News & Events

05-17-17

Engineers at the Optical Imaging Laboratory led by Professor Lihong Wang have developed an imaging technology that could help surgeons removing breast cancer lumps confirm that they have cut out the entire tumor—reducing the need for additional surgeries. “What if we could get rid of the waiting? With 3D photoacoustic microscopy, we could analyze the tumor right in the operating room, and know immediately whether more tissue needs to be removed,” Professor Wang explains. [Caltech story]

Tags: EE research highlights MedE Lihong Wang

05-10-17

Lihong Wang, Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, and colleagues are now able to take a live look at the inner workings of a small animal with enough resolution to see active organs, flowing blood, circulating melanoma cells, and firing neural networks. "Photoacoustic tomography combines light and sound synergistically for high-resolution imaging of molecular contrast," says Professor Wang. [Caltech story] [Read the paper]

Tags: EE research highlights MedE Lihong Wang

04-13-17

Hyuck Choo, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute, and colleagues have developed an eye implant for glaucoma patients that could one day lead to more timely and effective treatment. Professor Choo has developed a passive system that eschews electronics and so needs no batteries and has no antennae. At just 600–800 micrometers in diameter, the sensor is the width of a few strands of hair. [Caltech story]

Tags: EE research highlights MedE Hyuck Choo

03-28-17

The Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering (MedE) is the first Caltech department to be named and endowed. “We are here to build the American dream, but not just for us. We want to give to the right cause, and medical engineering will help others. I see Caltech helping to create a bright future ahead,” says Caltech trustee Peggy Cherng. Founded in 2013, the MedE department brings together scientists and engineers from across campus to improve medical diagnostic and treatment strategies. [Gift announcement] [Dedication slideshow]

Tags: MedE Andrew Cherng Peggy Cherng

03-10-17

Using a combination of light and sound, Professor Lihong Wang is noninvasively peering deeper inside biological tissues than previously possible. His team uses three-dimensional photoacoustic microscopy and functional photoacoustic computed tomography to generate detailed color images of tumors and other structures inside the body. [Interview with Prof. Wang]

Tags: EE research highlights MedE Lihong Wang

12-22-16

Andrei Faraon, Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and colleagues have developed a system of flat optical lenses that can be easily mass-produced and integrated with image sensors, paving the way for cheaper and lighter cameras in everything from cell phones to medical devices. [Caltech story]

Tags: APhMS research highlights MedE Andrei Faraon

12-19-16

Julia R. Greer, Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, and colleagues have measured for the first time the strength of lithium metal at the nano- and microscale, a discovery with important implications for suppressing dendrite formation and improving lithium-ion batteries.  [Caltech story]

Tags: APhMS research highlights MedE MCE Julia Greer

12-15-16

Morteza Gharib, Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Bioinspired Engineering; Director, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, has received the 2016 Rotary Humanitarian STAR Award from the Rotary Club of Sierra Madre. The award honors outstanding humanitarian achievements in science and technology.

Tags: honors GALCIT MedE Morteza Gharib

12-13-16

Yu-Chong Tai, Anna L. Rosen Professor of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering; Executive Officer for Medical Engineering, has been named fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He works on miniature biomedical devices including drug pumps, retinal implants, spinal cord implants, and more. He recently developed a device to count white blood cells that requires just a pinprick's worth of blood and processes samples in minutes. Election as an NAI fellow is an honor bestowed upon academic innovators and inventors who have "demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions and innovations that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society." [Caltech story] [NAI release]

Tags: EE honors MedE Yu-Chong Tai MCE

10-10-16

Changhuei Yang, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Medical Engineering, and colleagues have created the visual analogue of noise-canceling headphones—a camera system that can obtain images of objects obscured by murky media, such as fog or clouds, by canceling out the glare. Their device selectively cancels the scattered light, leaving only the light that is reflected or bounced off the objects and has slipped back through the murk unmolested. [Caltech story]

Tags: EE research highlights Changhuei Yang MedE