PRATT Bioengineering News

  • August 15, 2007

    Probing the Living Cell

    Nanotechnology is offering up new methods to unravel the workings of the tiny human cell the basic building block of our body's tissues. Did you know? Think of poking a hole in a cell and sticking in a flashlight. Tuan Vo-Dinh A unique nanobiosensor developed by Duke biomedical engineering Professor Tuan Vo-Dinh represents a significant advance for systems biology the ability to study the molecular and biochemical activities of a single cell in real time, without destroying the ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    DNA, a la carte

    In 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first human vaccine to offer protection against the H5N1 influenza virus, commonly known as avian or bird flu. Yet, in the event that a viral strain began spreading from human to human, the vaccine is expected to provide only limited protection until a tailored vaccine could be developed and produced. Did you know? The freedom to synthesize the precise DNA sequences you want would change the way ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Reigning in HIV/AIDS

    An estimated 12,000 people contract the AIDS virus each day, including a disproportionate number of women. Microbicides might help protect at-risk women by serving as "molecular condoms"--physical barriers or filters with HIV-neutralizing ingredients that slow viral passage from semen into body tissues. Human Need In many cases, women lack the control needed to protect themselves against the virus. Microbicide development is a response to the demonstrated need for new female-controlled methods for HIV prophylaxis. David Katz A team ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Warm Targets

    Anti-cancer drugs are hazardous to cancers, but they are only slightly less so to healthy tissue. For example, the drug doxorubicin may efficiently jam the genetic machinery of rapidly dividing cancer cells, but it is also highly toxic to heart tissue. Such cardiac toxicity limits how much of the drug can be administered to patients. Benefit "The unprecedented rapid release of such large amounts of drug directly into the cancers' blood vessels--triggered only by mild focused heating--seems ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Drug Depot

    Osteoarthritis--a degenerative joint disease that affects 21 million people in the U.S. and is the nation's leading cause of disability--had been attributed primarily to the gradual wear and tear of joint surfaces. More recently, scientists have discovered that inflammation sparked by the immune system also plays an important role in the worsening of the disease. However, trials of a drug aimed at blocking that joint inflammation have had limited success, primarily because the medication clears ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Drugs that Deliver

    Chemotherapy often falls short of achieving its full impact because the drugs diffuse in and out of tumors too rapidly. That's because the small size of current chemotherapy drugs which typically have a molecular weight in the 300 to 600 range allow them to be readily excreted through the kidneys before their anti-cancer effects are fully achieved. Did you know? If you balance the ability of drug to penetrate tumors with its staying ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Special Delivery

    Gene therapy is a promising approach for treating many genetic disorders, particularly those such as hemophilia and some metabolic diseases, in which a missing or dysfunctional gene fails to provide a protein required for normal bodily functions. However, the therapeutic potential of gene therapy has been limited by the lack of safe and efficient delivery systems. Did you know? About one in every 5,000 males has hemophilia A, in which a deficiency for a single blood clotting ...
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  • August 15, 2007

    Tumor Therapy

    Lithotripsy, the shock wave therapy currently used to pulverize kidney stones, is stimulating new thinking about how to non-invasively combat tumors. What's more, sound waves may also lessen the likelihood that tumor cells will metastasize--spreading to other parts of the body. Did you know? High Intensity Focused Ultrasound is currently being used in clinical trials in the United States for FDA approval of cancer therapy. Mechanical engineering Associate Professor Pei Zhong, a world leader in lithotripsy, is working ...
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  • November 1, 2006

    Packard Fellow to Examine Processing Speed of 'Reprogrammed' Bacteria

    Packard Fellow Lingchong You Lingchong You, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering, has won a fellowship from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation for his research into the information processing speed of bacteria that have been "reprogrammed" to perform new, and potentially useful, tasks. The Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering aims to provide support for "unusually creative researchers" within their first three years as faculty, according to the foundation's web site. ...
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  • November 1, 2006

    Packard Fellow to Examine Processing Speed of 'Reprogrammed' Bacteria

    Packard Fellow Lingchong You Lingchong You, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering, has won a fellowship from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation for his research into the information processing speed of bacteria that have been "reprogrammed" to perform new, and potentially useful, tasks. The Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering aims to provide support for "unusually creative researchers" within their first three years as faculty, according to the foundation's web site. ...
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  • October 16, 2006

    New Engineered Drug May Offer Prolonged Arthritis Relief

    Researchers at Duke University have devised a new way to significantly prolong the effects of an anti-inflammatory drug, potentially making it useful for providing longer-lasting treatment for osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis.The modified drug, which would be injected directly into arthritic joints, could last for several weeks rather than just the few hours the unmodified drug would last, the researchers said. In their study, the researchers modified a drug called interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RA). ...
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  • April 12, 2006

    Duke Research Teams Win Keck Futures Initiatives Grants

    Two research teams led by Duke faculty have been granted $75,000 each from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative in support of interdisciplinary research on genomics and infectious disease. Duke won two grants out of a total of 14 awarded. Debra Schwinn, professor of anesthesiology, pharmacology/cancer biology and surgery at the School of Medicine, leads a team developing an inexpensive diagnostic for malaria using combined nanotechnology and genomic approaches. With this project, the researchers will develop ...
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  • April 4, 2006

