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• December 19, 2011

  BME Graduate Student Michael Hoffman Awarded Pre-Doctoral Trainee Seat

  BME graduate student, Michael Hoffman has been selected by the Education Committee in the CMSR at the University of Rochester to assume one of the highly sought after pre-doctoral training seats on the Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH T32 Training Grant.

  Michael will continue to persue research under Dr. Danielle Benoit and will be provided a $21,600 stipend along with $4,200 towards his benefits rate and $1,000 travel budget. The position provides 3 years of support.

• December 15, 2011

  Edward Schwarz, Ph.D., to head The Center for Musculoskeletal Research

  Edward M. Schwarz, Ph.D., the Burton Professor of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, has been appointed to the additional role of director of URMC's Center for Musculoskeletal Research (CMSR).

  Schwarz replaces Regis J. O'Keefe, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Orthopaedics, who remains chair but was recently named Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at URMC.

  In addition to leading the CMSR, Schwarz operates a laboratory that focuses on finding solutions to bone loss due to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, infections, tumors that spread to bone, and bone destruction near the implants used in reconstructive surgery. He also leads a project to develop a vaccine to prevent life-threatening methicillin-resistant staphylococcus (MRSA) infections following bone and joint surgery.

• November 19, 2011

  Benoit Lab Members Place 2^nd and 3^rd at Biomaterials Day Conference

  Benoit lab members Kanika Vats took 2^nd place (her talk titled, Exploiting thiol-ene hydrogels to control cell behavior dynamically) and Michael Baranello took 3^rd place (his talk titled, Characterization and Development of Novel Parthenolide Delivery System) at the Syracuse University-University of Rochester sponsored Biomaterials Day: Interactive Biomaterials conference.

  The conference was held at the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute (SBI) at Syracuse University and was a success with speakers from Cornell, UR, Renssalaer Polytechnic, and Syracuse. The organizers of the event, who have been awarded a $5000 grant from the Society for Biomaterials, are Rebecca Bader, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, at Syracuse University and Danielle Benoit, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, at the University of Rochester.

• November 8, 2011

  Benoit Lab Hosts 4^th Graders For a Hands-On Science Experience

  

  Dr. Danielle Benoit instructing Mrs. Hoffend's students on the finer points of non-Newtonian fluid.

  What happens when Mrs. Hoffend's fourth grade class visits BME? Well, baking soda-vinegar volcanoes erupt, materials change color, texture, and shape, and Freaky Friday takes on a whole new meaning! The Benoit Lab set up a series of four stations around Goergen Hall and provided the fourth graders with a hands-on science learning experience. Mrs. Hoffend wanted to do a project on scientists in our local area, and learn more about the research that they are involved with. Her students spent several weeks researching, reading, and writing about the Benoit Lab in preparation for the visit.

  Graduate student, Amy Van Hove worked with Mrs. Hoffend to create a memorable experience for both the fourth graders and the lab personnel. I remember science demos were one of my favorite activities in elementary school. So when Mrs. Hoffend contacted us, I was very excited about her project. Everyone involved did a great job preparing and running the demos, and we all had a great time working with the kids, said Van Hove, who organized the event.

  

  Graduate student, Amy Van Hove, showing Mrs. Hoffend's students how changing temperature affects how some materials behave.

  My students were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of scientists on this special day in the biomedical engineering lab at the University of Rochester. The children returned to school talking about all the wonderful things they had seen and done and many were saying they now want to be scientists! I cannot thank Dr. Benoit enough for the use of her labs, Amy for her take charge attitude to make this experience happen for the children, and for all the wonderful members of the labs that helped to make this day possible and rewarding for these young students, said Mrs. Hoffend about the children's experience.

• October 31, 2011

  BME Alumnus, Kane Lo, Member of Design Team that Won International Competition

  While working towards his MS in BME at Yale, Siu Lung (Kane) Lo, (BME '10) was a member of the design team that took first place in the prestigious Create the Future Design Competition. The contest was launched in 2002 by the publishers of NASA Tech Briefs magazine to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation. The annual event has attracted more than 7,000 product design ideas from engineers, entrepreneurs, and students worldwide. Kane, along with fellow Yale members Monika Weber, Christopher Yerino, Hazael Montanaro, and Mark Reed, developed αScreen, an inexpensive method to detect food-borne bacteria using nanoribbon/nanowire field effect transistors. The product has the potential to quickly and inexpensively detect and prevent disease.

  Kane, who is currently working on his Juris Doctor degree at the University of Hong Kong, credits his ability to contribute to the winning project to his work at UR, particularly his experience with the Senior Design Project. This was a great experience that allowed me to gain very practical techniques as an engineer, e.g. how to approach an open-ended project, being creative in product design and seeking advices/feedback from professors/customer/technician, and most importantly, teamwork skills on a big, serious and long-term project, said Kane.

  Kane is now combining his engineering background with the law. A Juris Doctor degree will allow me to leverage my engineering knowledge and apply it to the field of intellectual property. Coincidentally, while I was working with my teammates on this product that subsequently won the design contest, we as a group encountered a number of questions concerning product patenting, and this was when I contemplated pursuing a law degree.

• October 17, 2011

  UR Alumna Jennifer Moshier Inspires

  Jennifer Moshier, a mechanical engineering and Lerner Lab alumna who is currently teaching engineering at a high school in Alexandria, VA, has recently taken on a project to design a device to help a disabled teacher. Specifically, her students were asked to design an assistive technology device for Kris Gulden, a teacher at T.C. Williams high school, who uses a wheelchair. This week, the students presented their designs to the superintendent as well as several guest speakers who came to discuss the importance of assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering. The student work was even featured on NPR and other news outlets. Jennifer has shared that her experience at the University of Rochester truly shaped her role as an educator today and she is grateful to have the opportunity to spread her passion.

