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Since Watson and Crick’s discovery of the structure of DNA, the pace of scientific discovery in life sciences has grown exponentially. This is partly due to the amazing development of technologies, especially in the areas of data acquisition and data analysis.

The advent of microarray technologies, nanotechnology and DNA sequencing techniques have generated massive amounts of data, which would have taken lifetimes to be processed without the power of computers. It has been said that life sciences will be the most computer-intensive scientific field of the 21st century.

The challenges to analyze such data may be recent in the field of life sciences, but tools and solutions already existed in the fields of engineering, mathematics, statistics and computer science. Presented here is a small subset of examples that show how several engineering fields can come together to bring solutions for life sciences’ challenges.

In the News – Security and Safety of Medical Devices

As medical devices (especially embedded devices) become increasingly “smart,” equipped with wireless interfaces, and part of networked systems, the potential for malicious access that can compromise patients’ privacy and possibly endanger their lives is of growing concern. While ease of access to these devices can …

The Future of Pharmaceuticals Could Be Electronic Implants

NOTE: This is an overview of an article which appeared in the IEEE Spectrum online on July 26, 2013 Click here to read the entire article.
Technology is advancing exponentially in many disciplines, and it may soon impact medical research in a big way. Imagine a …

Molecular Flashlight reveals brain tumors

NOTE: This is an overview of the entire article, which appeared on Stanford School of Medicine’s web site on August 12, 2012. Click here to read the entire article.
Stanford University researchers Jennifer Cochran and Matthew Scott have created a bioengineered peptide that enables imaging of …