News & Events
Gao Lab creates nanoparticle to trigger STING pathway
UT Southwestern researchers have created a new nanoparticle-based drug capable of eradicating metastatic cancers in mouse models. Their study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, successfully targeted and treated multiple cancer foci by activating the STING pathway after intravenous injection of a nanoparticle that responds to two tumor-specific signals.
UTSW receives ARPA-H award to create functioning artificial liver
UT Southwestern Medical Center has received an award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop livers using patients’ own cells and an innovative three-dimensional (3D) printing approach. If successful, this project – known as Vascularized Immunocompetent Tissue as an Alternative Liver (VITAL) – could significantly reduce the gap between supply and demand for donor livers, negate the necessity of lifelong immunosuppression for liver transplant patients, and create artificial livers for in vitro drug testing and research.
BME News Archives
- 2025
Akers elected Senior Member of SPIE
Associate Professor & Research Director Walter Akers, D.V.M., Ph.D., was elected as a Senior Member of SPIE in recognition of his professional experience and technical accomplishments, performance and involvement in the optics community.
Graduate Student Yehui Sun receives Ida M. Green Award
The Ida M. Green Award acknowledges a female student in the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to research excellence, the well-being of fellow students, and exceptional community service.
Siegwart inducted as National Academy of Inventors Fellow
Dr. Siegwart was selected as a NAI Fellow in recognition of his efforts in materials chemistry to enable targeted nanoparticle delivery of genomic medicines.
Gene-editing system targets multiple organs simultaneously
Tool developed at UT Southwestern corrects mutation that affects the liver and lungs in model of rare genetic disease.
With innovation of Medical Vision Goggles, no cancer cells left behind
The goggles are a wearable, cost-effective system for fluorescence-guided cancer surgery, in which cancer cells light up, allowing surgeons to ensure they leave no bit of tumor behind.
Achilefu elected to National Academy of Engineering
For selected for his contributions and international leadership in the molecular imaging of cancer and molecular nanotherapeutics using biophotonics and nuclear technologies.
Biomedical Engineering Symposium reveals how rapid advances in technology are transforming medicine
The inaugural North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium, held on the UTSW campus and sponsored by UT Southwestern’s Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) in collaboration with UT Dallas, UT Arlington, the University of North Texas, and Southern Methodist University, took place Nov. 14-15 and drew hundreds of scientists and students from this increasingly important field. The regional symposium is the first to bring together all five engineering programs in North Texas.
Devising a brilliant biomedical idea within an hour
Biomedical engineering students from institutions throughout Dallas-Fort Worth had just one hour to propose a solution to a pressing medical issue during the North Texas Biomedical Engineering Symposium Healthcare Challenge: Rapid Ideation Proposal Competition. Fast thinking paid off for the team whose idea involved developing a therapy to repair cartilage in osteoarthritic joints using advanced lipid nanoparticles.
- 2024
Siegwart named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
In recognition of his efforts in materials chemistry to enable targeted nanoparticle delivery of genomic medicines.
Postdoc Zhang honored among ‘35 Innovators Under 35’
Fangyu Zhang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Siegwart Lab, was named to MIT Technology Review’s list of “35 Innovators Under 35” for his work creating microrobots to deliver medicine more effectively.
Nanoparticles developed at UTSW effectively fight tumors
A nanoparticle-based therapy initially developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists stimulated an immune pathway that eradicated tumors in mouse models of various cancer types. Their findings, published in Science Immunology, offer a new way to potentially harness the power of the body’s immune system against cancer.
Biomedical Engineering Symposium proves how technology can advance health care
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a fundamental change in biomedical engineering that put diagnosis directly into the hands of patients themselves, the nation’s head of biomedical engineering told scientists and biomedical engineers gathered last month on UT Southwestern’s South Campus.
- 2023
Jinming Gao named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
Jinming Gao, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Cell Biology, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, and Pharmacology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been selected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in recognition of his efforts to develop innovative nanotechnology platforms to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.
UT Southwestern, UT Dallas dedicate Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building
State, regional, and business leaders joined researchers and students from UT Southwestern Medical Center and The University of Texas at Dallas for the dedication of the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building that will accelerate training for the next generation and foster medical innovations to improve patient care.
President’s Lecture Series: Harnessing the power of light to treat cancer
Biomedical innovator Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., aims to use the power of light to expose and defend against one of the darkest forces of disease that has affected humankind for millions of years – cancer. As the final speaker in this year's President's Lecture Series, he will highlight the history of promising fluorescence imaging technology.
Pence selected for AHA Second Century Award
Isaac Pence, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, was among 33 investigators selected to receive American Heart Association (AHA) Second Century Early Faculty Independence Awards, which provide s $300,000 over three years for research focused on critical, emerging priorities of the next century.
Achilefu recognized by the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
For outstanding contributions to near-infrared molecular imaging and image-guided surgical resection of cancer, for innovative technologies in Biomedical Engineering.
- 2022
Molecular imaging innovator Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., to launch, lead Biomedical Engineering Department at UT Southwestern
Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., nationally recognized for expertise in molecular imaging and its application in treating human diseases, has been selected inaugural Chair to launch a new Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Achilefu recruited to lead new Department of Biomedical Engineering
Molecular imaging expert Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., will join UT Southwestern Feb. 1 as the first Chair of a new Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Achilefu was recruited to UTSW from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
UT Southwestern’s Inaugural Chair of Biomedical Engineering elected to National Academy of Medicine
Samuel Achilefu, Ph.D., incoming Inaugural Chair of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s new Department of Biomedical Engineering, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for his outstanding contributions in the field of optical imaging for identifying sites of disease and characterizing biologic phenomena noninvasively.
