Biomedical Engineering

Project will be led by Mechanical Engineering Professor Nabil Simaan, a globally renowned expert in robotic surgery A multidisciplinary team from the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to develop a low-cost simulation tool to train medical personnel in Kenya to perform minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures. The project will... Read More

Biomedical engineering graduate student Ismael Ortiz has been awarded a fellowship in the Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs competition administered at the Fellowships Office of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Ford Predoctoral Fellowships are highly competitive with a typical overall success rate of only 4% to 5%. Fellowships provide three years of support at... Read More

Led by Nabil Simaan, professor of mechanical engineering and a globally renowned expert in robotic surgery, a multidisciplinary team from the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering has received nearly $4 million to develop a low-cost simulation tool to find solutions that allow safer, minimally invasive surgeries for a wider swath of the global population.  Read More

Mikail Rubinov has been awarded $600,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop new computational methods for analysis of large-scale brain activity data. Read More

Mikail Rubinov, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has been awarded $600,000 from the National Science Foundation to develop new computational methods for analysis of large-scale brain activity data. The three-year project is funded by the NSF Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS). It was awarded alongside a companion project from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation... Read More

Vanderbilt University and the School of Engineering offer undergraduates numerous summer research opportunities to expand their classroom knowledge and gain valuable practical experience. The Institute for Software Integrated Systems is hosting a virtual open house for interested students on Feb. 22 from 3 to 6 p.m. The registration deadline is Feb. 21. The School of... Read More

Technology driven by deep-learning model delivers 4D video-rate imaging, improves precision A multidisciplinary team of engineers and clinicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has advanced its work to develop new tools for intraoperative imaging during ophthalmic surgery. The team recently presented a novel, automated instrument tracking method that leverages multimodal imaging and deep learning to... Read More

Maizie (Xin) Zhou, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and computer science, is the recipient of a $1.9 million award from the National Institutes of Health. She has also received $120,000 from Complete Genomics, a leader in human genome sequencing. The Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA)(R35) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH) will... Read More

Vanderbilt University engineering professor Michael R. King has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. Read More

Vanderbilt University engineering professor Michael R. King has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI Fellows Program recognizes academic inventors who have created or facilitated outstanding inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest... Read More

While diabetes is already associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer, a new Vanderbilt study published in Science Advances on November 18 indicates that presence of the disease may increase tumor growth and stiffness. Researchers also found that diabetes treatments could reduce the tumor growth and stiffness to levels comparable with non-diabetic ones.... Read More

Biomedical engineering doctoral student Sarah Goodale has been awarded a National Institute on Aging Transition to Postdoc Fellowship for her proposed work on investigating fatigue and sleep disturbance symptoms in Alzheimer’s Disease and their relationship with functional and structural properties of the brain and intellectual decline. The National Institutes of Health NIA F99/K00 award supports... Read More

Advances in neuroimaging over the past 25 years have ushered in nothing short of a revolution in technology for understanding the human brain. These new technologies have opened broad vistas for scientists, from being able to pinpoint regions of the brain responsible for various functions and behaviors to targeting new treatments for illnesses ranging from... Read More

As a child, Jenna Dombroski was at her grandfather’s bedside when cancer took his life. A scientist, he was her inspiration. Years later, the Vanderbilt University Ph.D. student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow is honoring him by leading the development of what appears to be a promising treatment for breast cancer metastasis, and... Read More

Audrey Bowden, Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow and associate professor of biomedical and electrical engineering, has won a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to develop a novel noninvasive smartphone-integrated device to provide accurate, point-of-care detection of jaundice in newborns of all skin tones. Audrey Bowden Newborns have immature... Read More

Hoffman will use new immersion and brain recording technology to test memory circuits in the brain that are known to play a role in healthy aging, neurodegenerative disease, brain trauma and the most common type of seizures. Read More

Cynthia Reinhart-King was among a handful of national experts invited to participate in the White House Summit on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing for the American Bioeconomy. The event marked the launch of a new initiative to develop bio-based solutions to global challenges ranging from food security and climate change to health security and supply chain disruptions.  Read More

When high blood pressure was induced in young mice, they had bone loss and osteoporosis-related bone damage comparable to older mice, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2022 conference. Read More

A new study by Vanderbilt researchers demonstrates the ability to initiate chemical reactions by cooling materials instead of heating them. Read More

A new study by Vanderbilt researchers demonstrates the ability to initiate chemical reactions by cooling materials instead of heating them— a counterintuitive process that could open new vistas for applications ranging from monitoring shipping conditions to developing smart clothing that guards against dangerously low temperatures. The paper, published in August by the journal RSC Advances,... Read More