Fall 2005–Spring 2006 BME Seminars

October 6
Doris Taylor, Ph.D.
Bakken Professor and Director, Center for Cardiovascular Repair, Departments of Physiology and Medicine and Biomedical Engineering
University of Minnesota
Cell Based Cardiac and Vascular Repair: Science or Science Fiction?

October 20
Michael Smolensky, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Chronotherapeutics: Opportunities for Biomedical Engineering

October 27
John Doyle, Ph.D.
John G. Braun Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems, Electrical Engineering, and Bioengineering
California Institute of Technology
Robustness and Biological Complexity

November 3
Lonnie D. Shea, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Northwestern University
Directed Tissue Formation Using Inductive Scaffolds

November 10
Robert Tranquillo, Ph.D.
Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of Minnesota
Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Based on Controlled Cell Remodeling of Biopolymers

November 17
Thomas C. Skalak, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering
University of Virgina
What are the Cellular and Molecular Role Players in Arteriolar Adaptation? In vivo and Computational Systems Approaches

January 19
Shu Chien, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine; Director, Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering
University of California at San Diego
Molecular Basis of Mechanotransduction in Endothelial Cells

January 26
David Mooney, Ph.D.
Gordon McKay Professor Bioengineering
Harvard Engineering and Applied Sciences
Cell Interactive Polymers for Tissue Regeneration

February 2
Michael Sefton, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
University of Toronto
Vascularizing Tissue Engineering Constructs

February 16
Geert Schmid-Schoenbein, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Bioengineering
University of California at San Diego
An Engineering Analysis of Inflammation in Physiological Shock: The Auto-Digestion Hypothesis

February 23
Peter Szolovits, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, and Head of the Clinical Decision-Making Group, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Clinical Medicine, Clinical Data and Research Studies

March 30 
Bruce Tidor, Ph.D.
Professor of Bioengineering and Computer Science, Biological Engineering Division
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
From Molecular to Systems Re-engineering

April 6
Adam Arkin, Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Bioengineering, Physical Biosciences Division
University of California at Berkeley
Rational Engineering of Cellular Systems: Applications to Therapeutics, Bacteria and Viruses

Fall 2004–Spring 2005 BME Seminars

September 16 
Omar Ghattas, PhD
Director, Ultrascale Simulation Lab
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering 
Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Image-based Deformable Registration for Patient-Specific Surgical SimulationDirect generation of high-quality patient-specific physical models for surgical simulation requires image segmentation, surface reconstruction, mesh generation, and model construction, and is difficult to automate fully for complex anatomic geometries. We consider simulation of orthopedic surgical procedures based on CT images. We overcome the problem of generating patient-specific models by generating several high-quality template meshes offline. Then, for a given patient's CT image, we employ image-based registration techniques to elastically deform the template mesh so that it conforms to the patient's geometry. Examples demonstrate that direct-from-CT finite element models can be generated rapidly and robustly.

September 23
Bernhard Palsson, PhD
Professor, Department of Bioengineering
University of California at San Diego
Bringing Genomes To Life: The Role of Genome-Scale In Silico Models

October 7
Charles Friedman, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics, 
and Director of the Medical Informatics Training Program
University of Pittsburgh
A Fundamental Theorem of Biomedical Informatics OR What Is Informatics Anyway?

October 21
Robert Murphy, PhD
Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Location Proteomics: Protein Tagging, High-Throughput Fluorescence Microscopy and Machine Learning

October 28
Matthew O'Donnell, PhD
Professor and Chair, Biomedical Engineering 
Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science 
Jerry W. and Carol L. Levin Professor of Engineering
University of Michigan
Can Vulnerable Plaques Really Be Detected?

November 18
Kevin Healy, PhD
Associate Professor, Departments of Bioengineering and Materials Science & Engineering
University of California at Berkeley
Challenges in Designing Materials that Dictate Tissue Regeneration
A central limitation in the performance of materials used in the medical device industry is that they lack the ability to integrate with biological systems through either a molecular or cellular pathway. This inability to interact with biological systems has relegated biomaterials to a passive role dictated by the constituents of a particular environment, leading to unfavorable outcomes and device failure in some cases. New classes of materials are being designed to overcome this limitation by actively directing the formation of organ specific tissue in contact with the material. Toward this goal, we have designed and synthesized model biomimetic materials that can be used to test hypotheses regarding cell-materials interactions. This lecture will first emphasize surface engineering strategies for modification of medical devices and subsequently will address design rules to guide the synthesis and fabrication of artificial extracellular matrices for in situ tissue regeneration. The universal nature of biomimetic modification strategies and characterization modalities will be addressed in the context of these examples.

