September 2025
Welcome to the September Edition of the IIB Newsletter!
September marks an exciting season for the International Institute for Biosensing (IIB). This summer brought together researchers and innovators through interdisciplinary collaborations, engaging panels, and the launch of our official YouTube channel. Conversations spanned topics from wearable motion analysis to advances in sustainable agriculture and medical technology.
As we move into fall, IIB continues to expand its reach with international workshops, equity-focused forums, and expert lectures on the latest biosensing applications. Whether you join us in person or online, we invite you to discover the highlights and stay connected to the forefront of precision sensing.
IIB Continues to add to its YouTube Channel
In IIB’s YouTube channel now you can watch the recordings of the lecture series and presentations, if you have missed them. You can watch the recordings of the lecture series and presentations, click the button below to learn more and subscribe.
Learn more and subscribe
CE Credits Now Offered Through IIB & IEEE Collaboration
IIB is proud to announce a new collaboration with IEEE to offer Continuing Education (CE) credits for most of its upcoming Lecture Series. This partnership reflects our shared commitment to advancing professional development and lifelong learning in the biomedical and engineering communities. Participants attending eligible lectures will now have the opportunity to earn CE credits that support their ongoing certification and career growth.
For More info contact IIB
Precision Sensing Credly Badge offered for IIB Lecture Series
IIB is excited to announce that attendees of the IIB Lecture Series can now earn official "Precision Sensing" Credly badges! This digital badge is a recognition of your engagement with cutting-edge research and innovation in biosensing, smart diagnostics, and related fields. Once you've completed 6 hours, your badge will be issued via Credly, a trusted platform for digital credentials. Start collecting hours now — and showcase your expertise in Precision Sensing to your peers, networks, and future collaborators!
For More info contact IIB
Top News Stories
The News Stories section of the IIB newsletter features recent articles, announcements, and media coverage that spotlight the innovative work, collaborations, and achievements of the Institute for Integrative Biology community. It’s a quick way to stay informed on news that reflects the breadth and impact of our events, research and outreach.
Former Dean of Research and Innovation in BITS Pilani Visits IIB/UMN
International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) had the privilege of hosting Prof. Sanket Goel, former Dean of Research and Innovation (Institute-wide) and current Birla Chair Professor and Head [Center for Research Excellence in Semiconductor Technologies (CREST)] in BITS Pilani University, during a special visit to IIB and our campus. The visit marked an important milestone in building academic and research linkages between our institutions.
Upcoming Events
Join us for insightful seminars that delve into the world of biosensing and its foundational principles as well as its wide-ranging applications.
IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Leadership Summit
When: September 19, 2025
Where: Walter Library, UMN, US
The IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Leadership Summit seeks to provide a forum to women students, researchers, educators, engineers and leaders, innovators to discuss innovation, empowerment, entrepreneurship, leadership skills, and emerging/disruptive technology. Speakers will share real-life experiences, lessons learned and future outlook. This summit would provide a platform to identify opportunities for improvement, ways to tackle challenges, and networking. This event is not just limited to women, everyone is invited.
Save the Date Living Earth Twin: Harnessing the Exposome to Reimagine Sustainability”
When: November 5, 2025, 8:30 - 5 pm
Where: MISSISSIPPI Room, Twin Cities Campus
We are excited to announce that the International Institute for Biosensing (IIB) is to host a special session on “Living Earth Twin: Harnessing the Exposome to Reimagine Sustainability” as part of the BiosVerse™ Week (Nov 2–5, 2025) hosted by Biomimetic International.
This session will bring together leading experts, innovators, and changemakers from across disciplines to exchange ideas, identify challenges, and explore collaborations aimed at defining what it truly means to build a resilient system through the lens of exposomics and biosensing.
Resilience requires looking beyond human health alone. It calls for recognizing the interconnected well-being of humans, animals, nature, and even non-living systems—and for integrating diverse populations, viewpoints and data sources to create a complete picture.
