Purdue University researchers pursuing a way to repurpose high-definition Blu-ray technology, popular for watching videos and listening to music, to diagnose early-stage cancers and monitor their treatments have received nearly $200,000 in state and federal grants.

Researchers led by Zhongming Liu, an assistant professor in Purdue University’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, have demonstrated how to decode what the human brain is seeing by using artificial intelligence to interpret fMRI scans from people watching videos, representing a sort of mind-reading technology.

Under a $2.2 million R01 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), Taeyoon Kim, an assistant professor in Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, and his collaborators will study how structural elements within cells generate mechanical forces. The researchers will also illuminate how these biomechanical forces are translated to affect the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds the cells, and to nearby cells as well.

Associate head of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Pedro Irazoqui's digital healthcare startup Qura Inc. signs a licensing agreement with the Purdue Research Foundation and a development agreement with Helbling Technique in order to advance its wireless implantable pressure sensor technology, including Qura's implantable ‘Q-Smart’ sensor and data analytics system designed to monitor glaucoma.

Sarah Calve, assistant professor at Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, received the National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award. The High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program award supports exceptionally creative scientists using highly innovative approaches to tackle major challenges in biomedical research.

IEEE Spectrum: Global health experts don’t worry about if a major infectious disease outbreak will occur; it’s just a matter of when. Purdue researchers are developing smartphone-enabled point-of-care disease detection platform to detect infectious agents in the environment before an outbreak begins.

Jacqueline Linnes, assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, is developing a smart watch that monitors a person's health in real time. The device tracks physiological measurements, detects overdoses, and is connected to a smart phone that could call for help.

Gurneet Sangha, a fourth-year doctoral student at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, has received a Baxter Young Investigator Award. The award honors researchers who are focused on developing critical care therapies and medical products that save and sustain patients’ lives. Sangha is advised by Assistant Professor Craig Goergen.

PURSPEC Technologies Inc., whose miniature spectrometers may improve medical diagnosis and patient compliance by reducing the time needed to analyze samples, has opened offices in the Purdue Research Park. PURSPEC also has locations in Beijing and Shanghai.

Four students from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering took on the challenge of using engineering to try to save lives in Ecuador and other countries, and their efforts have been nationally recognized.