• October 17, 2011

  In Memoriam: Martin E. Anderson

  Martin E. Anderson, Ph.D. passed away unexpectedly on October 17, 2011. Martin completed his graduate and post-graduate training at Duke University in the lab of Gregg Trahey. In 2000, Martin came to the University of Rochester and was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering from 2000-2003. During his time at the UR, Martin led a productive laboratory in the area of biomedical ultrasound imaging, and was an active member of the RCBU.

  He trained numerous undergraduate and graduate students and made significant contributions to the development of the UR BME program. In 2003, Martin moved to the Seattle area and continued his productive career as an ultrasound systems engineer for Philips Healthcare. Recently, Martin led a team that developed and released the new X6-1 Purewave Matrix transducer that provides both 2D and 3D real-time imaging. Colleagues at Rochester and across the biomedical ultrasound community are deeply saddened by the sudden loss of Martin Anderson.

• October 15, 2011

  UR BME Well Represented at BMES Meeting

  

  (Left to right): Kris Billiar, BMES Chair of the Student Affairs Committee, Cassie Gorman, UR BMES chapter member, and Dr. Richard Waugh, BMES President.

  The UR Biomedical Engineering department was well represented at this year's Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting in Hartford, Connecticut. In attendance were 5 faculty members, including Dr. Richard Waugh (BME Department Chair and BMES President), 5 graduate students, 2 staff members, and 24 undergraduate students, who presented posters and spoke about their research.

  The event was highlighted with the UR BME Student Chapter being awarded the Student Chapter Mentoring Program Award. This award recognized the UR BME mentoring program, established in 2010 by Ben Freedman BME '11. The program pairs upperclassmen and graduate students with freshmen and sophomores and encourages communication between class years and the passing of knowledge about classes, workloads and in the future, networking opportunities.

• October 10, 2011

  BME Alumnus, David Gushue, Ph.D., Returns to BME

  

  BME Alumus, David Gushue, Ph.D.

  David Gushue received his Ph.D. from BME in 2005. After graduation, he joined ARRCA, Inc., (just outside of Philadelphia), where he is currently a Vice President and Director of the Biomedical Engineering group. In addition to overseeing the forensics biomechanics, he is an expert witness as an engineering consultant for litigation. On September 30, Dr. Gushue returned to BME to describe his career path since leaving the UR.

  Currently David uses his biomedical engineering skills in the research and analysis of the relationships between crash injuries and crash forces, occupant kinematics and human tolerance, as well as forensic investigations. In addition to extensive R&D projects for the U.S. military related to injuries associated with under-body blast events (to improve survival rates for roadside bombs), he is also leading a safety initiative to evaluate biomechanics and improve player safety for the National Hockey League.

  There isn’t a specific program for this type of work, continues Dr. Gushue. When I look at colleagues from other universities, I notice they are not as well prepared. We look to hire candidates that have the ability to 'literally think outside the box'. You need to directly apply everything you learned in the classroom because the work environment highly variable and fast-paced. I appreciate the opportunity to come back here. My time at the UR was immeasurable for this career; it was the perfect experience.

• October 4, 2011

  Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and BME?

  

  BME senior, D.J. Schwartz pitching for the Hornell Dodgers

  Most BME seniors spend the summer between their junior and senior years interning in biomedical labs and industries to help decide their next step. This summer, D.J. Schwartz also tried on a possible future for size, but not the usual one. D.J. played on a New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) summer league team that is affiliated with MLB. This league takes students from all different colleges that are standout baseball players for their college.

  D.J., a BME senior with a concentration in Cell and Tissue Engineering who also is a pitcher on the UR varsity baseball team, spent the summer playing for the Hornell Dodgers. Schwartz says, I had a special role. I was the closer, which meant that if we were winning in a game by less than three runs, I came in and closed the game out in the 9^th inning. My experience was great. I got to play with and against some really good baseball players that have a chance of playing at the professional level. We played about 43 games this summer so I was basically playing everyday.

  D.J. was elected to the All-Star game and led the league in Saves, and had one the lowest ERA 's on the team. He was named a Top 15 Pro Prospect of the NYCBL, and was also named to the ALL NYCBL 2^nd Team.

• September 30, 2011

  Syracuse University and University of Rochester to Host 2011 Biomaterials Day

  On November 18, 2011, Syracuse University and the University of Rochester will hold the first Biomaterials Day Conference to highlight research in the Upstate New York region focused on the development of Interactive Biomaterials that are biocompatible and elicit desired responses when interfaced with biological tissues. The conference is to be held at the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute (SBI) at Syracuse University with a optional Biomaterials Characterization Workshop on November 17^th.

  The organizers of the event, who have been awarded a $5000 grant from the Society for Biomaterials, are Rebecca Bader, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, at Syracuse University and Danielle Benoit, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, at the University of Rochester.

• September 14, 2011

  Professor Named President of the International Commission for Optics (ICO)

  Dr. Duncan Moore, the Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of Optics and Biomedical Engineering, has been elected president of the International Commission for Optics (ICO). Moore is just the fourth American elected president of the commission, which was formed in 1947. The ICO, originally founded to help rebuild the optics communities in Europe and Japan after WWII, is now focused on providing support for optics and photonics in developing economies.

• August 30, 2011

  Dr. James McGrath Receives Coulter Foundation Grant

  Professors James McGrath, Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering) and Jeremy Taylor, M.D. (Nephrology) were recently awarded a Coulter Foundation grant to develop a wearable hemodialysis system using a breakthrough silicon nanomembrane technology originally developed at the University of Rochester. Taking advantage of the extraordinary permeability and selectivity of the nanomembranes, the team hopes to eventually replace clinic-based hemodialysis with a much smaller continuous dialysis system that allows patients to remain mobile. As clinical dialysis requires hours of immobilization during dialysis and fluctuations in toxin levels that cause side effects, a continuous wearable system would provide dramatic improvement in patient lifestyle.

• August 26, 2011

  Integrated Nanosystems Center Opens Today

  U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter will join UR President Joel Seligman, Hajim School Dean Rob Clark, and Department of Physics and Astronomy Chair Nicholas Bigelow today for the opening of the Intergrated Nanosystems Center. A news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Munnerlyn Atrium, Goergen Hall. The facility brings together the disciplines of physics, optics, chemistry, biomedicine, and bioengineering to enable research in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

• August 25, 2011

  Dr. Regine Choe Awarded NIH Grant to Pursue Development of Cost-Effective Modality to Monitor Ongoing Breast Cancer Therapy

  BME assistant professor, Dr. Regine Choe has received a three-year NIH Pathway to Independence Award ($700,000) to investigate an alternative method to positron emission tomography (PET) scans to assess the effectiveness of chemotherapy for breast cancer. Because PET scans are relatively expensive, and since the contrast agent, Flurodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), contains radioactive compounds, frequent assessment of breast cancer tumors over the course of chemotherapy treatment makes PET scans a less than optimal choice.

  The Choe lab will be using a new fluorescent dye to investigate if it can be used as a surrogate marker for glucose metabolism. In addition, the lab will investigate whether simultaneous monitoring of glucose and oxygen metabolism accessible by diffuse optical methods (with and without injection) can enhance the assessment of treatment efficacy.

  We hope to find a less expensive, safer modality to measure metabolic changes in tumors induced by chemotherapy. The ultimate goal is to be able to determine if the chemotherapy is effective before the course of treatment is over, thus making it possible to change or discontiue the course of treatment if necessary, says Dr. Choe.

• August 23, 2011

  BME Seniors Improving Automatic Detection of Epileptic Seizures

  A group of BME Seniors led by Professor Laurel Carney has been working together since Fall of their Sophomore year on a research project with the goal of improving automatic detection of epileptic seizures. This debilitating neurologic disorder has an impact on millions of patients, yet there is hope for better treatment through improved detection and someday, prediction, of seizures. The group founded UR DASDA (Database for Automatic Seizure Detection Algorithms), and established a goal of setting up an internet-based database that will provide high-quality electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings for researchers around the world who are developing seizure detection algorithms.

  In collaboration with Drs. James Burchfiel, Michel Berg, and staff in the Strong Epilepsy Center in the Department of Neurology, the group is collecting data that will be suitable for this research effort. Owen Zacharias, from the Departments of BME and Neurobiology & Anatomy, has been coordinating efforts with the computing administrators at the URMC to establish a website that can handle the large datafiles that are being developed. The students designed a website that will allow researchers to carefully select and download examples of seizures for use in testing algorithms. They are currently populating the database with datafiles, with a goal of 100 entries, including infants through older adults and a wide range of seizure types. A preliminary report of this database will be presented at the Fall conference of the Biomedical Engineering Society in Hartford Connecticut. The BME Seniors in UR DASDA are Gregory Hartnett, Andrew Hagar, Caitlin O'Connell, Zachary Milstone, Brian Schwartz, and Geoffrey Yee.

• August 16, 2011

  BME Grad Student Michael Hoffman Wins the Sodus Point Sprint Triathlon

  

  Michael Hoffmann

  Congratulations to BME graduate student, Michael Hoffman, who won the Sodus Point Sprint Triathlon on August 14^th. The triathlon consisted of a .45 mile swim, 13.1 mile bike, and 5K run. Michael is a current member of the Benoit Lab, working on the tissue engineered periosteum approaches to heal bone allograft transplants project.

• August 1, 2011

  Professor Edward Schwarz Awarded a P30 Core Center Grant

  Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering professor, Edward Schwarz has been awarded a P30 Core Center grant that will provide shared facilities and services to NIH-funded investigators who are addressing scientific problems in musculoskeletal biology and medicine, in order to improve efficiency, accelerate the pace of research, and facilitate clinical translation. It also facilities the development and promotion of Research Assistant Professors (RAP) and unfunded physician-scientists (UPS) to become national leaders.

• August 1, 2011

  Amy Van Hove Awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med-into-Grad Fellowship

  Amy Van Hove, a graduate student in the Benoit lab has been awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med-into-Grad Fellowship in Cardiovascular Science. This prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship is sponsored by the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) and augments traditional Ph.D. training with clinical rotations, a clinical co-mentor, weekly CVRI seminar series, journal club, and translational cardiovascular coursework to train the next generation of bench-to-bedside cardiovascular scientists.

• July 14, 2011

  Dr. Danielle Benoit Receives Grant from Leukemia Research Foundation

  

  Biomedical Engineering assistant professor, Dr. Danielle Benoit has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Leukemia Research Foundation (LRF). Dr. Benoit's Therapeutic Biomaterials Lab conducts research on developing new treatments for childhood leukemia by using synthetic hydrogels and polymers formed using reversible-addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization (RAFT). In 1946, the Leukemia Research Foundation was established in Chicago to memorialize 12-year-old Sherwin Pessin. Since that time nearly 65 years ago, LRF has raised more than $48 million.

• June 16, 2011

  Benoit Lab Hosts 2^nd Annual Alex's Lemonade Stand Fundraiser

  Recently Danielle Benoit, Ph.D. received the Young Investigator Award from the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) for a grant developing new treatments for childhood leukemia. To give back, Benoit and the Therapeutic Biomaterials Lab held their 2^nd annual lemonade stand fundraiser at the Rochester Public Market and the Brighton Farmers' Market over the weekend of June 11. Last year the lab raised $865, and Dr. Benoit had hoped to raise $1,000 this year. But when that goal was meet earlier than expected, Dr. Benoit challenged the lab to higher stakes—raising the goal to $2,000. Urging friends, family, and colleagues to contribute in person and online as well as furnishing over 20 gallons of lemonade at the markets, the lab has raised $2020.53 for ALSF.