February 3
Mark Saltzman, PhD
Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Yale University
"Controlled Drug Delivery Systems for Cancer Therapy"

February 17
Professor Dame Julia M. Polak 
Imperial College Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Centre
Chelsea & Westminster Campus
London, England
"Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine"

Regenerative medicine is an emerging field that approaches the repair or replacement of tissues and organs by incorporating the use of cells, genes or other biological building blocks along with bioengineered materials and technologies. Advances in stem cell biology, including the isolation and characterization of embryonic and post-natal somatic stem cells, have made the prospect of tissue regeneration a potential clinical reality. The Imperial College Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Centre is a base of operations for the college's leading scientists and clinicians to pool their expertise to develop tissue engineering, cellular therapies, biosurgery and artificial and biohybrid organ devices. Currently, the Centre is focusing on the repair of the musculo-skeletal and cardio-pulmonary systems testing a variety of approaches to control the differentiation of stem cells to the required cell phenotypes. Thus, continuously renewable pools of cells for repair are being established by deriving mature phenotypes, specifically osteoblasts, chondrocytes and pneumocytes, from stem cells and these are being grown with the aim of constructing tissues for implantation. In parallel, the mechanisms controlling naturally occurring repair systems are being investigated in order to identify potential means for upregulation.

March 24
Lori Setton, PhD
Mary Milus Yoh and Harold L Yoh, Jr. Bass 
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Assistant Research Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Duke University"A Rational Approach to the Design of Hydrogels for Cartilage Repair" 
An important goal of successful cartilage repair is early restoration of the native mechanical, physicochemical, and biochemical environments. Challenges exist, however, in simultaneously achieving these goals with any one strategy. Our laboratory has interests in determining optimal solutions for cartilage repair based on clusters of mechanical, physicochemical and biochemical parameters that are identified numerically or statistically. Using sets of injectable, in situ crosslinking scaffolds, we illustrate a rational approach to biomaterial design that is appropriate for achieving a targeted set of outcomes for cartilage repair.

April 7
Yoram Rudy, PhD
The Fred Saigh Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Washington University at St. Louis
"From Genetics to Cellular Function Using Computational Biology" 
Most experimental data on the kinetic properties of cardiac ion channels and their modification by genetic defects have been obtained in expression systems (e.g., Xenopus oocyte), away from the cellular environment where these channels function to generate the cardiac action potential. In my presentation, I will describe the use of computational biology (computer simulations) in integrating such information on single ion channels into models of the functioning cardiac cell. We use this approach to mechanistically relate molecular processes to whole-cell electrophysiological function and its manifestation in electrocardiographic waveforms. Examples will be provided from the congenital Long QT Syndrome and the Brugada Syndrome.

May 5

Julia Babensee, PhD

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University"Biomaterials as Adjuvants" 

The advent of innovative combination products has raised new regulatory concerns previously not considered. Some such combination products combine biomaterials with cells, DNA, or proteins, and include tissue engineered constructs in which cells are delivered with a polymer component and protein or DNA vaccine systems with non-viral polymeric carriers. Since biomaterials are used as vehicles in such combination products, it is important to clarify the role of the biomaterial component in potentiating the immune responses towards the biological component due to the adjuvant effect of the biomaterial. In tissue engineering applications, immune responses are to be minimized while vaccine strategies seek to enhance the protective immune response. We have shown that poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), a polymer commonly used in combination products, acts as an adjuvant in the immune response against co-delivered antigen. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that PLGA is a maturation stimulus for dendritic cells (DCs), the key antigen presenting cells, which when mature stimulate effective immune responses. A differential adjuvant effect has been demonstrated depending on the biomaterial used to treat DCs. The host response towards combination products is a fundamental limitation to translating what has been successful in vitro to successin vivo. There are a number of devices in the pipeline where there is the potential for immunological responses which can compromise device effectiveness. This research begins to put together the kinds of tools which will be needed to clarify the immunological situation with these devices and develop strategies to control immune responses so that the devices function as intended. In this way, use of these novel medical devices will be successfully translated from the lab bench to the living being.

