News Releases from 2017

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Smart molecules trigger white blood cells to become better cancer-eating machines

A team of researchers has engineered smart protein molecules that can reprogram white blood cells to ignore a self-defense signaling mechanism that cancer cells use to survive and spread in the body. Researchers say the advance could lead to a new method of re-engineering immune cells to fight cancer and infectious diseases. The team successfully tested this method in a live cell culture system.  Full Story


Drug-delivering micromotors treat their first bacterial infection in the stomach

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have demonstrated for the first time using micromotors to treat a bacterial infection in the stomach. These tiny vehicles, each about half the width of a human hair, swim rapidly throughout the stomach while neutralizing gastric acid and then release their cargo of antibiotics at the desired pH.  Full Story


UC San Diego nanoengineer selected as the U.S. nominee for 2017 ASPIRE Prize

Nanoengineering professor Liangfang Zhang at the University of California San Diego has been selected as the U.S. nominee for the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE). Zhang won the nomination for his revolutionary work in the field of nanomedicine, which focuses on nanomaterials for medical applications.  Full Story