  The lemonade stands are fantastic. They give us a unique opportunity to educate the Rochester area about our research at the University of Rochester as well as the mission of ALSF. Plus they are a lot of fun!, said Dr. Benoit about her lab's participation in Alex's Lemonade Stand. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please visit the Benoit Lab's ALSF Lemonade Stand.

• June 3, 2011

  UR Research Group Wins Provost Multidisciplinary Research Award

  A current study by researchers at the University of Rochester entitled, Perception of Music and Language through Auditory Interference, has been selected as the recipient of the Provost Multidiscipliary Research Award.

  The work is based on the ability to filter interfering auditory signals from a primary stream is a basic aspect of social and musical communication. Musical performance requires continuous attention to a complex auditory signal: how does this expertise interface with the processing of linguistic signals? Is auditory filtering ability facilitated by musical training?

  In order to explore the above questions, this study brings together researchers with expertise in the following fields:

  • Musical Pitch Perception: Elizabeth Marvin, Ph.D. - Eastman School of Music
  • Linguistic Phonological and Phonetic Analysis: Joyce McDonough - Linguistics
  • Auditory Processing: Anne Luebke, Ph.D. - Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology & Anatomy

• May 19, 2011

  Dr. Richard Waugh Delivers Sigma Kappa Tau Lecture at CCNY

  Professor Richard Waugh, Ph.D., BME Department Chair, delivered the Sigma Kappa Tau endowed lecture at the City College of New York on May 18. The engineering social fraternity was established at CCNY during the post-Depression years to help students deal with some of the stress and pressure of the times. The Waugh Lab's research centers on the deformability of blood cells and how blood cell deformability plays a role in health and disease.

• May 6, 2011

  Student Engineering Team Honored in Three Competitions

  

  BME Senior Design team, DonDoff Solutions

  People who have had back surgery face the added difficulty of dealing with complicated and burdensome back braces, a process that causes many to bend and twist in ways that are harmful to their recovery. But a group of biomedical engineering students at the University of Rochester is getting recognition for developing back braces that are safer and easier to use, and for their plans to consider commercialization of their devices. As part of a senior design class, Frances Bell, Jacy Krystal Bulaon, and Swapna Kumar, whose project is called DonDoff Solutions, devised a system to help patients get into (don) and out of (doff) their braces throughout the recovery process.

  The team won third place honors in the New York State Business Plan Competition last week and tied for second place in the Charles and Janet Forbes Entrepreneurial Competition at the University. The DonDoff team is also a finalist in the 2011 RESNA Student Design Competition, to be held in Toronto, CA in June. The team was supervised by Amy Lerner, and worked with Dr. Joanne Wu, an alumna of our BME program, who is now a physician with the Unity Health System in Rochester, and Shawn Biehler, an alumnus of ME who now works at Rochester Orthopedic Laboratories.

• May 6, 2011

  Pain-Monitoring Devices for Premature Infants Win Awards in Forbes and Mark Ain Competitions

  

  Benjamin Freedman and Johanna Kelly, OmNeo, LLC

  A student team that presented a business plan to commercialize two devices for monitoring pain in premature infants took first place in this year's Forbes Entrepreneurial Competition and third place in the Mark Ain Business Model Competition at the University of Rochester.

  Biomedical engineering students Benjamin Freedman and Johanna Kelly, which make up the OmNeo, LLC team, presented two systems:

  1. wee rePLI, which objectively measures pain during procedures
  2. ORB|IT, which continually measures an infant's pain

  Reducing pain in premature infants can assist clinicians in better focusing treatment and can help prevent developmental health consequences. The devices were developed by a larger team of students, supervised by Professors Laurel Carney from Biomedical Engineering, and Martin Schiavento from the School of Nursing.

• May 1, 2011

  Laurel Carney Awarded Engineering Professor of the Year

  Congratulations to Professor Laurel Carney, who was recognized by the Student Association as the Engineering Professor of the Year at the prestigious annual University of Rochester Undergraduate Research Symposium. Undergrad Travis Bevington, BME '12, said, in presenting the award, Even with all of her research, Professor Carney manages to find time to spend countless hours with students on projects and it really proves how much she cares about our success as students. She really serves as an outlet to different opportunities that students might be unaware of, such as finding a lab position or research opportunity. Beyond the classroom, Professor Carney is always in high demand for letters of recommendation—students really feel like she takes the time to get to know all of us, even if her deck of cards in class can be quite intimidating! (Dr. Carney has a deck of playing cards, with one card for each student. Cards are drawn during class to direct questions to the students.)

  Said Professor Carney about the award, Since coming to UR 4 years ago, I've been greatly impressed by the quality of the undergraduates here and have really enjoyed my classes. Receiving this recognition from the students is a great honor. On the other hand, I think it provides objective evidence that my courses are too easy; I intend to remedy this situation as quickly as I can!

• April 27, 2011

  Dr. Danielle Benoit Selected as a WHEEL Scholar

  

  Congratulations to BME professor, Dr. Danielle Benoit who just received a WHEEL Award. Dr. Benoit is working on a grant entitled, Inhibition of Bone Formation by Lead: Rescue with a Targeted Polymer Therapeutic, and will be mentored by Dr. J. Edward Puzas from the Center for Musculoskeletal Research and Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta, Professor of Environmental Medicine.

