SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING • BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER • 2016
PEOPLE
RESEARCH
INNOVATION
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Greetings! I am thrilled to present Tulane University's Biomedical Engineering Fall 2016 Newsletter. There is so much to present! Since our last newsletter we've hired three new faculty members - Kristin Miller (Penn/Yale), Carolyn Bayer (UT Austin), and Katherine Raymond (Tulane). These new faculty members build upon our strengths in Biomechanics, Biomedical Signals and Systems, and Design. Alas, Professors Cedric Walker and San Aung have retired, though Cedric failed his retirement and has been hard at work developing Tulane's MakerSpace, a modern resource that will help Tulane's students to design and fabricate. Donald Gaver has served as the Biomedical Engineering Department Chair for the past ten years. His laboratory research aims to develop an understanding of the interrelationships between the mechanical and physicochemical behavior of biological systems with a primary focus on the investigations of the pulmonary system. “It is my intent to use this understanding to help, either directly or indirectly, the development of improved therapies for pulmonary disease.�
Meanwhile, our sponsored research is at historically high levels. Within these pages you will find descriptions of projects that enhance scholarship in fundamental and applied science and engineering; build upon our understanding of society's needs (through a site and multiple individual I-Corps grants, for example), and extend our capacity to develop biomedical devices and technologies. This provides exceptional opportunities for students, who are voting their approval with their feet -- we have some of the largest BME classes ever. While not all is perfect (e.g. resource constraints), it is a great time to be at Tulane BME! I hope this newsletter will pique your interest in our department. But, nothing can replace the active learning that can occur with a visit to our campus (and everybody enjoys their time in New Orleans). If you are planning to be in the area, please email me at dpg@tulane.edu so we can arrange a visit. Sincerely,
Donald Gaver Alden J. 'Doc' Laborde Professor and Chair Department of Biomedical Engineering
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Dr. Cedric F. Walker Retires!
PEOPLE
In April 2015, Dr. Walker gave his final lecture, but not to worry, he has been on campus every day since. During the lecture, Cedric reflected upon the long lasting impacts made by his mentors throughout his childhood and career. Dr. Walker’s accolades and contributions go without mentioning, but what is most impressive is all that he did for students that no one else knew about. “His unique style and openness allowed for particularly unique ‘Dr. Walker moments’ that had a profound impact on my time at Tulane, even before enrolling.” – a former student
After 40 years of inspiring students, it makes sense that he is still showing up. Dr. Walker was the first hire of the department in 1977 and his “students come first” mantra helped shape our culture. University professors are entrusted to be advocates for the students and Dr. Walker is the first one to speak up. His legacy in the department is most exemplified by his lasting influence moving forward. The foundation and focus on students that Dr. Walker helped create has not changed and our faculty’s willingness to re-evaluate our teaching is what continues to make biomedical engineering at Tulane unique. While he is retired from biomedical engineering, Dr. Walker has been charged with developing Tulane’s MakerSpace. The Dean of the School of Science and Engineering claims Dr. Walker was bored and Dr. Walker remembers that the school needed help with renovating the outdated mechanical engineering machine shop. Regardless of which story is true, who else would be better to invigorate students? The MakerSpace, which officially opened this fall, is now an interdisciplinary studentcentric hub for design, invention, innovation and fabrication. Dr. Walker’s vision is to come in the morning and see two students working side by side – one engineer and one artist – and each of them learning from the other.
“I have been on the faculty for forty years and no one at any funding agency has come back to me to thank me, but I can’t tell you how often students have.” Cedric F. Walker
“Back in the days of chalk, Cedric had been known for throwing a piece or two at slumbering students. His aim was decent, though he did miss his mark on a few occasions. I recall once Cedric scored a double when he chucked a piece at a slumped over senior, only to have the chalk bounce off the student and hit Ed Wachtel’s dog, who was also napping.” – a former student Dr. Walker enjoyed his career in biomedical engineering so much that he claims he would have shown up every day without being paid. So, I guess we all need to still watch out for flying chalk! After his final lecture, Dr. Walker was presented with an “anchor” symbolizing his foundational contributions to biomedical engineering at Tulane.
The Tulane MakerSpace is a beacon of creativity and technological innovation, the first of its kind at Tulane. A 1,000 square-foot ideation gallery rises above 3,000 square feet of shop floor fitted with high-volume modern prototyping tools alongside traditional hand and power tools.
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PEOPLE THREE NEW FACULTY JOIN THE DEPARTMENT Dr. Kristin Miller Dr. Miller joined our biomedical engineering department as an assistant professor in July 2014. Her research interests span from orthopedics to women's reproductive health, and she is already nationally recognized as a leader in her field. Symbolic of her laboratory’s locations within both the School of Science and Engineering and the School of Medicine, Dr. Miller's laboratory will combine computational and experimental approaches to better understand the importance of soft tissue mechanics in tissue engineering and regeneration. Before arriving at Tulane, Dr. Miller was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. She received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University. When she is not in the laboratory or the classroom, you can usually find her playing water polo, swimming, or trying to find some waves to body surf.
Dr. Carolyn Bayer Dr. Bayer joined our biomedical engineering department as an assistant professor in January 2016. Her research focuses on the development of novel medical imaging methods to study the dynamics of molecular expression and physiological function. Dr. Bayer’s work integrates ultrasound and contrastenhanced photoacoustic imaging systems, including the development of algorithms for functional and molecular photoacoustic imaging and the evaluation of photoacoustic and ultrasound contrast agents. A key focus of her laboratory’s imaging technology is the functional and molecular environment during compromised pregnancies and the development of birth defects. Before arriving at Tulane, Dr. Bayer was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also received her doctoral degree. When she is not in the laboratory or teaching Biomedical Electronics, you can find her traveling and developing her photography skills.
Dr. Katherine Raymond Dr. Raymond joined our department over the summer of 2016 as a Professor of Practice. Dr. Raymond, who received her Ph.D. from Tulane’s Department of Civil Engineering, is teaching Statics, Mechanics of Materials, and Product and Experimental Design. Dr. Raymond will also be leading our departmental initiative to strengthen ties and opportunities with industry. She is one of the first professors whom our students learn from in our department and we are lucky to have her!
Dr. San Aung Retires after 27 Years (May 2016) Dr. San Aung, a Professor of Practice in our department, retired after teaching at Tulane for nearly three decades. Dr. Aung was first a faculty member in the Department of Civil Engineering and joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering after Hurricane Katrina and has been a leader and model for teaching excellence. Most recently, he has been responsible for teaching Statics and Mechanics of Materials courses. Originally from Burma, Dr. Aung’s contributions and standards of excellence are already missed. He is currently residing in Chicago with his son, Myat. Dr. Aung (R) poses with Robert Bruce (L), a longtime colleague, at his retirement celebration.
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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Stephanie Kute, PhD
PEOPLE
Stephanie Kute is one of our esteemed graduates from the last millennium who has had a career path that is an excellent model for our students and faculty. Originally from Louisville KY, Stephanie matriculated to Tulane in 1991 and completed her BSE and MSE degrees in Biomedical Engineering. We caught up with Stephanie and asked her about her recollections and recommendations to current students. Q: What are some of your memorable experiences? A: I have many great memories hanging out with my fellow Women in Science and Engineering on the 3rd floor of Butler dorm freshman year attempting to solve the worlds' problems, or at least the latest physics assignment - late into the night. We worked hard and played hard. We also flipped our circadian rhythm during spring break, which coincided with Mardi Gras that year, sleeping all day and enjoying parades and French Quarter revelries until dawn. The summer after sophomore year, I did an internship in the math department - my first opportunity to interact with PhD students who were studying for their candidacy exam. I remember thinking 'I'll never take a test that requires studying for it all summer.' Little did I know I would make that very choice a few years later. [Note: Stephanie chose to work in Math on the same project she would have done in BME, but found that Math paid better. It was at this time that her business acumen became obvious to her advisor!] Junior year abroad in Southampton England was full of memories, traveling all over Europe on the weekends and term breaks, as well as navigating a different engineering and medical school academic environment complete with exotic British pronunciations ("skeletal" muscle) and terminology ("nought" instead of zero). Q: What research did you conduct at Tulane, and did it have any bearing on your career choice? A: For my MSE research, I investigated the adhesion dynamics of particles flowing through channels using a computational model with Dr. Gaver as my advisor. We published a paper together that’s been cited in over 160 different publications. Applications for the model ranged from environmental (bioremediation) to medical (thrombosis in blood vessels). Throughout the process, I realized that I was much more drawn to the medical application, especially the cardiovascular field. It also helped clarify that while I enjoyed computational work, I wanted to try coupling it with hands-on time in the lab. Q: What did you do after graduating from Tulane? A: I applied to jobs at NASA while exploring graduate school options and ultimately went to the University of Pittsburgh for a PhD in Bioengineering. My dissertation focused on cardiovascular biomechanics and included both experimental and computational models related to the cellular response of different bypass graft geometries. During my studies I also worked part time at the hospital as an artificial heart engineer. Q: What has your career path been? My career has centered around new product development
of medical devices. In 2002 I joined Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company in New Jersey, working primarily in the lab testing prototypes of minimally invasive surgical instruments for cardiovascular procedures. I then moved to a project management role in the women's health group and found my true passion. After managing projects in Ethicon's core business, sutures, I took an opportunity in 2008 to join Battelle in Columbus, Ohio where I could lead teams developing a broader range of technologies for numerous different pharmaceutical and medical device companies. I also spent a couple years immersed in data analytics for mobile health applications for both commercial and government markets. Now, as Manager of project leaders, I'm ultimately accountable for project execution and proposal development for Battelle's medical device business. Q: What advice do you have for undergrads? A: Take advantage of as many opportunities as you can. College is the time to try out new activities, meet new people, explore new thoughts. And if there's something you don't enjoy or don't do well, after you have given it an honest try, move on to the next option. Q: What is your advice for those who want to follow your path? A: Find your passion and stick with it. From the beginning, BME was all I wanted to study. I had no idea what the path to a career would be but I sought out and took opportunities along the way - internship on campus after sophomore year, NSF graduate fellowship, reaching out to a Pitt alumni at J&J while I was job searching. Q: What do you wish you had known when you were a student? A: How many medical device companies exist and the correspondingly high number of industry career and internship opportunities. Q: What is the first thing you think about when you think about Tulane? A: Palm trees and blue skies under which I spent many hours studying and hanging out with friends. Q: How have you stayed in contact with Tulane? A: Since graduating, I have stayed involved with Tulane by being a member of the Advisory Board for the Department of Biomedical Engineering since 2010. I have spoken at a couple student events – Dr. Rice’s retirement symposium and a BMES meeting. I was also a Reunion Committee Co-Chair last year as our class celebrated our 20th reunion. Q: Do you have any other comments? A: Tulane was also instrumental in my personal life. I developed life long friendships with roommates and classmates, professors and most importantly, my husband, a Tulane BME PhD! We have 2 wonderful daughters, Sarina (12) and Sierra (7). [Advisor Note: this is what happens when you put two great students together in a 10’ x 10’ office with desks 3ft apart]. TULANE BME NEWSLETTER 4
PEOPLE CURRENT STUDENTS JOY JASON Despite being born in Southeastern Louisiana, Joy Jason never considered Tulane a possibility until talking to a Tulane Biomedical Engineering graduate, Gisele Calderon ’12. Hearing from Gisele about the research opportunities that were available as an undergraduate caused Joy to take a look at Tulane BME and the more she saw, the more she loved. Joy Jason was homeschooled and science consisted of ‘taking scales to the state capital to study acceleration and dissections at the dining room table’. Joy has a passion for experimentation and wanted to find a major that would allow her to pursue that passion. Once she visited Tulane and learned of all the classes she would be able to take she knew it was the place for her. Joy discovered a love for design in Products and Experimental Design. Her favorite class has been Dr. Dancisak’s Anatomy and Physiology, working in a cadaver lab has solidified her ‘respect and awe for the human body’. She was able to take the lab a step further in Grand Challenges by doing a mock knee replacement and found it incredible to see what ‘the body can withstand and recover’ from. Joy plans to graduate in May 2017 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Physics. She is exploring her options in the work force but is also considering becoming a nun for the Catholic Church. While at Tulane Joy has been a member of the Women’s Swimming and Diving team. She has also been active at the Tulane Catholic Center and with Students for Life. She has enjoyed exploring the beauty and history of the city by visiting many of the churches in the area. Her favorite way to pass the weekend is settling down with a cup of coffee and a good textbook. This past April Joy won the Alpha Eta Mu Beta Outstanding Student Award, given each year to a junior based on outstanding scholarship.
LINA QUIJANO LUQUE Regrowing a digit after amputation is the focus of research being done by Lina M. Quijano Luque, a graduate student in the Ahsan laboratory and winner of the 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. After graduating as a biologist, Lina’s introduction to the biomedical field was a master’s program in Biomedical Sciences at Universidad de los Andes in her native country, Colombia. After finishing her master’s degree, Lina worked for several years performing research developing regenerative vascular grafts and confirmed tissue engineering and regenerative medicine was the field she wanted to pursue. She decided to do a PhD in Biomedical Engineering to learn how to apply engineering principles to solve biological problems and therefore be better prepared to contribute to the biomedical field. Lina 5 TULANE BME NEWSLETTER
chose Tulane University after learning about the interesting research being done in the Ahsan laboratory. She knew Tulane would be a great fit after reading about the Biomedical Engineering Department and the city of New Orleans. Lina is studying epimorphic regeneration, the process of regrowing limbs after amputation. This field is usually studied in lower vertebrates such as salamanders, however, evidence of human epimorphic regeneration potential after amputation at the distal digital tip reported in some clinical cases, encouraged the study of this process in mammals. By focusing on understanding the cellular and molecular cues that control regeneration and scar formation, Lina would like to modulate microenvironmental cues to transform non-regenerative processes into regenerative-permissive events that could lead to the regrowth of an amputated structure. Lina’s graduate
studies are supported by a Fulbright Scholarship and after graduation, Lina plans to return to Colombia and start her own lab in epimorphic regeneration. While still in New Orleans, she will continue to enjoy the kind people, amazing food and great music it has to offer. She enjoys playing volleyball and cooking while spending time with friends and family.
PEOPLE Biomedical Engineering Seniors Celebrate Graduation
On May 14th, 2016 our biomedical engineering seniors celebrated their degrees and the start of their next adventures. Here are just some of their reflections: "When I joined Tulane's Department of Biomedical Engineering as a sophomore, I felt like I was part of a team again. I've built lifelong relationships with both my classmates and professors, which I am very thankful for." “From learning from world class professors to receiving hands on lab experience Tulane's department of biomedical engineering offers its students a fantastic undergraduate education.” “The Biomedical Engineering department at Tulane did not only provide me with an incredible engineering curriculum but gave me the skills I needed to become a professional in just 4 short years. The innovative programs that the department has implemented, such as internships with local start-ups, gave me real world experience while I was just an undergrad and I am immensely grateful for that.”
"The program gives a strong background in mechanical, chemical, electrical, and computational engineering, that when combined with biological instruction, gives a unique education with a wide variety of applications. Engaging professors create an environment for motivated students to push themselves and succeed." “The most important characteristics of my BME education were learning how to think critically and work intelligently with others. After graduating, I feel empowered as a young engineer and prepared to develop tomorrow's technology.” “The Biomedical Engineering department has the most unique camaraderie of any other department at Tulane. You leave the department with more than an engineering education - you leave with a close-knit support system and some of the best memories of your college career.”
Grant Supports Student Innovation Five student/faculty groups received $50,000 each through National Science Foundation Innovation-Corps grants to pursue the marketability of their inventions. Watch for more to follow in future newsletters.
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INNOVATION Lars Gilbertson is instructor of “Biomedical Engineering Team Design,” a capstone upper-tier service learning course with community partners St. Margaret’s and Team Gleason. His academic interests are centered on design and service and their interrelationships, and he is committed to bolstering design to better serve the dynamic New Orleans innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Dr. Gilbertson was recruited to Tulane in 2011 after a 15-year career in academic medical research.
Dr. Lars Gilbertson is Leading Design and reinforce the burgeoning life sciences industry of New Orleans and surrounding region, as well as to strengthen Tulane’s commitment to STEM education, women and underrepresented minorities, global health initiatives, and service to persons with disabilities. Exemplifying Dr. Gilberton’s and the department’s ongoing innovations in design, senior student teams over the past 2 years have addressed problem such as head support for an ALS patient requiring tracheal intubation, a device to monitor obesity, a bioreactor for cell and tissue engineering, a sensor array to monitor pressure sore occupancy during surgery, a device
to permit precision cauterization during sinus surgery, and a design to clear the obstructed-neonatal trachea. In conjunction with Tulane’s Office of Technology Transfer, teams commonly file provisional patent applications for their novel designs. Each year faculty and staff, along with representatives from the medical device industry, attend the Biomedical Engineering Senior Team Design Show. Of particular note in 2015, Isak Bukhman, a world renowned leader in the development and implementation of the advanced TRIZ design paradigm, was in attendance, remarking “They get it!.” Kudos to our seniors and Professor Gilbertson!