    Factor Stimulates Cartilage Growth from Stem Cells

    A novel growth factor significantly improves the ability of specialized stem cells derived from human fat to be transformed into cartilage cells, according to Duke University Medical Center and Pratt School of Engineering researchers. Such growth factors are crucial to the bioengineering of tissues for clinical use in humans, the researchers said, because cells would need to be grown quickly and in large numbers in order to be practical. For the current study, as well as ...
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  • March 2, 2006

    Weighting Cancer Drugs To Make Them Hit Tumors Harder

    Scientists have devised a blueprint for boosting anti-cancer drugs' effectiveness and lowering their toxicity by attaching the equivalent of a lead sinker onto the drugs. This extra weight makes the drugs penetrate and accumulate inside tumors more effectively. Chemotherapy drugs often fall short of achieving their full impact because the drugs diffuse in and out of the tumor too rapidly, said the scientists from Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and Duke University Medical Center. The scientists increased ...
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  • March 1, 2006

    Leong to Lead Initiative Aimed at Nanomedicine

    Kam Leong Kam Leong, a national leader in drug and gene delivery at Johns Hopkins University, has joined the department of biomedical engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where he will serve as director of the school's Bioengineering Initiative. Leong said he plans to focus on the emerging field of "nanotherapeutics," the application of devices on the scale of nanometers - one billionth of a meter -- for treating disease via drug, gene and ...
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  • March 1, 2006

    Leong to Lead Initiative Aimed at Nanomedicine

    Kam Leong Kam Leong, a national leader in drug and gene delivery at Johns Hopkins University, has joined the department of biomedical engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where he will serve as director of the school's Bioengineering Initiative. Leong said he plans to focus on the emerging field of "nanotherapeutics," the application of devices on the scale of nanometers - one billionth of a meter -- for treating disease via drug, gene and ...
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  • November 19, 2005

    Polymer Gel Can Block Toxic Leakage Problem In Gene Therapy

    Note to editors: A high-resolution digital photo of Fan Yuan posed with visual evidence for his findings can be accessed at http://www.dukephoto.duke.edu/pages/Duke_News_Service/Yuan114205029.jpg. The evidence shows glowing viruses concentrated in the liver of a "control" animal not receiving the poloxamer mixture. In contrast, the viruses stayed in the tumor of an animal injected with the polymer. DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University biomedical engineers have devised a potentially patentable method to arrest toxic leakages of genetically engineered viruses ...
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  • November 5, 2005

    Duke Engineers Developing Ultrasound Devices Combining 3-D Imaging With Therapeutic Heating

    Durham, N.C. -- Duke University engineers are developing technology that may enable physicians to someday use high frequency ultrasound waves both to visualize the heart's interior in three dimensions and then selectively destroy heart tissue with heat to correct arrhythmias. "No one else has developed a way for ultrasound to combine therapy and imaging in a catheter, let alone 3-D imaging," said Stephen Smith, the biomedical engineering professor who heads the project at Duke's Pratt School ...
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  • September 17, 2005

    Designing 'Gene Circuits' that Control Cell Populations with Killer Genes

    Durham, N.C. -- Lingchong You's Duke University research team makes and programs circuits, although not the kind that work in electronics devices. His are "synthetic gene circuits" that can regulate cell populations with molecular signaling and intentional extermination. Such biocircuits have great potential for applications in biotechnology, computation, environmental engineering and medicine. For example, a "suicide" biocircuit could potentially be programmed into bacteria used to clean up pollution, making the microbes die off once their job ...
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  • June 17, 2005

    Arteries Bio-engineered from Elderly Cells

    DURHAM, N.C. Researchers from Duke University's Medical Center and Pratt School of Engineering have demonstrated that they can grow new human blood vessels from cells taken from patients who especially need such assistance older adults with cardiovascular disease. The researchers said the results of their latest experiments represent a "proof of principle" for an approach that could be clinically applicable within five to ten years. The first to benefit from such bio-engineered ...
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  • February 1, 2005

    Gel Blocks Toxic Leakage Problem In Gene Therapy

    Fan Yuan Duke University biomedical engineers have devised a potentially patentable method to arrest toxic leakages of genetically engineered viruses that have plagued attempts to use gene therapy against cancerous tumors. The problem has been that viruses carrying anti-tumor genes have tended to leak from tumors, proving toxic to other body tissues. The researchers have developed a biocompatible polymer that briefly changes from a liquid at 39 degrees Fahrenheit to a gel at body temperatures to block ...
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  • February 1, 2005

    Gel Blocks Toxic Leakage Problem In Gene Therapy

    Fan Yuan Duke University biomedical engineers have devised a potentially patentable method to arrest toxic leakages of genetically engineered viruses that have plagued attempts to use gene therapy against cancerous tumors. The problem has been that viruses carrying anti-tumor genes have tended to leak from tumors, proving toxic to other body tissues. The researchers have developed a biocompatible polymer that briefly changes from a liquid at 39 degrees Fahrenheit to a gel at body temperatures to block ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Pratt Engineer Works on Synthetic Gene Circuits

    Lingchong You's research team at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering makes and programs circuits, although not the kind that work in electronics devices. His are "synthetic gene circuits" that can regulate cell populations with molecular signaling and intentional extermination. Such biocircuits have great potential for applications in biotechnology, computation, environmental engineering and medicine. For example, a "suicide" biocircuit could potentially be programmed into bacteria used to clean up pollution, making the microbes die off once their ...
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  • December 1, 2004

    Pratt Engineer Works on Synthetic Gene Circuits

    Lingchong You's research team at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering makes and programs circuits, although not the kind that work in electronics devices. His are "synthetic gene circuits" that can regulate cell populations with molecular signaling and intentional extermination. Such biocircuits have great potential for applications in biotechnology, computation, environmental engineering and medicine. For example, a "suicide" biocircuit could potentially be programmed into bacteria used to clean up pollution, making the microbes die off once their ...
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  • April 1, 2004

    Research Suggests New Way to Repair Cartilage Damage

    Duke biomedical engineers have developed a technique to use a natural polymer to fill in and protect cartilage wounds within joints, and to provide supportive scaffolding for new cartilage growth. Their advance offers a potential solution for a central problem in generating new cartilage -- providing a support for cartilage cells as they regenerate cartilage tissue. In tests on rabbits, Lori Setton, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, and her research ...
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  • April 1, 2004

    Research Suggests New Way to Repair Cartilage Damage

    Duke biomedical engineers have developed a technique to use a natural polymer to fill in and protect cartilage wounds within joints, and to provide supportive scaffolding for new cartilage growth. Their advance offers a potential solution for a central problem in generating new cartilage -- providing a support for cartilage cells as they regenerate cartilage tissue. In tests on rabbits, Lori Setton, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, and her research ...
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  • March 9, 2004

    Research Suggests New Way to Repair Cartilage Damage

    DURHAM, N.C. Duke biomedical engineers have developed a technique to use a natural polymer to fill in and protect cartilage wounds within joints, and to provide supportive scaffolding for new cartilage growth. Their advance offers a potential solution for a central problem in generating new cartilage -- providing a support for cartilage cells as they regenerate cartilage tissue. In tests on rabbits, Lori Setton, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke's Pratt School of ...
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  • September 1, 2003

    Special Drug Delivery

    By Dennis Meredith, for DukeMed Magazine A cloud of gelatinous capsules swirls into the bloodstream from the tip of a comparatively colossal hypodermic needle. At a thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, the capsules spreading through the circulation are nearly a hundred times smaller than the blood cells that stream alongside them. Yet tiny as they are, these submicroscopic capsules bear the stamp of human design their surfaces are a waxy patchwork not found ...
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  • September 1, 2003

    Special Drug Delivery

    By Dennis Meredith, for DukeMed Magazine A cloud of gelatinous capsules swirls into the bloodstream from the tip of a comparatively colossal hypodermic needle. At a thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, the capsules spreading through the circulation are nearly a hundred times smaller than the blood cells that stream alongside them. Yet tiny as they are, these submicroscopic capsules bear the stamp of human design their surfaces are a waxy patchwork not found ...
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  • February 1, 2003

    New Training Grant Combines Engineering and Life Sciences

    Engineers and life scientists at Duke University believe that by combining the strengths and insights of their specialties, they can train researchers uniquely qualified to manipulate molecules, cells and tissues to treat human diseases and disorders. "In recent years, there has been a surge in the application of biotechnology to clinical medicine through such fields as tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomaterials, biosenors, genomics and proteomics," said Professor Farshid Guilak. "At Duke, we have created a formal, ...
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  • February 1, 2003

    New Training Grant Combines Engineering and Life Sciences

    Engineers and life scientists at Duke University believe that by combining the strengths and insights of their specialties, they can train researchers uniquely qualified to manipulate molecules, cells and tissues to treat human diseases and disorders. "In recent years, there has been a surge in the application of biotechnology to clinical medicine through such fields as tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomaterials, biosenors, genomics and proteomics," said Professor Farshid Guilak. "At Duke, we have created a formal, ...
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  • December 1, 2002

    Researchers Find Possible Causes for Toxics Leaking from Tumors

    A Duke research collaboration has identified a likely route for "leakage" of therapeutic gene-bearing viruses out of tumors in experimental anti-cancer gene therapy experiments in laboratory animals. The group also found this toxic leakage can be avoided by using a chemical extracted from common brown algae. Their work was described in a presentation Sept. 11 at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in New York, as well as in a research paper accepted for publication in ...
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  • December 1, 2002

    Researchers Find Possible Causes for Toxics Leaking from Tumors

    A Duke research collaboration has identified a likely route for "leakage" of therapeutic gene-bearing viruses out of tumors in experimental anti-cancer gene therapy experiments in laboratory animals. The group also found this toxic leakage can be avoided by using a chemical extracted from common brown algae. Their work was described in a presentation Sept. 11 at the American Chemical Society's national meeting in New York, as well as in a research paper accepted for publication in ...
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