PBI member James Ankrum, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is one of four University of Iowa faculty members selected as recipients of the Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Awards for 2024. The award provides funding and development opportunities for outstanding tenured associate professors who have established national or international reputations in their disciplines and are exceptional teachers in and out of the classroom.
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Two PBI professors are using a new patented photochemical process to make coatings for cochlear implant systems using a class of materials called zwitterionic polymers. These coatings show significant promise in making it much easier to implant the cochlear implant and minimize trauma during implantation. Additionally, the coating prevents build-up of proteins and cells on the implant surface leading to significantly reduced inflammation and scar formation.
New findings may take scientists a step closer to understanding what causes SUDEP—Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy—a rare but fatal complication of epilepsy. There are about 3,000 deaths from SUDEP each year in the U.S. The biggest risk factor is epilepsy that is not well controlled with medication or surgery, but the exact cause of SUDEP is not known. However, increasing evidence suggests that loss of breathing, or apnea, that persists after a seizure is a major cause of SUDEP. In the new study, University of Iowa neuroscientists found that stimulating a specific area of the amygdala brain region provokes prolonged loss of breathing that continues even after a seizure has ended.
Now in its 15th year, the FUTURE in Biomedicine program fosters research and learning partnerships with professors from Iowa colleges that do not offer doctoral programs. Two of this summer’s researchers—Nandakumar Narayanan, MD, PhD, from the University of Iowa, and Terence Moriarty, PhD, of the University of Northern Iowa—discuss their experience collaborating through the program.
A few minutes of data recorded from a single electrode placed on top of the head may be sufficient to predict thinking problems, including dementia, in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The finding from a new University of Iowa study might help improve diagnosis of cognitive disability in PD and develop new biomarkers and targeted therapies for cognitive symptoms of the disease.
University of Iowa researcher Michael Welsh, MD, is one of four researchers who will receive the 21st annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences for discoveries leading to the creation of cystic fibrosis (CF) treatments that have improved—and extended—the lives of patients living with CF.
A cutting-edge micro-engineering tool being developed at the University of Iowa College of Engineering could help scientists understand how lung diseases form and discover new therapies to combat them. Yuliang Xie, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and member of the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute, calls the tool a “trachea-on-a-chip.”
University of Iowa professor Michael J. Welsh, MD, has won the 2022 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine together with Paul A. Negulescu, senior vice president and site head for San Diego research with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.