  The Women's Health and the Environment over the Entire Lifespan (WHEEL) program is a K-12 training program funded by NICHD and NIEHS through the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) Program. The grant was received by the URMC Obstetrics and Gynecology Department last September. It funds four scholars and is aimed at helping them to launch independent research careers.

• April 25, 2011

  BME Senior Design Team Featured on WHAM13 News

  BME undergraduate student, John Sullivan was featured this morning on WHAM13 News to promote Hajim Design Day at the University of Rochester. The project John's group (Stanley Monu, Hannah Watkins, Kevin Yamashita) developed was Limbus Technology, an alternatively controlled letterboard to facilitate communication for patients with locked-in syndrome for Jessie Anzalone in the Acute Rehabilitation Unit at St. Mary's Hospital. This group along with others in the BME Senior Design program will showcase their projects April 28 at Hajim Senior Design Day in the Goergen Hall Atrium.

• April 20, 2011

  BME Student Kelli Summers Receives Fulbright Grant

  

  BME student Kelli Summers presenting her research at this year's undergraduate symposium.

  Congratulations to BME undergraduate student Kelli Summers, who has been selected as a 2011-2012 Fulbright Scholar to conduct research on Implementing a Strategy to Combat Child Pneumonia Fatalities in Ghanaian Rural Hospitals.

  Kelli will leave for Malawi at the end of May to learn about conducting anthropological research and begin her Fulbright research. She will then travel to St. Francis Xavier Hospital in Assin Foso, Ghana for her Fulbright year and will collaborate with a physician she met during a volunteer experience in 2009. She hopes to create modifications to the World Health Organization's Child Lung Health Program (CLHP) through the use of a focus group and then implement it in the Children's Ward to ultimately decrease the child mortality rate at St. Francis and provide a model for other hospitals in the area.

  Her research builds upon the CLHP, which contains protocols to assess and treat childhood pneumonia in developing countries in an effort to decrease the child mortality rate. After conducting extensive literary research, Kelli believes three major problems of the CLHP prevail:

  • Disconnect between the policy-makers and the hospital staff implementing the program
  • Lack of cultural specificity in nurse education and expectations for patient receptiveness
  • Lack of diagnostic technology - specifically pulse oximeters

  Kelli has been the immediate past president of the Student Chapter of BMES, and has been involved with BMES since she was a freshman. As co-founder and co-President of UR Genocide Intervention, Kelli helped to raise awareness, advocate to local politicians, raise money for victims, and secure scholarships for Sudanese students to come to the University of Rochester through Banaa. Additionally, Kelli has been tutoring local refugee high school and middle school kids every Saturday for the past year and a half. It's been interesting interacting with them, said Kelli about the kids, It's incredible to see how much they've grown in such a short time. Kelli has also been working in Professor McGrath's Laboratory since her sophomore year conducting research under an NIH grant on Mechanisms Underlying Collective Cell Migration in Vitro. She won the Presidential Research Award this year and is currently working on a peer-reviewed paper as the primary author to submit to the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.

• April 20, 2011

  BME Alum at MIT AgeLab Introduces eHome

  BME alumnus, Jarrod Orszulak (Class of 2007) has been featured in a recent AARP story surrounding the MIT AgeLab, where he works as a researcher, and a new type of technology. In the age of a connected world; it is now possible to take care of parents from a distance as they age in place. MIT AgeLab has joined forces with NTT, Japan's largest phone company, to develop e-Home, a system that can help children check up on their parents through a kind of instant messaging over the computer. From the computer monitor, kids can virtually remind their parents to take their medications. Another BME alumnus, Alexander Lee (Class of 2010) also worked at the MIT AgeLab in the summer of 2010.

• April 15, 2011

  Students and Faculty Recognized at the Undergraduate Research Symposium

  

  BME professor Laurel Carney, Ph.D. (with Kelli Summers, and Benjamin Freedman) was recognized by the Student Association as the Engineering Professor of the Year.

  Congratulations to the RCBU and BME students whose work was recognized at the prestigious annual University of Rochester Undergraduate Research Exposition 2011. Undergraduate students from RCBU and BME research laboratories participated in the symposium. BME undergrads Benjamin Freedman '11 and Kelli Summers '11 were both invited to speak at the Engineering and Applied Sciences Symposium Talks.

  Freedman discussed his work, What is Q-Angle really measuring? A novel alternative to predict patellar maltracking, which received the Dean's Award. Summers spoke about her research with Dr. James McGrath, Mechanisms Underlying Collective Cell Migration in Vitro, which was recognized by President Seligman with the President's Award. Aaron Zakrzewski (ME '11), mentored by Mechanical Engineering Professor Sheryl Gracewski, gave an oral presentation of his research titled Natural frequency of bubbles within rigid and compliant tubes. Aaron also received a Deans' Award for Undergraduate Research in Engineering and Applied Sciences for his presentation. In addition, five of the seven poster exhibitions from the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences were by BME students:

  Molly Boutin (Benoit Lab) BME '11

  A Polymeric Delivery System to Induce Differentiation in hMSCs

  Jasmine Carvalho (Dalecki Lab) BME '11

  Investigations of Ultrasound Parameters to Promote Spatial Organization of Cells in Three-Dimensional Engineered Tissues

  Vlabhav Kakkad (McAleavey Lab) BME '12

  Experimental Implementation of Shear Wave Induced Phase Encoding Imaging

  Angela Ketterer (Carney Lab) BME '12

  Design and Implementation of a Behavioral Apparatus for Auditory Research in Birds

  Hannah Watkins (Benoit Lab) BME '11

  Novel Parthenolide Delivery System for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment

  (Received the Professor's Choice Award)

• April 14, 2011

  Dr. Chandra to Give CVDD Presentation at Vascular Annual Meeting

  Ankur Chandra, M.D., assistant professor of surgery and biomedical engineering, and Director of the University of Rochester Cardiovascular Device Design Program (URCVDD) will be speaking at the Vascular Annual Meeting on June 16 in Chicago. The presentation focuses on the University of Rochester's model for establishing a device design program. The program was designed to create innovative device solutions to focused clinical problems through a cross-disciplinary collaboration. The Vascular Annual Meeting, considered the premier meeting on vascular health is presented by the Society for Vascular Surgery.