He recently co-led a Tulane Biomedical Engineering student team in a human-centered design & venture capital pitch competition sponsored by the Coulter Foundation and completed introductory training and certification in TRIZ Russian design methodology. As a NewDay Professorship & Carnegie Fellow, Dr. Gilberston is actively involved in connecting and combining design-related sectors in New Orleans to develop innovative solutions in assistive devices and medical technology. Dr. Lars Gilbertson was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to establish and direct the Tulane Innovation-Corps Site for a Resurgent New Orleans. The Tulane I-Corps Site is expected to expand economic development
Over the past 2 years, Dr. Gilberton's senior student teams have tackled a variety of problems ranging from designing a device to monitor obesity to a device that permits precision cauterization during sinus surgery.
BMEN Alumni Win Tulane Business Plan Competition Nisoltus Medical, a company made up of 2015 graduates, Chris Sloas, Leah Gerber, Scott Stewart, Clayton Ford and Conor Vickers, won this year’s top prize at the Tulane Business Plan Competition for their Sensifoam technology. The team was mentored by BME alumnus Dr. James Korndorffer and Dr. Lars Gilbertson. The team developed Sensifoam, a device that adheres to patients during operations and transmits data to alert surgeons to the possibility of pressure ulcers, more commonly known as bedsores.
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RESEARCH Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publication Highlights Ryans J, Fujioka H, Halpern D, Gaver DP. Reduced-Dimension Modeling Approach for Simulating Recruitment/De-recruitment Dynamics in the Lung. Ann Biomed Eng. 2016 Jun 8 [Epub ahead of print]. Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a pulmonary disease that requires the use of mechanical ventilation for patient recovery. However, this can lead to development of ventilator-induced lung injury caused by the over-distension of alveolar tissue and by the repetitive closure (de-recruitment) and reopening (recruitment) of airways. In this study, we developed a multi-scale model of the lung from a reduced-dimension approach to investigate the dynamics of ventilation in the lung during airway collapse and reopening. This model provides an approach that has the ability to simulate normal and pathophysiological lung conditions with the potential to be used in personalized clinical medicine.
Kristin S. Miller, Ramak Khosravi, Christopher K. Breuer, Jay D. Humphrey. A Hypothesis-Driven Parametric Study of Effects of Polymeric Scaffold Properties on Tissue Engineered Neovessel Formation. Acta Biomaterialia 11(1):283-294.2015.
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Characterize the scaffold: 1. Degradation rate 2. Porosity 3. Material property 4. Fiber diameter 5. Pore size 6. Alignment
mathematically model “compliance mismatch”
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Advances in tissue engineering of vascular grafts have enabled a paradigm shift from adequate suture retention, burst pressure and thrombo-resistance to the goal of achieving grafts with near native properties, including growth potential. To achieve this outcome will require grafts with optimal, not adequate, scaffold material properties and structure. Towards this end, we present a modeling framework for in vivo vascular graft evolution that allows one to assess in silico the potential consequences of different combinations of scaffold properties. Leveraging this model, we can begin to move towards the rational design of tissue engineered vascular grafts to focus experimental efforts on those designs predicted to have the closest native properties. 15
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Predict in vivo evolution of stiffness: model (solid lines), native vein (filled circles), and varied parameter (along direction of arrows)
Jian Fang, Dongdong Lin, Charles Schultz, Zongben Xu, Vince Calhoun and Yu-Ping Wang. Joint Sparse Canonical Correlation Analysis for Detecting Differential Imaging Genetics Modules. Bioinformatics (2016). First published online: July 27, 2016. We propose a joint sparse canonical correlation analysis (JSCCA) method, and apply to discover a set of distinct SNP-voxel interaction modules for the schizophrenia patients, which are verified to be both statistically and biologically significant. TULANE BME NEWSLETTER 8
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RESEARCH Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publication Highlights Wang M, Kimbrell HZ, Sholl AB, Tulman DB, Elfer KN, Schlichenmeyer TC, Lee BR, Lacey M, Brown JQ. High-Resolution Rapid Diagnostic Imaging of Whole Prostate Biopsies Using Video-Rate Fluorescence Structured Illumination Microscopy,” Cancer Research, 75(19): 4032-4041. 2015. Even with advanced trans-rectal ultrasound guidance and saturation biopsy protocols, prostate cancer can be missed in up to half of all initial biopsy procedures. In addition, collection of tumor specimens for downstream histological, molecular, and genetic analysis is hindered by low tumor yield due to inability to identify prostate cancer grossly. In this work, we report the first demonstration of video-rate structured illumination microscopy (VR-SIM) for rapid high-resolution diagnostic imaging of prostate biopsies in realistic point-of-procedure timeframes as a potential non-destructive alternative to frozen section analysis. The image quality, speed, minimal complexity, and ease of use of VR-SIM could prove to be features in favor of adoption as an alternative to destructive pathology at the point-ofprocedure.
Huval RM, Miller OH, Curley JL, Fan Y, Hall BJ, Moore MJ. Microengineered Peripheral Nerve-on-a-Chip for Preclinical Physiological Testing. Lab On A Chip 2015, 15:2221-32. Bioengineered “organ-on-a-chip” model systems are made from living cells organized in a fashion to mimic the physiology of human tissues and organs. These model systems represent a powerful tool that may help improve the high attrition rates of the drug development process. This paper describes the first “nerve-on-a-chip” that is bioengineered to enable functional tests analogous to clinical tests of peripheral nerve function. When adapted for human cells, this model system will be used to test the effectiveness of new drugs and/or screen drugs for peripheral neurotoxicity.
DR. GAVER IS RECOGNIZED FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE Dr. Donald Gaver, leader and chair of the department, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow of AAAS is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers and recognizes meritorious efforts to advance science by research and teaching. He also leads the The Biofluid Mechanics Laboratory, which studies the interrelationships between fluid mechanical and physicochemical phenomena and the associated biological behavior of physiological systems. The main thrust of this research involves investigations of the pulmonary system, with the goal of developing improved therapies for pulmonary disease and the prevention of ventilator-induced lung injury. In their most recent article (highlighted on the previous page), Dr. Gaver's group introduced a computational framework for providing new insights about how airflow is driven through the branched networks of the lung. 9 TULANE BME NEWSLETTER
RESEARCH New Research Grants Highlight Faculty Success DR. W. LEE MURFEE Dr. Murfee, an associate professor, was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of aging on the growth of new blood vessels in the human body. It is hoped that learning more about how age affects the growth of new blood vessels, also known as angiogenesis, will help guide the future treatment of diseases. In many age-related diseases -- such as cancer, eye diseases and rheumatoid arthritis -- blocking the growth of new blood vessels would be beneficial. In others -- such as heart disease, stroke and hypertension -- promoting the growth of blood vessels would be desirable.
DR. YU-PING WANG Dr. Wang, who was recently promoted to professor in our department, has received two grants from the National Institutes of Health to study disease related genetic alterations. Dr. Wang’s research is at the forefront of applying engineering approaches to solve medical problems. His Multiscale Bioimaging and Bioinformatics Laboratory, located in Tulane’s School of Public Health, has been a catalyst for collaborations between computational scientists, statisticians, and medical geneticists. Dr. Wang’s funded research, totaling over four million dollars, aims to identify genetic mutations and biomarkers in the targeted treatment of osteoporosis and the prediction of mental illness.
DR. QUINCY BROWN Dr. Brown, an assistant professor and the Paul H. and Donna D. Flower Early Career Professor in Engineering, was awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute entitled “Improving biospecimen quality by verifying adequacy at the point-of-acquisition with ex vivo structured illumination microscopy.” The three year funding totaling over $900,000 supports Dr. Brown’s work focused on the advanced development of an ex vivo microscopy technology (a “flatbed scanner” for biopsies) to enable fast, accurate, and easy-to-use imaging of biopsies during the procedure. Assessing cancer content during the tissue acquisition procedure could provide value by helping to diagnose significant prostate cancers earlier.
DR. MICHAEL MOORE Dr. Moore, an associate professor and the Director of Graduate Studies, cofounded AxoSim Technologies in 2014 along with a former graduate student. Over the past year, AxoSim and Dr. Moore’s laboratory has received three grants totaling over $600,00 from the National Science Foundation, the Center for Advancing Science in Space, and the National Institutes of Health to further develop their advanced, patent-pending Nerve-On-A-Chip™ technology for preclinical prediction of neurological safety and efficacy early in the drug development pipeline. Employing micro engineering techniques and novel biomaterials, Dr. Moore has developed a 3D cell-based model which mimics living tissue in both form and function. By providing an alternative to exploratory animal testing, pharmaceutical companies will have access to high content data faster and earlier than currently possible. TULANE BME NEWSLETTER 10
Department of Biomedical Engineering Lindy Boggs Center Suite 500 New Orleans, LA 70118
PEOPLE RESEARCH
LinkedIn UPDATE There are now more than 650 Tulane BME alumni, students, and faculty members in the “Tulane Biomedical Engineering Students and Alumni” group on LinkedIn.com. If you’re already a member of LinkedIn, it’s easy to join. Just type “Tulane Biomedical” in the “Groups” search box at the top of the LinkedIn home page.
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INNOVATION
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