Human-Machine

The leading cause of death in Texas is heart disease, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, accounting for more than 45,000 deaths statewide in 2017. A new wearable technology made from stretchy, lightweight material could make heart health monitoring easier and more accurate than existing electrocardiograph machines — a technology that has changed little in almost a century.

To model human health and disease, organ-on-a-chip technology mimics the human body’s organ structure, functionality and physiology in a controlled environment. These miniature systems, which serve as accurate models of various organs from the heart and lungs to the gut and the kidneys, can use a patient’s own cells to test drugs and understand disease processes to help determine the right treatment for the right patient.

Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering's McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering have engineered "antibody-like" T cell receptors that can specifically stick to cells infected with cytomegalovirus, or CMV, a virus that causes lifelong infection in more than half of all adults by age 40. These receptors represent a new potential treatment option, could aid the development of CMV vaccines and might also be used to target brain tumors.

The first study investigating the mechanism of how a disease develops using human organ-on-a-chip technology has been successfully completed by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin.

A cross-disciplinary team of researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new kind of electronic tattoo that monitors bodily functions and signals from the heart and brain.

For many of the thousands of women who undergo mastectomies each year due to breast cancer, part of the healing process is breast reconstruction. However, reconstruction can be an arduous process based primarily on the surgeon’s own experience and skill. It can take multiple surgeries to get it right, and patients often face an overwhelming series of decisions with a number of options and conflicting preferences.

In 2014 the Seton Brain and Spine Recovery Center came to Cockrell School assistant professor James Sulzer with a problem. Their patients were performing shoulder exercises incorrectly and subjecting themselves to further injury, a particular issue for patients with spinal cord injuries.

A team of researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a method for producing inexpensive and high-performing wearable patches that can continuously monitor the body’s vital signs for human health and performance tracking, potentially outperforming traditional monitoring tools such as cardiac event monitors.

Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a first-of-its kind, two-armed, robotic rehabilitation exoskeleton that could provide a new method of high-quality, data-driven therapy to patients suffering from spinal and neurological injuries.

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has chosen Mia K. Markey to receive the 2015 ASEE Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering, which recognizes and honors outstanding women engineering educators.

A non-invasive, 3-in-1 skin cancer detection device developed by researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin took home top honors in the "Sci-Fi No Longer" category at the 18th annual SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards on March 17.

Engineers and surgeons at UT come together to improve the patient experience

Inside the Cockrell School’s Texas Inventionworks studio, engineers immediately galvanized into action to create customized 3D-printed masks during COVID-19.

Self-quantification is making major strides in the consumer and commercial health care industries, and alumna Jackie Leverett Wasson has her finger on the pulse of this technological breakthrough.

More so than any other generation, Gen Z students are eager to get out of the classroom and learn in the real world.

Thanks to Luis Sentis and the amazing work happening in his Human Centered Robotics Laboratory, the same type of balance and “natural” control that humans use may soon be experienced by robots.

Teams of faculty and students are focusing on the brain — drawing on their problem-solving skills and creating new technologies to tackle, among others, four of the most common life-threatening brain conditions.