VINSE Faculty News

Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. William H. Fissell IV, is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an implantable artificial kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be… Read More

Cotton candy machines may hold the key for making life-sized artificial livers, kidneys, bones and other essential organs. For several years, Leon Bellan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University, has been tinkering with cotton candy machines, getting them to spin out networks of tiny threads… Read More

VINSE member Jason Valentine’s work published in Nature Communications was featured in Phys.org and Research News @ Vanderbilt 09/22/2015 “First circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip” Invention of the first integrated circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip opens the door for development of… Read More

Invention of the first integrated circularly polarized light detector on a silicon chip opens the door for development of small, portable sensors that could expand the use of polarized light for drug screening, surveillance, optical communications and quantum computing, among other potential applications. The new detector was developed by a… Read More

Every month or so an article comes out reporting that some new object has been made using 3D printing: Everything from jewelry to prosthetic devices to electronic circuit boards to assault rifles to automobiles has now been created in this fashion. The prospect that this revolutionary manufacturing method will have… Read More

Washington, DC, June 25, 2015 – Eighty-nine of the nation’s brightest young engineers have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 21st annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) symposium. Engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing exceptional engineering research and technical work in a variety of disciplines… Read More

VINSE member Jason Valentine’s work published in ACS Photonics was featured in C&EN magazine and Nature Materials 06/15/2015 “Simple Process Creates Near-Perfect Mirrors Out Of A Metamaterial Photonics: A layer of self-assembled particles allows researchers to etch an almost-perfect reflector that might be used in telescopes and lasers out… Read More

Take gold spirals about the size of a dime…and shrink them down about six million times. The result is the world’s smallest continuous spirals: “nano-spirals” with unique optical properties that would be almost impossible to counterfeit if they were added to identity cards, currency and other important objects. Students and… Read More

Vanderbilt University mechanical engineer Leon Bellan is working to create artificial human capillary blood vessels using cotton candy and gelatin. His goal is for researchers to use these man-made capillaries to help keep artificial organs and other tissues alive, which could dramatically impact the field of regenerative medicine. Vascular toolbox… Read More

Fifteen faculty members hailing from a diverse cross section of disciplines have been selected as the first cohort of the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program. “The strong commitment to education, discovery and care demonstrated by these faculty members is having an enormous impact on Vanderbilt and its mission of serving… Read More