McKelvey School of Engineering

Biomedical engineer Lihong Wang, PhD, and researchers in his lab work with lasers used in photoacoustic imaging for early-cancer detection and a close look at biological tissue. But sometimes there are limitations to what they can do, and as engineers, they work to find a way around those limitations. Wang and his team have discovered a unique and novel way to use an otherwise unwanted side effect of the lasers they use — the photo bleaching effect — to their advantage.

Lithium-ion batteries, such as those used in electric vehicles, are in high demand, with a global market value expected to reach $33.1 billion in 2019. But their high price tags and short lives need to be addressed before they can be used in more consumer, energy and medical products. Venkat Subramanian, PhD, associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and his team are working to solve this problem by developing optimal charging profiles for the batteries.

Lihong Wang, PhD, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University in Sweden. Wang, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been one of the prominent figures in developing photoacoustic imaging technology in biomedicine, says Stefan Andersson-Engels, professor of atomic physics at Lund University.

Some brain regions in adults retain a childlike ability to establish new connections, potentially contributing to our ability to learn new skills and form new memories as we age, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Allen Institute for Brain Sciences in Seattle.

Steven C. George, MD, PhD, has been named chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, effective July 1, 2014. George is professor of biomedical engineering and of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California, Irvine. In addition, he is the Edwards Lifesciences Professor and director of the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology.

Washington University in St. Louis has joined an international group of researchers working to make great strides in advanced coal technologies.

Huntington’s disease is a devastating, incurable disorder that results from the death of certain neurons in the brain. Rohit Pappu, PhD, and colleagues in the engineering and medical schools are conducting studies to learn from nature’s own strategies to battle the disease.

Students and faculty in the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis have filed an amicus brief on behalf of air pollution scientists in an important environmental case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, EPA v. EME Homer City Generation LP, involves a challenge to the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which seeks to protect the health of citizens of downwind states by placing limits on air pollution that crosses state lines. Electric power companies, several states and local governments challenged the rule as overreaching.

A large wooden crate was delivered to the Compton Hall loading dock last week, direct from Paris. The crate contained a fabulous new instrument that WUSTL scientists say will transform their ability to approach problems in geology, biology, space science, engineering and materials science with new precision. Called the Cameca SIMS ims7f-geo, it is a state-of-the-art secondary ion mass spectrometer, one of only three in the world.

For Amazon’s recently announced drone delivery system to get off the ground, the company will have to solve numerous difficult technological challenges. Chief among them will be increasing battery life, getting the drones to work without a central command and to “think” on their own, and determining what kind of navigation sensors they will use. As complicated as those tasks may be, says a WUSTL robotics expert, they will be much more easily solved than the seemingly more simple issues of regulation and insurance.