Skip to main content

College of Engineering news

Biomedical engineering students Ruffin Bryant and Noah Kalthoff
March 12, 2026

Can AI ease surgeons’ workload? A UW-Madison student startup thinks so

Since they returned to Madison in mid-January for the spring 2026 semester, roommates Ruffin Bryant and Noah Kalthoff have settled into a familiar—if busy—rhythm. Mornings: Class, like most of their fellow biomedical engineering majors at…

Badgers in Themed Entertainment student org members
March 11, 2026

In the loop: New student organization is taking Badgers for a ride

Only the nerdiest among us take our first steps into Disneyland or Universal Studios and exclaim, “What a feat of engineering!” But maybe more of us should. Theme parks (or “themed entertainment,” for those in…

Mehmet Orman
January 28, 2026

Focus on new faculty: Mehmet Orman uncovers secrets of drug-tolerant ‘persister’ cells

Genetic mutations can yield antibiotic-resistant bacteria that stifle medical treatments, drive recurrence of disease and cause patient deaths. But there’s another, lesser-known way bacterial cells can thwart antibiotics—by essentially playing possum. “Persister” cells lie low…

Randy Bartels
January 21, 2026

‘Quantum imaging’ could open new window to nanoscale universe

As spectacular as modern imaging can be in illuminating the tiniest aspects of life, some avenues of biology are still cloaked in darkness. Biological processes that happen over long periods of time—for example, exchanges of…

Monica Ohnsorg
January 14, 2026

Focus on new faculty: Monica Ohnsorg connects polymer science to biomedical research

As a ninth grader in Chanhassen, Minnesota, outside of Minneapolis, Monica Ohnsorg took an aptitude exam that pointed her toward a career as a biomedical engineer. Now, nearly two decades later, she’s starting her career…

Assistant Professor Michael Biehler talks with students during the 2025 Hackathon/Makerthon.
October 10, 2025

Hackathon Makerthon brings students together to solve industry challenges

Sleep was on Nicolas Greaves and his groupmates’ to-do list. But, with motors to test, force calculations to crunch, prototype components to 3D print and more, the tasks kept stacking up. In the end, Greaves…

Professor Krishanu Saha works in his lab
October 9, 2025

CRISPR with a ‘dimmer’ could elevate precision gene editing

In an ideal world, after the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool enters a cell’s nucleus and cuts its targeted slice of DNA, it would disappear. “You don’t want the Cas9 protein to stick around too long,” says…

Stock image for digital technology
October 8, 2025

New tool interrogates machine learning models to uncover disease-leading biomarker interactions

Yang Lu likes to say that searching the human genotype for a biomarker of a given disease is akin to trying to find a needle in a haystack. Or, more accurately, needles—the set of biomarker…

Dan Pham
October 1, 2025

Researchers look to advanced metabolic imaging to improve cancer immunotherapy

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is transforming cancer care for patients with cancers of the blood, but has proven especially challenging to develop against solid tumors. Researchers at the Morgridge Institute and UW–Madison…

Recent graduate Samir Rosas (PhDBME ’25) and PhD student Shovasis Kumar Biswas
September 25, 2025

Sensor shines light on potential biomarkers for ovarian cancer

When doctors diagnose ovarian cancer at an early stage, patients have a five-year survival rate of better than 90%, according to the American Cancer Society. That rate plummets as the disease progresses to further stages….