health are at the heart of all we do in WashU BME, and we will move forward with the full participation and commitment from our many community members. Below we highlight several accomplishments that mark the strengths and engagement that our WashU BME community takes into this new period.

Kind regards,

Lori A. Setton
Professor and Chair

A design of experiments approach to precision vaccine adjuvants

Jai Rudra to develop new combination adjuvants using engineered nanomaterials and accepted immune adjuvants.

Focused ultrasound technique leads to release of neurodegenerative disorders biomarkers

This noninvasive method, developed in Hong Chen’s lab, could facilitate diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Interfaces play important role in condensate behavior

Research from labs of Rohit Pappu, collaborators sheds light on condensate characteristics.

New machine learning model builds on imaging methods to better detect ovarian lesions

Work in Quing Zhu’s lab is first to use ultrasound to enhance machine learning performance of photoacoustic tomography reconstruction.

VIDEO SPOTLIGHT

BME 479 Biofabrication & Medical Devices Lab

In this teaching lab, students learn ideal “ink” properties for 3D printing gels and how to prepare “bioinks” (inks with cells inside) using glitter and polymer solutions. There is also a live demo of 3D printing on the R-GEN 100 Bioprinter inside the Rutz Lab.

Other news

O’Brien team wins NIH prize to further develop maternal health device

Molecular activity of the immune system to get a closer look

Genin, Guilak named to National Academy of Inventors

Silva’s commitment to mentorship

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Mentors help build stronger scholars in the lab

Maggie Yang, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, shares how mentors in the lab of Spencer Lake helped her become a more confident and skilled researcher.

Employment opportunities

Open postdoc positions

There are numerous openings for postdocs on both the Danforth and Medical campuses. Please share with interested trainees.

BME by the numbers

No. 13

U.S. News & World Report ranking for graduate programs

35 %

of faculty members

are women

$ 11.3 M

BME research support

Department of Biomedical Engineering
McKelvey School of Engineering

bme.washu.edu