A Picture-Perfect Look at How Electrical Activity Travels through the Brain
Brain cells function using rapid electrical impulses, a process that underlies our thoughts, behavior, and perception of the world. Yet, for a long time, it’s been challenging for scientists to see exactly how individual neurons work together in larger circuits.
Now, a new technique reported in Nature finally gives the clearest picture ever of brain cell activity. Using a voltage-sensing molecule that fluorescently lights up when brain cells are electrically active, researchers at Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that they can see the activity of many more individual neurons than before as they fire inside the brains of mice.
White Elected President of the Biomedical Engineering Society
He will begin his term as President-Elect in October, following two years as President and a fourth and final year as Past-President.
Three BU Research Teams Win First Kilachand Fund Awards
$100 million fund will continue to honor cutting-edge researchers in life sciences and engineering By Chuck Leddy Originally featured on The Brink In 2018, BU trustee Rajen Kilachand (Questrom’74, Hon.’14) made the largest gift in Boston University’s history: $115 million. From that gift, $100 million established an endowment, the Rajen Kilachand Fund for Integrated Life […]
Stepp Receives Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Associate Professor Cara Stepp has been honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
BU Biomedical Engineer Ed Damiano Raises $126 Million for Bionic Pancreas
Investors bank on socially minded public benefit corporation and its medical device for people with type 1 diabetes Ed Damiano’s journey to help the millions of people who suffer from type 1 diabetes—which began nearly 20 years ago, when his infant son, David, was diagnosed with the disease—took a huge leap forward this week. The […]
Lutchen, White Elected Fellows of Elite International Biomedical Society
Dean Kenneth R. Lutchen and Professor John White (BME) have been elected Fellows of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), an elite group of the world’s foremost biomedical engineers. They join a group that numbers fewer than 150 fellows worldwide. Lutchen, a professor of Biomedical Engineering and former BME Department chair, was […]
Christopher Chen Receives University’s Highest Faculty Honor
This year’s other awardees are Anne McKee, a School of Medicine professor of neurology and pathology, Michael Hasselmo, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of psychological and brain sciences, and Ha Jin (GRS’94), a CAS professor of creative writing.
Professor Christopher Chen Presents DeLisi Distinguished Lecture
Professor Christopher S. Chen (BME, MSE), recipient of the 2019 Charles DeLisi Award and Distinguished Lecture, presented “How Complex is Simple Enough? Engineering 3D Culture Models of Physiology and Disease” on April 1. The award recognizes faculty members with extraordinary records of well-cited scholarship and outstanding alumni who have invented and mentored transformative technologies that impact quality of life.
Strength in Numbers
Elaborate molecular networks inside living cells enable them to sense and process many signals from the environment to perform desired cellular functions. Synthetic biologists have been able to reconstruct and mimic simpler forms of this cellular signal processing. But now, a new toolset powered by self-assembling molecules and predictive modeling will allow researchers to construct the complex computation and signal processing found in eukaryotic organisms, including human cells.
How Light Turns Ordinary Hydrogen Peroxide into a MRSA Treatment
ENG researchers invent blue light therapy that kills MRSA without antibiotics. Perhaps what’s most promising is that blue light phototherapy doesn’t affect healthy cells of the body, so the technique could be used to treat MRSA infections without harming any surrounding tissue or skin.