Category: News

High glucose levels could impair ferroelectricity in body's connective tissues

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

High sugar levels in the body come at a cost to health. New research suggests that more sugar in the body could damage the elastic proteins that help us breathe and pump blood. The findings could have health implications for diabetics, who have high blood-glucose levels.

Researchers at the University of Washington and Boston University have discovered that a certain type of protein found in organs that repeatedly stretch and retract such as the heart and lungs is the source for a favorable electrical property that could help build and support healthy connective tissues. Read More

New device could cut costs on household products, pharmaceuticals

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

New device could cut costs on household products, pharmaceuticals By Michelle Ma Sometimes cost saving comes in nanoscale packages. A new procedure that thickens and thins fluid at the micron level could save consumers and manufacturers money, particularly for soap products that depend on certain molecules to effectively deal with grease and dirt. Researchers at the University of Washington published their findings online April 9 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the back of most shampoos and dishwashing detergents and you'll find the word "surfactant" in the list of active ingredients. Read More

CleanTech undergrads win the UW Environmental Innovation Challenge

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Congratulations to MolES faculty Lilo Pozzo’s senior design team “Polydrop,” grand prize winners at the 2013 UW Environmental Innovation Challenge, an annual event sponsored by the UW’s Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship. Their prize-winning prototype is an additive that transforms regular coatings into conductive coatings to enable the use of carbon fiber composites in the transportation industry, a solution that prevents the accumulation of static charges that can interfere with sensitive electronics. Learn more "º Read More

CleanTech and the Paradox of Reduce-Reuse-Recycle

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Guest post by MolES faculty member and Chemical Engineering chair Daniel Schwartz on the Foster Unplugged blog

2011 EIC Grand Prize Winner Voltaic shows off their electric vehicle drive train
When I think Cleantech, my mind goes straight to the triangular logo on my waste container at work: "reduce, reuse, recycle."  These three words are central to most enduring cleantech innovations, though sometimes in paradoxical ways.  "Reduce" is the most prone to paradox, since reducing one thing generally happens by increasing another. Let's explore this "reduce" paradox via two well-known examples in that space.
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Kim Woodrow named on Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s 125 Women of Impact List

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

UW Bioengineering assistant professor Dr. Kim Woodrow’s was named on this list, compiled by Newsweek/The Daily Beast to accompany this week’s Women in the World Summit. Dr. Woodrow was cited for her work creating dissolvable female condoms that prevent pregnancy and protect against HIV, for which she received $1 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read More

Tenfold boost in ability to pinpoint proteins in cancer cells

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

By Michelle Ma
March 19, 2013

Better diagnosis and treatment of cancer could hinge on the ability to better understand a single cell at its molecular level. New research offers a more comprehensive way of analyzing one cell's unique behavior, using an array of colors to show patterns that could indicate why a cell will or won't become cancerous.

A University of Washington team has developed a new method for color-coding cells that allows them to illuminate 100 biomarkers, a ten-time increase from the current research standard, to help analyze individual cells from cultures or tissue biopsies. Read More

UW Freshmen to Present Research Findings in D.C.

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Presenting at a research conference in Washington D.C. is an unimaginable dream for most college freshmen. For six University of Washington College of Engineering students, this dream is a reality; they will present their research at the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) Conference on March 9.

travelling to D.C., from left to right: Kasey Acob, Bailey Bonaci, David Coven, Daniel Corona, Mikael Perla, and Verlanie Rodillas

Kasey Acob, Bailey Bonaci, David Coven, Daniel Corona, Mikael Perla, and Verlanie Rodillas are traveling to Washington D.C. to present the research they conducted during the National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) program the summer of 2012.

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James Carothers named Sloan Research Fellow

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

MolES Institute member and Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering James Carothers was named a 2013 Sloan Research Fellow in an announcement today by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Carothers’s research focuses on developing design platforms for engineering functionally-complex RNA-based control systems. These systems process cellular information and program the expression of very large numbers of genes, enabling both increased understanding of fundamental biological processes and applications to meet the demands for renewable chemicals and new therapies.

Three members of the UW faculty are among 126 recipients of 2013 Sloan Research Fellowships.  Read More

Luce Foundation to support two professorships for women in engineering

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

December 18, 2012

The Henry Luce Foundation’s Clare Boothe Luce Program has awarded the University of Washington (UW) a roughly $500,000 grant to support the creation of two professorships for women in engineering. The grant, which will be distributed over the course of five years, will support the addition of two faculty members; one will be a scholar in the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute (MolES) and the other a scholar in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE), two new innovative interdisciplinary research centers. Read More

UW TV: How are engineers using small molecules to solve big problems

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

The 2012 Engineering Lecture Series took a close look at how engineers are using small molecules to solve big problems. The emerging field of molecular engineering builds from the bottom up and aims high, promising new ways to diagnose disease earlier and treat it more precisely, and inexpensive and practical ways to harness clean sources of energy. Attendees learned how the UW’s new Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute is aiding these efforts by bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines in a collaborative working environment. Read More