• April 6, 2011

  BME Students Awarded Fellowships for Graduate Research by the National Science Foundation

  Three BME seniors received prestigious National Science Foundation Research Fellowships, and Michael Hoffman, a Ph.D. student in the Benoit Lab, received an NSF Honorable Mention. The fellowship, which is part of a federally sponsored program, provides up to three years of graduate study support for students pursing doctoral or research-based master's degrees.

  The fellowship includes a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a $10,500 educational allowance to the institution, and international research opportunities. Danielle Benoit, assistant professor in biomedical and chemical engineering at Rochester, says that the financial support provides students the flexibility to attend conferences, participate in training programs, and travel to meet with other researchers in their field.

  The following graduating BME seniors received fellowships:

  Benjamin Freedman (Lerner Lab) '11

  University of Pennsylvania

  Adam Kozak '11

  Duke University

  Hannah Watkins (Benoit Lab) '11

  Cornell University

  2011-12 Fullbright Scholarship and Whitaker International Fellowship to the United Kingdom

• April 5, 2011

  Benoit Lab Members Present Their Research at the 37^th Northeast Bioengineering Conference

  Current Benoit Lab members, Molly Boutin (BME senior), Michael Hoffman (2nd year PhD student), and Hannah Watkins (BME senior) were all selected to present their research at the 37^th Northeast Bioengineering Conference this past weekend at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, NY. Molly won first place in the Regenerative Medicine category for her talk entitled, Evaluation of a polymeric siRNA delivery system for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

• March 30, 2011

  Denise Hocking Appointed to NIH Study Section

  Professor Denise Hocking (Pharmacology & Physiology, BME, RCBU Member) has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the Bioengineering, Technology, and Surgical Sciences (BTSS) Study Section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review (CSR). The BTSS Study Section focuses on the interdisciplinary fields of surgery and bioengineering to develop innovative medical instruments, materials, processes, implants, and devices to diagnose and treat disease and injury.

  Within BTSS there is a balance between basic, translational, and clinical research, and application and development of emerging cross-cutting technologies relevant to the cardiac system. The CSR is the portal for NIH grant applications and their review for scientific merit. CSR Study section members review grant applications submitted to the NIH, make recommendations on the applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science.

• March 30, 2011

  36 Rochester Undergrads to Present Research at National Conference

  Founded in 1987, the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) provides undergraduates from across the country the opportunity to share their independent, unique research with their peers and professors through presentations and poster sessions. This year, NCUR saw the most applications submitted for review in the conference's history, with the total number reaching more than 3,500. About 83 percent of applicants were selected to present their research.

  Among the thirty-six UR students selected to present their research at NCUR at Ithaca College from March 31 through April 2, were the following BME students:

  Optimization of Quantitative Second Harmonic Generation Imaging

  Jacy Bulaon '11

  Design and Implementation of a Behavioral Apparatus for Auditory Research in Birds

  Angela D. Ketterer '12

  Modeling of Inflammation of Cerebral Vasculature Caused by Methamphetamine and HIV

  Ting Johnny Zheng '12

• March 30, 2011

  BME Undergraduate Dan Reynolds Awarded Prestigious Xerox Undergraduate Fellowship & National Tau Beta Pi Scholarship

  Dan Reynolds, BME Junior in the laboratory of Danielle Benoit, Ph.D. was recently awarded a SEAS Xerox Undergraduate Fellowship. The SEAS Xerox Fellowship Program is a highly competitive program to provide engineering undergraduates with an opportunity to participate in a research experience in SEAS during the summer preceding their senior year. Additionally, students will receive independent study course credit for the continuation of their work during the fall and spring semesters of their senior year. Selection criteria include research interests, competitive academic performance, and intellectual ability and curiosity.

  Dan will continue his work in the Benoit Lab focusing on Crosslinked network architectures for controllable drug delivery. In addition to this honor, Dan has also won a National Tau Beta Pi Scholarship for his senior year at UR.

• March 22, 2011

  Pre-Conception and Early Pregnancy Iron Deficiency Harms Brain

  A mother's iron deficiency early in pregnancy may have a profound and long-lasting effect on the brain development of the child, even if the lack of iron is not enough to cause severe anemia, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study published in the scientific journal PLoS One.

  What convinced us to conduct the present study were our preliminary data suggesting that cells involved in building the embryonic brain during the first trimester were most sensitive to low iron levels, said Margot Mayer-Proschel, Ph.D., the lead researcher and an associate professor of Biomedical Genetics at URMC.

  Co-author Anne Luebke, Ph.D., an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology & Anatomy at UR, suggested and directed the use of ABR testing, which can detect the speed of information moving from the ear to the brain.

• March 15, 2011

  BME Undergraduate Hannah Watkins selected as a Fulbright Scholar in the United Kingdom

  BME Undergraduate Hannah Watkins (Benoit Lab) has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar in the United Kingdom. This is the most competitive Fulbright to win (geographically)! She will be performing research next year with Dr. Molly Stevens at Imperial College in London developing novel responsive drug delivery liposomes for cancer treatment.

