University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: Uncategorized

Injectrode May Reduce Need for Surgeries for Nerve Conditions.

Many conditions, like nerve pain, epilepsy, and a-fib, require costly surgeries to implant neuro-modulation therapy devices. However, thanks to recent research the future may be injecting the device, rather than surgery to implant. This new device is called an Injectrode. The Injectrode would potentially replace technology that uses technology that implant tiny electrodes. Dr. Kip …

Engineers harness muscle power for healing

Bioengineers have developed biocompatible generators that create electrical pulses when compressed by body motions. The generators are made up of self-assembling “piezoelectric wafers” which can be made rapidly and inexpensively to enable broad use of muscle-powered electromechanical therapies. Piezoelectric materials such as ceramics and crystals have a special property of creating an electrical charge in response to mechanical …

Applying COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Chain Lessons to Advanced Therapies in a Post-Pandemic World

Surges in the research, development, and supply chain capabilities for new vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic may be key to accelerating clinical translation and patient access to a whole new class of advanced therapies. As we inch toward a post-pandemic world, biologics researchers and manufacturers hope to leverage the vaccine infrastructure established thus far …

Self-powered implantable device stimulates fast bone healing, then disappears without a trace

In 2017, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers broke his right collarbone in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Typically, it takes about 12 weeks for a collarbone to fully heal, but by mid-December fans and commentators were hoping the three-time MVP might recover early and save a losing season. So did Xudong Wang, a professor …

New initiative facilitates research partnerships with the private sector

Seven projects – from generating valuable products from the abundant non-food dairy residues that remain after milk is processed into food product, to amplifying UW–Madison doctoral trainees as the new generation of biotechnology industry leaders – have been chosen for funding through the Promoting Industry Collaboration Initiative. These projects were among 32 proposals submitted from …

mRNA technology used in COVID vaccines now being tested to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases

MADISON, Wis. — The method used to make the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could change the future of medicine as we know it. Researchers inside the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research have been studying the same mRNA technology in the COVID-19 vaccines for the past decade. What they’re discovering it can be used for now …

Three projects selected for WARF Accelerator Advanced Manufacturing Challenge Grant

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation announced that three projects have been selected to receive development funding through the WARF Advanced Manufacturing Challenge Grant. From industrial robotics to improved 3-D printing, these technologies have high potential impact. Researchers representing multiple departments and engineering disciplines applied for funding. The selected projects are led by the …

Roald to use NSF CAREER Award to optimize risk mitigation in electric distribution grids

The resilience of the power grid has been in the news a lot in recent years: Transmission equipment, for example, sparked some of the largest fires in California history in 2018, leading to rolling blackouts, and the February 2021 cold snap in Texas shut off power to millions for days on end. While those incidents …

Micro-molded ‘ice cube tray’ scaffold is next step in returning sight to injured retina

Tens of millions of people worldwide are affected by diseases like macular degeneration or have had accidents that permanently damage the light-sensitive photoreceptors within their retinas that enable vision. The human body is not capable of regenerating those photoreceptors, but new advances by medical researchers and engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison may provide hope …

Thoma selected as AIME Honorary Member

  Dan Thoma, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Grainger Institute for Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was recently selected as a 2021 Honorary Member of AIME. Thoma was chosen by the board of TMS, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, a member society of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers …