Two professors at the UH Cullen College of Engineering earned a $200,000 Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) Discovery Award from the U.S. Department of Defense to further explore a quantitative assessment technique for systemic sclerosis (SSc). The autoimmune disorder is characterized by thickening of soft tissues in the body caused by accumulations of collagen. 

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease without a cure and without a highly effective treatment option. Many scientists believe that genetics and environmental factors interact to cause immune cells in the human body to overreact and attack healthy cells and organs in the estimated 1.5 million Americans affected by the disease.

An estimated 1.5 million Americans and at least five million people worldwide live with a form of lupus, a chronic autoimmune disorder, and approximately 16,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year, according to the Lupus Foundation of America website. Almost 90 percent of those diagnosed with the disease are women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Researchers at the Cullen College’s biomedical engineering Artificial Heart Laboratory (AHL) have recently accomplished a feat valued to researchers across the world: their research was not only chosen for publication in a scholarly journal, but their illustrations were also chosen to serve as the journal’s cover art.

Faculty members in the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering are no strangers to blazing trails – and Ravi Birla, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is no exception.

It’s no secret that blood transfusions save millions of lives every year. According to the American Red Cross, just one pint of donated blood can save up to three lives. And yet, the blood transfusion process is still not without flaws – in addition to healthy blood cells, transfused blood can also contain harmful materials such as the anticoagulant-preservative solution used to keep the cells alive during storage.

Chandra Mohan has a theory about the development of lupus nephritis, the leading cause of lupus-related deaths. If he’s right, there may already be a treatment.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can attack practically any part of the body. In lupus nephritis, it causes severe kidney inflammation, leading to hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalizations per year in the United State alone.

Trinidad and Tobago honored Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and native son Ravi Birla this past weekend as one of its top medical researchers.

Birla received the silver Emmanuel Ciprian Amoroso Award for Medical Sciences from the country’s National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (NIHERST).

A researcher with the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering has won a grant to make brain surgery for patients with severe cases of Parkinson’s disease safer and more effective.

The grant goes to Nuri Ince, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. Awarded by the National Science Foundation, it is valued at $330,000 for three years of work.