News: CBE

A biomanufacturing company spun out of Cornell research is seeking to rapidly translate an antibody therapy against COVID-19 by using cell-free biotechnology based on glycoengineered bacteria. And it could scale up the production 10 times faster than conventional methods. The company, SwiftScale Biologics, was co-founded by Matt DeLisa, the William L. Lewis Professor of Engineering in the Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and his longtime collaborator, Michael Jewett, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. Read more

Researchers from Cornell University have identified a possible target for antiviral treatment for COVID-19. The researchers initially set out to analyze the structure and characteristics of SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), with a focus on the spike protein – specifically the fusion peptide – that allows these viruses to infect cells by transferring their genome. As the current pandemic escalated, the researchers compared the biological sequences of the fusion peptides of SARS-CoV to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that... Read more

Bob Langer, ChemE '70, co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics, a company that develops treatments that leverage specialized transporter molecules in cells known as messenger RNAs. Messenger RNAs bring instructions from genes to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. By creating specially modified mRNA, Moderna believes it can develop therapies to treat and prevent a number of diseases in humans. http://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-companies-covid-19-0326 Read more

Bob Langer, ChemE '70, co-founder of Moderna Therapeutics, a company that develops treatments that leverage specialized transporter molecules in cells known as messenger RNAs. Messenger RNAs bring instructions from genes to the cellular machinery that makes proteins. By creating specially modified mRNA, Moderna believes it can develop therapies to treat and prevent a number of diseases in humans. http://news.mit.edu/2020/mit-companies-covid-19-0326 Read more

Founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, Robert F. Smith '85 will be honored with the College of Engineering's 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award later this spring. Read more

Lynden Archer, the James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor in Engineering and the David Croll Director of the Energy Systems Institute, said the transition to clean energy is inherently a systems problem that often has impact in unexpected places. He explained that renewable energy generation from solar and wind installations, have – in the last decade – reached price points that make them competitive without government subsidies Market penetration has been slow because the supply is variable and intermittent, said Archer, discussing a new rechargeable battery technology based on Earth... Read more

Prof. Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been selected to receive the 2020 Curtis W. McGraw Research Award by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The Curtis W. McGraw Research Award was established in 1957 with the initial assistance of the McGraw-Hill Book Company to recognize outstanding achievements by engineering college research workers and to encourage the continuance of such productivity. The annual award recognizes the significant achievements of engineering researchers and educators... Read more

Shaoyi Jiang, Ph.D. ’93, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington, has been named the first Robert S. Langer ’70 Family and Friends Professor at Cornell. Jiang will join the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering in July, in a professorship honoring one of the university’s most notable engineering alumni. Read more

Web of Science has released its 2019 list of Highly Cited Researchers, recognizing the world's most influential researchers of the past decade, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year. Among those listed are: Darrell Schlom, the Herbert Fisk Johnson Professor of Industrial Chemistry (MSE) David Muller, the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering (AEP) Debdeep Jena, the David E. Burr Professor of Engineering (ECE, MSE) Gennady Shvets, professor (AEP) Lynden Archer, the James A. Friend Family Distinguished Professor... Read more

"Physical Principles of Membrane Shape Regulation by the Glycocalyx" Brief synopsis: In Physical Principles of Membrane Shape Regulation by the Glycocalyx, published in Cell in Shurer et. al. model the glycocalyx as a classic polymer brush; and we show for the first time how glycocalyx biopolymers can drive membrane bending via an entropic force into various membrane morphologies including membrane projections and vesicles. Both intracellular dynamics and glycocalyx-imposed forces work together to regulate membrane shapes. Read more