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Bioengineering

Engineers can detect ultra rare proteins using a cellphone camera
cell phone camera capturing an image at the Issadore Lab

The researchers’ detection system uses a standard cellphone camera. (Photo courtesy: Penn Engineering)

Engineers can detect ultra rare proteins using a cellphone camera

An innovative strobing system allows individual markers to be differentiated from their neighbors, allowing an accurate count, even in the ultra-low concentrations associated with hard-to-diagnose conditions.

Penn Today Staff

Seven Penn researchers receive NIH Director Awards
Payne, Aimee and Mason, Nicola

Aimee Payne (left) of Penn Medicine and Nicola Mason of Penn Vet are co-investigators on an NIH Director's Transformative Research Award that will support investigations into the use of immunotherapies to treat an autoimmune disease in pet dogs. Payne and Mason are among seven Penn researchers to win highly competitive NIH Director's awards this year.

Seven Penn researchers receive NIH Director Awards

Seven researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science are to receive National Institutes of Health Director Awards, highly competitive grants to support innovative biomedical research.

Penn Today Staff

Orthopaedic implants for the future
prosthetic_arm

The original “Sauerbruch arm”

Orthopaedic implants for the future

The hardware that hold orthopaedic implants together must have some give in order to accommodate physiology. At the Biedermann Lab for Orthopaedic Research, specialists are studying and designing the hardwares’ minutiae to improve upon the intricacies of setting a broken bone in place.

Penn Today Staff

Harnessing DNA tricks to boost nanosensors
graphene sensor

Harnessing DNA tricks to boost nanosensors

Researchers have found a way to increase the sensitivity of graphene sensors using a trick of DNA engineering. The sensors might one day be used to monitor and treat HIV.

Ali Sundermier

Bringing health innovation to life
health_tech

Bringing health innovation to life

The Penn Center for Health, Devices and Technology weds health care professionals with visionary ideas and the technological know-how to build innovative medical devices.

Penn Today Staff

A faster way to make drug microparticles
microparticles

The Penn Engineering team fit 10,260 of these microparticle-generating devices onto a four-inch silicon wafer.

A faster way to make drug microparticles

Penn Engineers have developed a liquid assembly line process that controls flow rates to produce particles of a consistent size at a thousand times the speed.

Evan Lerner

Calculus III for cells
calc iii

Calculus III for cells

Cells can sense and respond to surface curvature in very clever ways. The results, which revealed that curvature is a profound biological cue, could pave the way to new tools in the field.

Ali Sundermier

Researchers show that cells’ perception of stiffness is a matter of time
Cell Stiffness

A cell can spread out more on a stiffer surface, making it easier for it to move, but the stiffness of its natural biological environment also changes in response. More realistic models of that interplay are necessary.

Researchers show that cells’ perception of stiffness is a matter of time

The relative stiffness of a cell’s environment is known to have a large effect on that cell’s behavior, including how well the cell can stick or move. Now, a new study by University of Pennsylvania researchers demonstrates the role timing plays in how cells perceive this stiffness.

Ali Sundermier Evan Lerner