• March 14, 2011

  BME Senior John Sully Sullivan Performs Rachmannoff's Second Piano Concerto No. 2

  John Sully Sullivan, and BME senior, performed Rachmannoff's Second Piano Concerto No. 2 in Strong Auditorium. Sully has been playing for ten years, the past four of which have been with Zora Mihailovich, UR's own artist-in-residence and an internationally acclaimed concert pianist. Sully is minoring in music and is also a Take Five Scholar, using his fifth year to examine the impact of Hispanic immigrants on US society; his thesis is entitled, Welcome, and Beinvenidos, to Bilingual America.

  John Steve "Sully" Sullivan playing Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, mvt. I - Moderato. This is a live recording on 2/26/11. Cinematography: Papa Sully Brief end-of-video performance analysis: Mama Sully Hope you like it! Feel free to check out my other live youtube recording at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7n7HzTESE

• March 11, 2011

  BME and Radiology Professor Axel Wismueller "Goes Green"

  

  Axel W. E. Wismueller, M.D., Ph.D.

  Biomedical Engineering and Radiology Professor Axel W. E. Wismueller, M.D., Ph.D. explains to his students why a mathematical understanding of ecosystems can help to improve environmental awareness. Instead of thoughtlessly spraying pesticides, it may be better to rely on natural enemies for plant protection.

  Such future-oriented multidisciplinary teaching activity supports the University of Rochester in its leadership endeavor to promote sustainability in research, curricular, clinical, and outreach efforts, and to play a proactive and collaborative role in contributing to an environmentally healthy community.

  This vision for sustainability is promoted by the University's 'Go Green!' initiative, which began in 2008 with the creation of a University Council on Sustainability. In 2007, a Council Task Force developed 25 recommendations and timeframes for the implementation of university-wide programs for improvements in areas such as waste management, purchasing, and land use. Student initiatives have included the award-winning UR BioDiesel project and the EcoReps program. Read more about Sustainability @ the University of Rochester and its quest to 'Go Green'.

  The Biomedical Engineering Department is uniquely poised to contribute to the University's overall initiatives. With its combined emphasis on theoretical understanding of science and its engineering focus of solving real-world problems, the BME Department plays an important part in the Sustainability endeavor.

• March 10, 2011

  Alumna Michele Gabriele Featured in University of Pittsburgh's BME Newsletter

  In its spring edition of its BME newsletter, the University of Pittsburgh provided a front-page story on UR BME alumna Michele Gabriele (BME '04). Since leaving the University of Rochester, Michele received her Ph.D. in 2010 at the University of Pittsburgh, concentrating on neural engineering, biosignals and bioimaging.

• March 10, 2011

  Alumna Katie Bush Visits BME and Discusses What It's Like to Work for a Start-Up Company

  

  From left: Katie Bush, Ph.D. (B.S. '03), Danielle Benoit, Ph.D., BME Assistant Professor, and Thomas Gaborski, Ph.D., CEO & President of SimPore.

  At the end of February, former BME student Katie Bush (B.S. '03) visited Rochester to talk about her journey since graduating with a degree in BME with a concentration in chemical engineering. Katie completed her doctorate in February 2009 in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Her thesis project entitled Designing Microfabricated Basal Lamina Analogs to Enhance Skin Regeneration at Worcester Polytechnic Institute was focused on developing a novel artificial skin substitute with enhanced tissue functionality by recapitulating features found in native skin into a collagenous biomaterial.

  Currently, Katie is a Scientist at Connective Orthopaedics, Woburn, MA, leading biomaterial product development efforts in the advancement of soft tissue repair in the field of sports medicine. Her talk included a comprehensive review of her research and development activities there, as well as the rewards and difficulties of working as a biomedical engineer for an early stage medical device company that is in the process of transitioning a platform technology from an academic environment to the clinic.

• March 8, 2011

  Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery Announce New Master's Program

  The Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery are pleased to announce the commencement of a new, collaborative Masters program in Cardiovascular Device Design. This program intends to generate a new paradigm of device development in an era of increasing health care cost constraints and limited commercial resources. The graduates and associated intellectual property of this program will directly improve patient care through increased efficiency of clinician-engineer communications, more targeted and effective devices, and shifting device R&D to need-based development.

  The Department of Biomedical Engineering will be accepting masters degree applications during the winter of 2011 for prospective students to begin the program July 1, 2012. All interested students must have or be completing a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering. More information is available at the program's website. The program is also interested in developing partnerships with device companies for collaborative work; please contact Dr. Ankur Chandra for more information.

• February 22, 2011

  A New High-Resolution Method for Imaging Below the Skin using a Liquid Lens

  

  Prototype device developed by Jannick Rolland (right) can take high-resolution images under the skin's surface without removing the skin. Researchers say that in the future it may eliminate the need for many biopsies to detect skin cancer.

  University of Rochester Optics and BME professor Jannick Rolland has developed an optical technology that provides unprecedented images under the skin's surface. The aim of the technology is to detect and examine skin lesions to determine whether they are benign or cancerous without having to cut the suspected tumor out of the skin and analyze it in the lab. Instead, the tip of a roughly one-foot-long cylindrical probe is placed in contact with the tissue, and within seconds a clear, high-resolution, 3D image of what lies below the surface emerges.

  

  Close up of prototype device developed by Jannick Rolland.

  Rolland presented her findings at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19.

  My hope is that, in the future, this technology could remove significant inconvenience and expense from the process of skin lesion diagnosis, Rolland says. When a patient walks into a clinic with a suspicious mole, for instance, they wouldn't have to have it necessarily surgically cut out of their skin or be forced to have a costly and time-consuming MRI done. Instead, a relatively small, portable device could take an image that will assist in the classification of the lesion right in the doctor's office.

• February 21, 2011

  Alum's Work Featured in New York Times

  Jarrod Orszulak (BS, BME '07, MS, ECE '08), credits his preparation at UR for developing solutions in his current position.

