New U of Texas technology identifies disease-fighting cells at high speed in high volumes
Biomedical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin have found a faster, more efficient and more reliable way to identify combinations of antigens and T cell receptors, according to a university article.
Identifying these combinations is crucial in the development of disease vaccines and immunotherapy drugs according to the article.
The research findings are published in Nature Biotechnology.
"T cells play a central role in the human immune system, as each expresses its own unique TCRs, a kind of defense system that identifies and then destroys unwelcome pathogens and cancer cells," said the study's lead author Jenny Jiang, an associate professor in the Cockrell School's Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Dell Medical School's Department of Oncology.
"Effective vaccine and cancer immunotherapy development is contingent on understanding how TCRs behave."
U of Utah engineers develop method to 3-D print ligaments and tendons
A team of University of Utah biomedical engineers have developed a method to 3-D-print cells to produce human tissue such as ligaments and tendons, according to a university article.
A person with a damaged ligament, tendon, or ruptured disc could have new replacement tissue printed and ultimately implanted in the damaged area, according to the article. The research is explained in a new paper published in the Journal of Tissue Engineering, Part C: Methods.
"It will allow patients to receive replacement tissues without additional surgeries and without having to harvest tissue from other sites, which has its own source of problems," said University of Utah biomedical engineering assistant professor Robby Bowles in the article. Bowles co-authored the paper along with former U biomedical engineering master's student, David Ede. Bowles and Ede are BMES members.
U of Penn Michael Mitchell receives NIH director's new innovator award
University of Pennsylvania's Michael Mitchell received a $2.4 million NIH Director's New Innovator Award, which is part of the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.
The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports innovative research proposals that might not prove successful in the conventional peer-review process despite their potential to advance medicine.
Mitchell is the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in Penn Engineering's Department of Bioengineering. His reseaarch draws on a variety of fields-biomaterials engineering, data science, gene therapy and machine learning-to tailor the next generation of drug delivery vehicles with this level of precision.
Photos from the 2018 BMES Annual Meeting are now available for viewing and downloading.
