Students

Dena Sayrafi '23 Overlaps Engineering with Human Rights

Fourth-year biomedical engineering undergraduate student Dena Sayrafi '23 uses her platform in the Iranian Student Organization to advocate for human rights using the work ethic she has obtained throughout her years as an engineering student.

Lighting up cancer and heart disease

Much like a fresh set of eyes, a small pen-shaped device is showing surgeons a more accurate way to treat cancer and heart disease. The device uses new technology developed at UC Davis to scan and illuminate unhealthy tissue in real time so it can be removed.

Cyborg Cells Could Be Tools for Health and Environment

Biomedical engineers at the University of California, Davis, have created semi-living “cyborg cells.” Retaining the capabilities of living cells, but unable to replicate, the cyborg cells could have a wide range of applications, from producing therapeutic drugs to cleaning up pollution.

Expanding Alzheimer’s Diagnostics and Treatments with Extracellular Vesicles

Alzheimer’s is a disease without a clear diagnostic test nor a cure. However, researchers are developing new techniques and methods every day and in Professor Aijun Wang’s Lab at UC Davis, Biomedical Engineering graduate students Leora Goldbloom-Helzner and David Wang are exploring potential diagnoses and treatments for Alzheimer’s patients using extracellular vesicles.

Graduating Senior Joseph Morrison ’22 Cultivates Curiosity

For Joseph Morrison, a graduating senior in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, or BME, this Saturday’s commencement ceremony is just the beginning of his educational journey. After graduation, he plans on earning his MD and Ph.D., which will take him eight to nine years.

Bangyan Huang Wins Best Paper Award for Not-So-SIMPLE Work on PET Imaging

Bangyan Huang, a second-year doctoral student at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was recently awarded first place in the 2022 Christopher J. Thompson Best Student Paper Award for his oral presentation “Statistical Image Reconstruction of Positron Lifetime via Time-Weighting (SIMPLE).” Huang received the award at the IEEE Medical Imaging Conference, which was held both online and in Milan, Italy in November 2022.

BME Student Team Wins 2022 Sandia Engineering Design Award

The award-winning team, named Spinal Protective Implant for Neonatal Enhancement (SPINE), included undergraduate seniors from the Department of Biomedical Engineering: Rajul Bains, Natalie Kelly, Shannon Lamb, Joe Morrison and Maya Mysore. The competitive annual award, which is given at the Engineering Design Showcase, is supported by Sandia National Laboratories and recognizes an outstanding engineering design project that supports the lab’s mission, which is to secure a peaceful and free world through technology.

Fulfilling a Dream of Studying Science

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.