Fall 2003–Spring 2004 BME Seminars

September 4, 2003
Deborah E. Leckband, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Professor and Head of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
“Novel Mechanisms of Biological Adhesion”

September 25, 2003
Edward F. Leonard, Ph.D.
Columbia University
Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Director, Artificial Organs Research Laboratory
“A Soft Landing for Extracorporeal Therapy”

October 23, 2003
Thomas E. Milner, Ph.D.
University of Texas at Austin
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
“Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography for Retinal Diagnostics”

November 7, 2003
Maryellen L. Giger, Ph.D.
University of Chicago
Professor of Radiology
“Computer-Aided Diagnosis in Breast Imaging”
(Please note: This seminar is from 12:00 - 1:00 in ACES 2.402.)

December 4, 2003
George Truskey, Ph.D.
Duke University
Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering
“Rational Design of Endothelium to Vascular Grafts and Tissue-Engineered Vessels”

January 29, 2004
David A. Edwards, PhD
Harvard University
Medical Aerosols and Global Human Health

February 5, 2004
Tom Mitchell, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
Machine Learning to Decode Mental States from fMRI Brain Images

February 12, 2004
Robin N. Coger, PhD
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Engineering Improvements to the Bioartificial Liver

March 4, 2004
David Beebe, PhD
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Microfluidic Environments and Cell BehaviorThe use of microfluidics for the study of basic biology is still in its infancy with the focus to date on the use of microfluidics for acute analysis. Another possible use of microfluidics and more broadly micro systems, is for the longer term growth, study and even production of living systems. In this presentation, I will describe work towards this end involving the development of a fabrication platform that makes possible integrated organic and biomimetic microsystems. Further, preliminary evidence suggesting that these systems can, in some cases, provide a more nature (or in vivo-like) micro environment for living systems will be described. The effect of microenvironments on the behavior of a variety of living systems (insect cells, yeast, mammalian embryos, human embryonic stem cells and mammary epithelial cells) will be summarized.

April 1, 2004
Frank C.P. Yin, MD, PhD
Washington University
Poking Tissues and Cells - What Have We Learned?

April 15, 2004
Buddy D. Ratner, PhD
University of Washington
Healing: A Paradigm Shift in Biomaterials Engineering

Fall 2002–Spring 2003 BME Seminars

October 3, 2002
Dr. Cato Laurencin, Drexel University 
Center for Advanced Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering 
"New Frontiers in Bone Tissue Engineering"

October 31, 2002 
Dr. Kenneth Keller, University of Minnesota,
Humphrey Institute of Public Policy
" Laboring at the Intersection of Science, Technology and Public Policy:
Halford Mackinder's Insight"

November 14, 2002 
Dr. A.J.Welch, University of Texas at Austin 
"Creating an Invisible Man?"

November 21, 2002
Dr. Dan Hammer, University of Pennsylvania
" Engineering Cell Adhesion Using Model Systems "

December 5th 2002
Dr. Sheldon Weinbaum, City College of New York
" How Cells Sense Mechanical Stress and Amplify Mechanical Signals; Mechano 
Transduction in Bone and Kidney "

January 23rd, 2003
Dr. Kristi S. Anseth, University of Colorado at Boulder 
"Tailoring the Architecture of Degradable Gels for Cartilage Tissue Engineering"

February 13th, 2003
Dr. Susan C. Hagness, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Microwave Imaging via Space-Time Beamforming: Prospects for Early-Stage Breast Cancer Detection"

February 20th, 2003
Dr. Howard W.T. Matthew, Wayne State University 
"Polysaccharide and Glycopolymer Biomaterials: Applications in Tissue Engineering"

March 20th, 2003
Dr. Allan S. Hoffman, University of Washington at Seattle
"Conjugate of Smart Polymers and Smart Proteins"

March 27th, 2003
Dr. John A. Frangos, La Jolla Bioengineering Institute
"The Membrane Free Volume Theory of Mechanochemical Transduction in Cells"

April 17th, 2003
Dr. George Georgiou, University of Texas at Austin
"Engineering Antibodies for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications"