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Grace C.Y. Peng, Ph.D., Director of the NIBIB Program in Mathematical Modeling, Simulation and Analysis, has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE College of Fellows).

Bioengineers have created a 3D-printed scaffold designed to regenerate complex tissues composed of multiple layers of cells with different biological and mechanical properties.

With his election this past February to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), NIH’s Peter Basser achieved one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to any engineer.

Most medicines work by binding to and blocking the effect of disease-causing molecules. Now, to accelerate the identification of potential new medicines, bioengineers have created a computer model that mimics the way molecules bind.

Promising intracellular protein-based therapeutics have been of limited use due to the difficulty of delivery into diseased cells. Now bioengineers have developed nanoparticles that can deliver these therapeutics to their targets—avoiding degradation and toxic interactions with healthy tissues.

Millions of people are treated with antibiotics each year for infections or as a preventative measure. Two teams of NIBIB-funded scientists have been working to find alternative solutions for treating bacterial infections, especially antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Neurologists have observed reduced neural activity during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). Now MRI imaging during NREM reveals an exchange between brain blood and cerebrospinal fluid that may function to remove neurotoxic waste products.

A novel method produces a new class of radioactive tracers that are used for medical imaging. The method allows them to attach radioactive atoms to compounds that have previously been difficult or even impossible to label.  The advance will make it easier to track medications in the body and identify tumors and other diseases.

Doctors need better ways to detect and monitor heart disease, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Researchers with support from NIBIB has developed an improved optical imaging technique that found differences between potentially life-threatening coronary plaques and those posing less imminent danger for patients with coronary artery disease.