  Jarrod Orszulak knows what it's like to be old. But not from personal experience. Through his job at MIT's AgeLab, Orszulak helps create the physical and mental experiences of aging, and then develops scenarios to test new products to keep the aging population as independent and safe as possible. Since some of the evaluations use heart rate, skin conductance and eye tracking to understand how individuals interact with these new products, Orszulak credits his BME work in physiology for helping him apply that knowledge to better product design.

  The AgeLab is similar to (UR BME'S) Senior Design in that we don't develop a lot of products from scratch, but instead look at how existing products can be modified to meet the needs of a different user, says Orszulak. Whether it is industry, Senior Design class, or the AgeLab, solutions must be developed quickly, based on proven technology, in order to meet deadlines, budgets, and even regulatory concerns. Although neither Senior Design, nor my engineering degrees from UR taught me specific solutions to the problems I would encounter, they more importantly taught me the process and skills to discovering them for myself.

• February 9, 2011

  Benoit Lab Awarded Grant From the Orthopaedic Research & Educational Foundation/Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation

  The Benoit Lab has been awarded a grant from the Orthopaedic Research & Educational Foundation/Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation for the research project: Tissue Engineered Periosteum Approaches to Heal Bone Allograft Transplants.

• February 7, 2011

  Vikram Dogra Appointed Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Imaging Science

  Professor of Imaging Sciences, Biomedical Engineering and Urology, Vikram Dogra, M.B.B.S., has been appointed editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Imaging Science (JCIS). The open-access, multidisciplinary journal deals with every aspect of imaging, enabling radiologists to clearly comprehend concepts and practices, and encouraging further research and technical innovation. Dogra also serves as consulting editor of the journal Ultrasound Clinics.

• February 7, 2011

  Duncan Moore and Kevin Parker Inducted into AIMBE College of Fellows

  Congratulations to Duncan T. Moore, professor of optics and Kevin J. Parker, professor of electrical and computer engineering for their inductions into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering's (AIMBE) College of Fellows. It is a fitting achievement for two of our most distinguished professors to join the top two percent of the field recognized with this honor.

• January 21, 2011

  New York Times Article Features Paper Published by BME Alumnus

  

  Dr. Aasim Padela, M.D.

  The New York Times recently featured the research of BME alum Dr. Aasim Padela. In his recently published article in The Journal of Medical Ethics, Dr. Padela describes the dilemmas involved in caring for American-Muslim patients and provides some culturally sensitive, clinically possible solutions.

  Currently, Dr. Padela is an emergency medicine physician and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Michigan. His research interests span transcultural bioethics and cultural accommodation and healthcare disparities. He holds bachelor degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Classical Arabic & Literature from the University of Rochester, attended medical school at Weill Cornell, and completed his emergency medicine residency at the University of Rochester. His other professional interests are in international medicine, as he has spent time professionally in Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt. Currently his projects focus on clinical accommodation and cultural obstacles to care for American-Muslim populations. According to Dr. Padela, The curricular environment at the University of Rochester allowed me to explore humanities and the social sciences, as well as biomedical engineering. Being able to study abroad and obtaining a second degree helped refined my interest in asking the difficult questions and bringing together a multidisciplinary approach to solving them. I remain indebted to my professors, mentors and colleagues at U of R.

• January 21, 2011

  BME Undergraduate Assists with HIV Research

  HIV adapts in a surprising way to survive and thrive in its hiding spot within the human immune system, scientists have learned. While the finding helps explain why HIV remains such a formidable foe after three decades of research - more than 30 million people worldwide are infected with HIV - it also offers scientists a new, unexpected way to try to stop the virus.

  The work by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Emory University was published Dec. 10 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Among the authors of the paper was BME undergraduate Rebecca Slater.

• January 18, 2011

  Researchers Unzip MRSA and Discover Route for Vaccine

  

  X-ray of a hipbone

  University of Rochester Medical Center orthopaedic scientists are a step closer to developing a vaccine to prevent life-threatening methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections following bone and joint surgery.

  The Orthopaedic Research Society invited URMC researchers to present their findings on Jan. 16, 2011, at the ORS annual meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The team is led by Edward M. Schwarz, Ph.D., professor of Orthopaedics and associate director of the URMC Center for Musculoskeletal Research. John Varrone, a second-year graduate student in Schwarz's lab, will discuss the data at ORS and the ongoing search for attractive molecular candidates for use in a vaccine.

• January 6, 2011

  Researchers Investigate Why a Limited Number of White Blood Cells Are Attracted to Injured Tissue

  As any weekend warrior knows, an errant elbow or a missed ball can put a crimp in an afternoon of fun. The bruising and swelling are painfully obvious, but the processes occurring under the skin remain full of mystery. What is known is that leukocytes, or white blood cells, mobilize to protect injured body tissue from infection. What is not understood is why some leukocytes - but not others - are attracted to damaged tissue.

  Dynamic response to chemokine stimulus

  The response begins when leukocytes travel through blood vessels near the site of the injury and stop. Eight out of ten white blood cells will eventually continue traveling through the blood vessel, while the other two cells will actually enter the tissue to begin fighting against infection. Thanks to a $9.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, a research team led by Richard Waugh (Waugh Lab), Chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Rochester, is trying to find the reasons.

  The project team includes: Minsoo Kim (Kim Lab) and Ingrid Sarelius of the University of Rochester; Michael King and Moonsoo Jin of Cornell University; Daniel Hammer of the University of Pennsylvania; and Micah Dembo of Boston University.

• January 6, 2011

  Benoit Lab Awarded a Grant from the Rochester/Finger Lakes Eye & Tissue Bank

  The Benoit Lab has been awarded a grant from the Rochester/Finger Lakes Eye & Tissue Bank (R/FLETB) for their project entitled, Tissue Engineered Periosteum Approaches to Heal Bone Allograft Transplants.