In the News
— May 28, 2020 —
UCLA Engineering Dean Leading Efforts to Address Shortage of PPP, Other Medical Supplies
by India-West Staff Reporter
Jayathi Murthy, dean of the University of California, Los Angeles Samueli School of Engineering, is leading efforts to address the shortage of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies badly needed by frontline health care workers fighting to flatten the curve of COVID-19 globally.
United Against a Common Foe
by Howard Fine
The Covid-19 pandemic has put L.A.’s health care sector in an unprecedented spotlight. The scores of hospitals providing critical care for L.A. County’s 10 million residents are now at the center of a financial storm.
— May 27, 2020 —
New Facility for Bioengineering Research Opens in Los Angeles
by Vanesa Listek
In a world eager to solve the problem of rejection in organ transplantation, a young American scientist developed a breakthrough test in 1964 that would help establish the compatibility of tissue types between organ donors and patients in need of transplants.
— May 26, 2020 —
UCLA researchers develop Breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for COVID-19
by KTLA Digital Staff
A team of researchers from UCLA and other universities is developing a Breathalyzer-like tool that would rapidly test for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
— May 23, 2020 —
UCLA Professor Leading Team to Develop Breathalyzer-Like Tool for Rapid COVID-19 Test
by City News Service
A research team led by a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering won a grant to develop an inexpensive and fast breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to the university.
— May 22, 2020 —
UCLA team compiles coronavirus-related data, creates statistical modeling tool
by Keaton Larson
A UCLA professor and students created an artificial intelligence-based tool to collect and correlate data related to the COVID-19 pandemic easily.
— May 21, 2020 —
Team to develop breathalyzer-like diagnostic test for COVID-19
by UCLA
Aresearch team led by Pirouz Kavehpour, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, is developing an inexpensive and fast breathalyzer-like diagnostic tool to test for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
— May 12, 2020 —
UCLA Scientists Say They Have Developed More Accurate COVID-19 Test
by Ted Chen
Federal health official announced today that as many as 50 million Americans will be able to get tested for COVID-19 by the fall. But how accurate will those test be and what are the chance for false results.
— May 11, 2020—
Diabetes management: How researchers are looking at new approaches from insulin patches to an artificial pancreas
by Jo Best
For some diabetics, keeping blood sugar at the right level means several injections a day, every day. Injecting insulin is no fun, but for type 1 diabetics, it’s the difference between life and death. Could technology be poised to offer a way to take some of the pain and stress out of managing diabetes?
— April 28, 2020—
A step toward a better way to make gene therapies to attack cancer, genetic disorders
by UCLA
A UCLA-led research team today reports that it has developed a new method for delivering DNA into stem cells and immune cells safely, rapidly and economically. The method, described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could give scientists a new tool for manufacturing gene therapies for people with cancer, genetic disorders and blood diseases.
— April 22, 2020 —
A new way to cool down electronic devices, recover waste heat
Using electronic devices for too long can cause them to overheat, which might slow them down, damage their components or even make them explode or catch fire. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters have developed a hydrogel that can both cool down electronics, such as cell phone batteries, and convert their waste heat into electricity.
— April 21, 2020 —
Students learn to adapt to wins and woes of online laboratory classes
by Inga Hwang
Christina Gallup was excited to learn common biological lab techniques during her introductory bioengineering lab course because her past lab courses had taught chemistry lab skills.
— April 14, 2020 —
California Set the Tone on Coronavirus Shutdowns. What’s Its Next Move?
by Thomas Fuller and Tim Arango
SAN FRANCISCO — California has been ahead of the rest of America in confronting the coronavirus pandemic, locking down its citizens early and avoiding, so far, the worst-case scenarios predicted for infections and deaths.
— April 10, 2020 —
COBOL, a 60-year-old computer language, is in the COVID-19 spotlight
by Mark Sullivan
Some states have found themselves in need of people who know a 60-year-old programming language called COBOL to retrofit the antiquated government systems now struggling to process the deluge of unemployment claims brought by the coronavirus crisis.”
— April 9, 2020 —
With diving gear and plumbing supplies, California labs fashion Covid-19 masks and ventilators
by Usha Lee McFarling
Glen Meyerowitz, a first-year electrical engineering graduate student at UCLA, had been closely tracking the new coronavirus since January because his brother is an infectious disease fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
“He mentioned physicians and clinicians in hard-hit areas were needing to triage care and said he was tremendously worried about physicians having to make those decisions here,” Meyerowitz said. “So I started looking into ventilators and how they work and why they’re so complicated and expensive.”
— April 7, 2020 —
“like a sneeze guard at the salad bar.”
by David Grossman
Masks aren’t enough. That’s the realization medical workers across the country are starting to realize in their war against Covid-19, an enemy with no need to sleep or eat.
It spurts out of infected patients like pollen from a flower, instituting dry coughs that send microscopic water droplets into the world. Face shields offer the next level of production to medical workers fighting off infection, and Jacob Schmidt, a bioengineering professor at UCLA, is part of a team electronically fabricating these shields.
— April 6, 2020 —
Inventors Are Whipping Up Homemade Ventilators to Fend Off a Shortage. Some Doctors Are Wary
by Jamie Ducharme
A mechanical ventilator can cost a hospital tens of thousands of dollars up front, and even more money each day it’s used to keep oxygen flowing into a sick patient’s lungs. It’s unsurprising, then, that some small U.S. hospitals can count theirs on one hand.
— April 1, 2020 —
Keeping It Cool to Create Power
by Sarah Williams
Aaswath Raman, a UCLA assistant professor of materials science and engineering, was a graduate student when he stumbled across a handful of papers on radiative cooling — the process by which heat radiates upward from objects on Earth all the way to the cold depths of outer space.
— March 31, 2020 —
Grad Student Builds Ventilator Using Home Depot Supplies
by NBC Los Angeles
UCLA Biodesign Fellow Glen Meyerowitz built the device in a few hours and is hoping it can serve as a proof-of-concept for a low-cost ventilator that could help hospitals with ventilator shortages amid the coronavirus pandemic.
— March 29, 2020—
Column: If Trump alone can fix our coronavirus crisis, then why the hell hasn’t he?
by Robin Abcarian | Columnist
In 2016, as Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, he said the “system” was broken. “I alone can fix it,” he darkly proclaimed.
— March 26, 2020 —
Coronavirus: UCLA Engineers Developing Surgical Face Shields For Area Hospitals
by CBSLA
Engineers at the University of California Los Angeles have started using 3D printing and laser cutting equipment to produce surgical face shields in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
UCLA engineers using 3-D printing in race to get coronavirus face shields to hospitals
by City News Service
Engineers at UCLA have begun using 3D printing and laser cutting equipment to produce surgical face shields in an effort to meet the rapidly growing demand for personal protective equipment for health care workers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
— March 11, 2020 —
Internet Inventor Helps UCLA Celebrate its Centennial
by Ariel Wesler
Inside UCLA’s engineering school, there is a special room that has transformed all of our lives. It’s the birthplace of the internet.
“That’s the main attraction over there. That machine is the first piece of internet equipment ever,” said Dr. Leonard Kleinrock, whose research laid the groundwork for the internet.
— March 9, 2020 —
«Инъекция» углекислого газа
by Смотреть комментарии
Студенты Калифорнийского университета в Лос-Анджелесе придумали, как использовать CO2 в производстве кирпичей
— March 6, 2020 —
This coin-sized insulin patch could improve diabetes treatment
by Chris Newmarker
Could treating diabetes someday be as simple as slapping on a patch? A UCLA-led research team thinks so, and it’s seeking FDA permission to prove it.
A research team led by UCLA bioengineering professor Zhen Gu claims to have overcome some of the technological hurdles around creating a patch that releases insulin based on the level of glucose in a person’s body.
— February 28, 2020 —
A New Study Finds People Prefer Robots That Explain Themselves
by Mark Edmonds and Yixin Zhu
Artificial intelligence is entering our lives in many ways – on our smartphones, in our homes, in our cars. These systems can help people make appointments, drive and even diagnose illnesses. But as AI systems continue to serve important and collaborative roles in people’s lives, a natural question is: Can I trust them? How do I know they will do what I expect?
— February 27, 2020 —
Engineers develop miniaturized ‘warehouse robots’ for biotechnology applications
by UCLA
UCLA engineers have developed minuscule warehouse logistics robots that could help expedite and automate medical diagnostic technologies and other applications that move and manipulate tiny drops of fluid. The study was published in Science Robotics.
— February 20, 2020 —
Mysterious ‘ghost’ populations had multiple trysts with human ancestors
by Ann Gibbons
The story of human evolution is full of ancient trysts. Genes from fossils have shown that the ancestors of many living people mated with Neanderthals and with Denisovans, a mysterious group of extinct humans who lived in Asia. Now, a flurry of papers suggests the ancestors of all three groups mixed at least twice with even older “ghost” lineages of unknown extinct hominins.
— February 13, 2020 —
Mysterious ‘ghost population’ of ancient humans discovered
by Emma Reynolds
A mysterious population of ancient humans lived in West Africa about half a million years ago, and scientists believe their genes still live on in people today.
— February 12, 2020 —
Scientists find evidence of ‘ghost population’ of ancient humans
by Ian Sample
Scientists have found evidence for a mysterious “ghost population” of ancient humans that lived in Africa about half a million years ago and whose genes live on in people today.
Ghost DNA Hints at Africa’s Missing Ancient Humans
by Carl Zimmer
Scientists reported on Wednesday that they had discovered evidence of an extinct branch of humans whose ancestors split from our own a million years ago. The evidence of these humans was not a fossil. Instead, the researchers found pieces of their DNA in the genomes of living people from West Africa.
Bioengineers Testing Smart Insulin Patch
by News Staff
A team of U.S. bioengineers has developed a glucose-responsive insulin patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes. The researchers have successfully tested the patch in insulin-deficient diabetic mice and minipigs, and are now applying for FDA approval of clinical trials in humans.
— February 7, 2020 —
Capture Carbon in Concrete Made With CO2
Caroline Delbert
A team from the University of California, Los Angeles, has developed a system that transforms “waste CO2” into gray blocks of concrete. In March, the researchers will relocate to the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, part of the Dry Fork power plant near the town of Gillette. During a three-month demonstration, the UCLA team plans to siphon half a ton of CO2 per day from the plant’s flue gas and produce 10 tons of concrete daily.
— February 2, 2020 —
New Anti-Ice Coating Could Prevent Frozen Cars and Pipes
Caroline Delbert
Scientists in California and China have collaborated on an anti-ice coating inspired by Antarctic fish. In February in the northern hemisphere, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to understand how useful this could be—but the more important applications include things like de-icing airplanes and preventing engines from freezing up.
— January 31, 2020—
Hydrogel coating is first to prevent ice formation in 3 different ways
by Matthew Chin
Materials scientists at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and colleagues in China have developed a coating that prevents ice from forming. The way it works is inspired by a natural mechanism that keeps blood from freezing in several species of fish that live near Antarctica.
— January 14, 2020 —
U.S. News Releases Its Rankings Of The Best Online College Programs For 2020
by Michael T. Nietzel
U.S. News & World Report announced its 2020 Best Online Programs rankings today, the ninth edition of these rankings. This year more than 1,600 programs were ranked — up from 1,545 last year and 677 in the first edition in 2012.
— January 16, 2020—
Turning carbon into concrete could win UCLA team a climatevictory — and $7.5 million
by Julia Rosen
Gabe Falzone and his teammates had been up since 5 a.m., anticipating the arrival of theconcrete mixer. When the truck pulled into the alley behind UCLA’s Boelter Hall,hundreds of narrow red cylinders stood ready. The engineers scrambled to fill thecontainers with roughly 8 tons of wet sludge before hustling them into giant ovens in thebasement.
— December 18, 2019—
A Robot That Explains Its Actions Is a First Step Towards AI We Can (Maybe) Trust
by Evan Ackerman
In a paper published in Science Robotics, researchers from UCLA have developed a robotic system that can generate different kinds of real-time, human-readable explanations about its actions, and then did some testing to figure which of the explanations were the most effective at improving a human’s trust in the system. Does this mean we can totally understand and trust robots now? Not yet—but it’s a start.
— November 8, 2019 —
Tiny Solar Collectors That Track The Movement Of The Sun Could Power Your Home One Day
by Kevin Murnane
Imagine your roof covered in tiny sunflower-like solar collectors that provide all the energy you need to run your home. Sound farfetched? Yesterday, maybe; today, not so much. Researchers at UCLA and the California Nanosystems Institute have developed technology that could make a roof of tiny sunflowers a reality.
— November 6, 2019 —
Leonard Kleinrock & Vint Cerf on the Invention of the Web
by Amanpour & Company
Professor Leonard Kleinrock and his former student Vint Cerf – now Vice President of Google – are known as the founding fathers of the internet, after they pioneered the technology that underpins it. It’s changed the world and the very way we live, yet at the time, they had no idea just how big their work would become. Miles O’Brien sits down with them both to reflect on those early days.
Sunlight-Tracking Polymer, Inspired by Sunflowers, Could Maximize Solar Power
by Jason Daley
In recent decades, solar cells have gotten better and cheaper, leading to a boom in the solar energy industry. But most solar panels have one major drawback—they don’t move. That means the sunlight reaching them often comes in at an angle, which hinders maximum power production.
— November 5, 2019 —
The first artificial material that follows sunlight may upgrade solar panels
by Sofie Bates
As the sun moves across the sky, sunflowers continually orient themselves to soak up the most light. Now a type of human-made material can do that, too. This is the first artificial material capable of phototropism, researchers report November 4 in Nature Nanotechnology.
— November 1, 2019 —
The Internet at 50: ‘We Didn’t See the Dark Side Emerging’
by Jill Cowan
On Oct. 29, 1969, in a windowless room at U.C.L.A. a message was sent to the Stanford Research Center from a very large machine. It was supposed to be “login,” but only the first two letters transmitted. So, the message was, simply, “lo.”
The Rising Threat of Digital Nationalism
by Akash Kapur
Fifty years ago this week, at 10:30 on a warm night at the University of California, Los Angeles, the first email was sent. It was a decidedly local affair. A man sat in front of a teleprinter connected to an early precursor of the internet known as Arpanet and transmitted the message “login” to a colleague in Palo Alto.
