At 16, Alex Vargas made a split-second decision that changed the course of his life.
Growing up in Juarez, Mexico, Vargas was already thinking about university when he was a middle schooler with a passion for math and science. But he never imagined he’d actually get to attend an American university, let alone study for a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering at a school like UC Davis.
The UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering recently received a $3 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to create a new graduate-level training program that stands to transform the field of neuroengineering. The grant is part of a larger effort by the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine to promote neurological health and extend human capacity.
A new center that stands to transform surgical procedures and brain monitoring on a national scale using light-based, artificial intelligence-informed technologies will soon be part of Aggie Square at the University of California, Davis, thanks to a recent $6.3 million P41 grant from NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
A research team from UC Davis Biomedical Engineering has recently been awarded a $3.1 million, two-year grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for an innovative medical device that could improve treatment outcomes and the quality of life for the more than two million people throughout the world who are on hemodialysis.
Simon Cherry, distinguished professor in the biomedical engineering department at UC Davis College of Engineering, was recently awarded the 2022 Benedict Cassen Prize from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. Cherry was recognized for his 30-plus-year career, which includes being the co-leader on developing the world’s first total-body PET scanner.
With heart disease remaining the number one cause of death in the United States, Chen-Izu lab’s research into heart diseases is as relevant and urgent. The lab’s mission is to translate breakthrough research findings to develop new drug therapies to prevent and treat heart diseases more effectively.
UC Davis biomedical engineering student Shannon Lamb ’22 was awarded a fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to research why machine learning algorithms sometimes fail to distinguish between the most commonly misdiagnosed psychiatric disorders – depression, bipolar and schizophrenia.
Mentored by a biomedical engineering professor, two young alumni develop a modernized recycling process that reconstitutes fabric to help eliminate waste in fashion.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employment of bioengineers and biomedical engineers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2020 to 2030, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
UC Davis biomedical engineering student Neeraj Senthil has been selected as a national Goldwater Scholar for the 2022-23 academic year for his work in understanding and treating rheumatoid arthritis.