Your perspective is essential. By joining, you will help shape how resilience is defined, explore methods for integrating multiple perspectives, and contribute to building pathways toward a healthier, more sustainable future.
More details and registration coming soon — stay tuned!
Institute for Engineering: Otto Schmitt Distinguished Lecture Series: "Understanding the mysteries of the cell: how many cell types arise from one genome"
Speaker: Dr. Stephen Quake, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Stanford University
When: October 14, 2025 (2:00 - 7:00 pm)
Where: UMN Health Sciences Education Center, Room 7150/2
Using Neural Signals to Optimize Neuromodulation Therapies to Treat Neurological Disease
When: September 8th, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Where: Walter Library
Professor Tay Netoff, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering. The Netoff lab is developing novel approaches for optimizing electrical stimulation to maximize outcomes for each patient.
AI at an Inflection Point: Catalyzing a New Era of Discovery
When: October 2nd, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Where: Walter Library
Prof. Vipin Kumar is a Regents Professor and holds the William Norris Chair in the department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research spans data mining, high- performance computing, and their applications in Climate/Ecosystems and health care. His research has resulted in the development of the concept of isoefficiency metric for evaluating the scalability of parallel algorithms, as well as highly efficient parallel algorithms and software for sparse matrix factorization (PSPASES) and graph partitioning (METIS, ParMetis, hMetis).
He has authored over 400 research articles, and co-edited or coauthored 11 books including two widely used text books ``Introduction to Parallel Computing "Introduction to Data Mining", and a recent edited collection, “Knowledge Guided Machine Learning”. Kumar's current major research focus is on knowledge-guided machine learning and its applications to understanding the impact of human induced changes on the Earth and its environment.. Kumar’s research on this topic has been funded by NSF’s AI Institute, BIGDATA, INFEWS, STC, GCR, and HDR programs, as well as ARPA-E, DARPA, and USGS. He also served as the Lead PI of a 5-year, $10 Million project, "Understanding Climate Change - A Data Driven Approach", funded by the NSF's Expeditions in Computing program (2010-2015).
Ethics of Robotics in Healthcare with Special Consideration for Women
When: November 10th, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Where: Walter Library
Professor Catherine McCarty, Associate Dean for Research at the Medical School, Duluth campus, University of Minnesota. Professor McCarty started her research career as the Head of the Epidemiology Research Unit at the University of Melbourne. During her eight years in this position, she led population-based studies of vision impairment in Australia, India, and Hong Kong. Upon returning to the US, Professor McCarty was the Principal Investigator for the Marshfield Clinic Personalized Medicine Research Project and conducted research in the areas of genetic epidemiology, pharmacogenetics, and community engagement related to biobanking. Professor McCarty currently conducts mixed-methods research in bioethics and rural health.
Learning Resources
Discover valuable learning resources to enhance your knowledge and skills with tools, courses, and materials to support your growth.
MSI Tutorials
The MSI Fall tutorial schedule has been posted, and registration for 15 tutorials is available immediately. Included among these tutorials are opportunities to earn two different badges from MSI: the “HPC User” badge and the “Transcriptomics” badge.
Computer Basics for the Agri-food Sector (self paced)
Are you a field or bench scientist and always wanted to feel more comfortable with your computing skills? These self-paced online courses are designed for those who have never used the command line, but realize that the responsibilities they have or will soon take on require them to automate tasks. Learn basic UNIX command-line skills, enable participants to work remotely on more powerful machines, create and run scripts to automate complex workflows, and synchronize your scripts with the larger community with Github.
- Introducing the GEMS platform + Jupyter Lab
- Demystifying the UNIX command line
- Working Remotely and Scheduling Jobs on MSI’s systems
- Synching your work with the community
Explicitly Accounting for Location in Agriculture in Python (self paced)
Learn how to work with spatial data in Python, starting from importing different spatial datasets and creating simple maps, to conducting basic geocomputation on vector and raster data.
Links
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