Biomedical Engineers Earn Funding for Innovative Projects
March 19, 2018 - Biomedical engineering professors won three out of eight 2018 Pilot Grants awarded by the UC Irvine Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. The professors – Christopher Hughes, Michelle Khine and Wendy Liu – each will receive $25,000 for their research.
The ICTS Pilot Grants support exceptionally innovative and/or unconventional research projects that have the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms.
Liu, associate professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering & materials science, is conducting research on immunomodulatory biomaterials for use in wound care. Her approach targets the immune response through biomaterials that would decrease inflammation and promote tissue repair, with the goal of promoting more complete skin regeneration. The long-term goal is to develop improved strategies for treatment of acute and chronic skin wounds.
“We know that the immune system is a key regulator of wound healing, but biomaterials-based therapies that target immune cells for tissue regeneration have been largely unexplored,” says Liu. “We are extremely grateful to the ICTS for this award, which will enable us to carry out this work."
Hughes, director of the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology and professor of molecular biology & biochemistry and biomedical engineering, earned funding for his project to validate a microfluidic device that allows researchers to grow a perfused, vascularized micro tumor (VMT). The idea is to see how an individual patient’s tumor cells respond to combinations of FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs, resulting in a truly personal drug-screening methodology.
Khine, professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering & materials science, is working on conformable wearable electronics to monitor congestive heart failure (CHF). Her team has developed low-cost, disposable, adhesive bandage-type ultrasensitive sensors that adhere to the skin. These sensors would continuously monitor hemodynamic and respiratory parameters to detect and alert users of early CHF signs.
– Lori Brandt
