Research & Grant Activity

MAKING DISCOVERIES
THAT CHANGE OUR WORLD

Over the past four years (2018 - 2021) our department has had an average annual research expenditure of $3.2 million in research grants from premier private and public funding sources.

FEATURED RESEARCH AWARDS

XIAOPING HU AWARDED $2 MILLION FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGING TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF DEMENTIA

Paired with a psychology researcher, Hu will study how the brain’s main norepinephrine production center regulates perception and memory in older adults. The results could improve noninvasive diagnoses and treatments for dementias associated with old age or Parkinson’s disease.

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JOSHUA MORGAN AWARDED $500,000 FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARD TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICAL FORCES BEHIND CELLULAR AGING

Morgan will focus on identifying the role of stiffness and mechanical force in spreading senescene, defined as when cells can no longer divide, from cell to cell – with implications for wound healing, cancer and aging.

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GIULIA PALERMO AWARDED $300,000 FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCE TO INVESTIGATE THE METAL-DEPENDENT FUNCTION, ALLOSTERY AND INHIBITION OF CRISPR-CAS9

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FEATURED RESEARCH STORIES

IMPROVING TREATMENT OF SPINAL CORD INJURIES

When injured, the spinal cord swells, restricting blood flow and causing critical and permanent damage. To date, the only treatment has been steroid therapy, which is minimally effective.

Victor Rodgers, in collaboration with researchers at the School of Medicine, has created an osmotic therapy device that gently removes fluid from the spinal cord to reduce swelling in injured rats with good results. The device can eventually be scaled up for testing in humans

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ENHANCING ASSISTIVE ROBOTICS WITH ULTRASOUND "MIND READING"

New technology by Vasileios Christopoulos in collaboration with CalTech uses functional ultrasound to map brain activity and predict what action the individual wants to take next and has been used to successfully predict a monkey’s intended hand or eye movements.

The work is currently being extended to human patients and infants with the Keck School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

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OPTIMIZING TIME-RELEASE DRUGS

When time release drugs dissolve too slowly or too quickly, the results can range from inconvenient— a decongestant that lets your sinuses get stuffed up too soon— to tragic, as many who were prescribed OxyContin discovered.

William Grover has developed a simple, inexpensive way to measure drug dissolution that should help pharmaceutical companies develop better and more consistent time-release drug products.

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ADDITIONAL RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS AND FACULTY WORK

ENHANCING OUR RESEARCH LABS

BIOENGINEERING INSTRUCTIONAL EQUIPMENT FUND

Amount Raised

Supports equipment for courses, labs, senior design projects and research
$72,000 has been raised toward $90,000 goal by the end of 2021
Initiated with a $40,000 gift from a Bourns College of Engineering parent

EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF BIOENGINEERING RESEARCH
JANE AND JEROME SCHULTZ LECTURESHIP IN ENGINEERING

New endowed lecture series established by founding chair of bioengineering, Jerry Schultz
Inaugural lecture in 2022

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM:

Department of Bioengineering

Research & Grant Activity

MAKING DISCOVERIES
THAT CHANGE OUR WORLD

Over the past four years (2018 - 2021) our department has had an average annual research expenditure of $3.2 million in research grants from premier private and public funding sources.

FEATURED RESEARCH AWARDS

XIAOPING HU AWARDED $2 MILLION FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGING TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF DEMENTIA

Paired with a psychology researcher, Hu will study how the brain’s main norepinephrine production center regulates perception and memory in older adults. The results could improve noninvasive diagnoses and treatments for dementias associated with old age or Parkinson’s disease.

JOSHUA MORGAN AWARDED $500,000 FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARD TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICAL FORCES BEHIND CELLULAR AGING

Morgan will focus on identifying the role of stiffness and mechanical force in spreading senescene, defined as when cells can no longer divide, from cell to cell – with implications for wound healing, cancer and aging.

GIULIA PALERMO AWARDED $300,000 FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCE TO INVESTIGATE THE METAL-DEPENDENT FUNCTION, ALLOSTERY AND INHIBITION OF CRISPR-CAS9

FEATURED RESEARCH STORIES

IMPROVING TREATMENT OF SPINAL CORD INJURIES

ENHANCING ASSISTIVE ROBOTICS WITH ULTRASOUND "MIND READING"

OPTIMIZING TIME-RELEASE DRUGS

ENHANCING OUR RESEARCH LABS

BIOENGINEERING INSTRUCTIONAL EQUIPMENT FUND

Amount Raised

Supports equipment for courses, labs, senior design projects and research

$72,000 has been raised toward $90,000 goal by the end of 2021

Initiated with a $40,000 gift from a Bourns College of Engineering parent

EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF BIOENGINEERING RESEARCH
JANE AND JEROME SCHULTZ LECTURESHIP IN ENGINEERING

New endowed lecture series established by founding chair of bioengineering, Jerry Schultz

Inaugural lecture in 2022

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM:

DEPARTMENT OF BIOENGINEERING

Research & Grant Activity

MAKING DISCOVERIES THAT CHANGE OUR WORLD

Over the past four years (2018 - 2021) our department has had an average annual research expenditure of $3.2 million in research grants from premier private and public funding sources.

FEATURED RESEARCH AWARDS

XIAOPING HU AWARDED $2 MILLION FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGING TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF DEMENTIA

Paired with a psychology researcher, Hu will study how the brain’s main norepinephrine production center regulates perception and memory in older adults. The results could improve noninvasive diagnoses and treatments for dementias associated with old age or Parkinson’s disease.

JOSHUA MORGAN AWARDED $500,000 FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION CAREER AWARD TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICAL FORCES BEHIND CELLULAR AGING

Morgan will focus on identifying the role of stiffness and mechanical force in spreading senescene, defined as when cells can no longer divide, from cell to cell – with implications for wound healing, cancer and aging.

GIULIA PALERMO AWARDED $300,000 FROM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCE TO INVESTIGATE THE METAL-DEPENDENT FUNCTION, ALLOSTERY AND INHIBITION OF CRISPR-CAS9

FEATURED RESEARCH STORIES

IMPROVING TREATMENT OF SPINAL CORD INJURIES

ENHANCING ASSISTIVE ROBOTICS WITH ULTRASOUND "MIND READING"

OPTIMIZING TIME-RELEASE DRUGS

ENHANCING OUR RESEARCH LABS

BIOENGINEERING INSTRUCTIONAL EQUIPMENT FUND

Amount Raised

Supports equipment for courses, labs, senior design projects and research

$72,000 has been raised toward $90,000 goal by the end of 2021

Initiated with a $40,000 gift from a Bourns College of Engineering parent

EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF BIOENGINEERING RESEARCH JANE AND JEROME SCHULTZ LECTURESHIP IN ENGINEERING

New endowed lecture series established by founding chair of bioengineering, Jerry Schultz

Inaugural lecture in 2022

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM:

MAKING DISCOVERIES
THAT CHANGE OUR WORLD

EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE OF BIOENGINEERING RESEARCH
JANE AND JEROME SCHULTZ LECTURESHIP IN ENGINEERING