the Ontogen Medtech Biomedical Innovation Scholarship is intended to support promising biomedical engineering students who are passionate about building real-world medical devices and contributing to patient impact—especially students pursuing hands-on product development, manufacturing, and commercialization pathways. Applications due August 31

We are very proud to announce that fifteen Berkeley Bioengineers are receiving NSF Graduate Research Fellowships this year – one of the most competitive and prestigious awards for early-career PhD students. Congratulations to graduating seniors Esha Ananth, Emilie Petit and Christopher Zavala; recent BS alumni Sina Ghandian ’21, Pamela Herrera ’25, Cassandra Reyes ’24, Hanen…

PhD student James Pai, a member of Iain Clark's lab, is one of only 30 outstanding graduate students in the US who received a 2026 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The Soros Fellowship is a highly competitive award for immigrants and children of immigrants who are poised to make significant contributions to American society.

Professor Michael Yartsev has been named to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 101st Class of Fellows for his trailblazing work in neuroscience and neuroengineering. One of the country's most prestigious awards, fellowships are given to innovators in a wide range of disciplines with a monetary stipend allowing them to pursue independent work at the highest level under “the freest possible conditions.”

Congratulations to all of our 2026 Grad Slam finalists! Nadja Michelle Maldonada Luna took 3rd place at UCSF on April 7, and Kavita Parekh and Grace Hu competed at Berkeley on April 8, with Kavita winning the People’s Choice prize. Amazing work showcasing a passion for their research!

Congratulations to Bioengineering Department Manager Janna Conway-Hamilton, recipient of a 2026 UC Berkeley Excellence in Management Award. This year’s theme, “Leading Through Uncertainty: Vision, Resilience, and Mission-Driven Leadership,” highlights managers who foster environments of steadiness and courage. Congratulations Janna!

Congratulations to Professor Steve Conolly for his well-deserved receipt of the 2026 Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award at UC Berkeley. This award recognizes his many years of work as Head Graduate Advisor for the UC Berkeley - UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering, where he has advised literally hundreds of students with a sympathetic ear, constructive criticism/feedback, and sound advice rooted in many years of experience. Professor Conolly is trusted, candid, and cares deeply about our graduate students.

Recent research from Professor Derfogail Delcassian's lab explores how the stiffness of swollen lymph nodes increases the strength, but decreases the precision, of cancer-killing immune cells.

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Professor Phil Messersmith explained all about adhesives on the family science podcast, Brains On!

Congratulations to bioengineering MEng alumna Brontë Kolar, named to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30! Kolar co-founded Zeon Systems, a company using natural language AI with intelligent robots to automate repetitive and time-consuming lab work.

A research project on "the protein code of brain aging: from molecules to mechanisms," by Professor Amy Herr has been selected for a Weill Neurohub Investigator Award. The Investigators program funds top faculty to form cross-campus, interdisciplinary teams to explore, create, and test bold new concepts and technologies.

Congratulations to BioE PhD students Alonso Torres and Stephanie Brener! Torres received a 2026 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars at UCSF, and Brener and Honorable Mention.

Congratulations to bioengineering’s Master’s Programs Manager Joy Ahn! Joy has been received a 2025 Excellence in Advising and Student Services Award for her outstanding support of our master’s students.

Researchers from Adam Arkin's lab, funded by a grant from the Dept. of Health and Human Services, have engineered colonies of good bacteria that can be inhaled to crowd out pathogenic bacteria and combat lung infections without antibiotics.