Inspiring Engineering Minds to Advance Human Health
Dear Friends of BME,
Greetings from Irvine! Fall quarter has brought crisp air and vibrant energy from our incoming and returning classes of students. Biomedical engineering continues to attract the brightest and highest achieving students, with an incoming class of 120freshmen and 25new graduate students. In addition, we are pleased to announce new assistant professor Chang Liu as our 20th core faculty member. Liu, who specializes in the engineering of genetic systems and also the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, will join us Jan. 1, 2013. We will provide a more detailed introduction of Liu in the spring newsletter.
Over the summer, I have had the pleasure of announcing numerous recognitions received by our faculty and students. Here is a run down of the exciting news. In August, assistant professor Wendy Liu was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award for her proposal titled “Engineering Biomaterials to Exert Molecular Control of Immune Cell Function.” This is the most coveted and competitive grant for young investigators in biomedical research, with only 51 awards in 2012. The awards span a wide range of research disciplines and are not limited to biomedical engineering. The NIH also awarded grants to Steve George, BME professor and The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology Director. George led a multidisciplinary team that received a major NIH award to develop microfluidic tissue chips with perfused blood vessels that can predict the cardiac response and safety of cancer drugs. A couple weeks later, he received a second NIH RO1 grant for research aimed at using the 3-D tissue chip to study metastasis. Also over the summer, assistant professor Elliot Botvinick received an NSF-NCI Physical and Engineering Sciences in Oncology joint research grant titled “Regulation of Mammary Epithelial Signaling by Local Matrix Stiffness.”
In September, an interview with Botvinick about his work on using optical tweezers for studying cellular functions was featured on the home page of the Biomedical Engineering Society’s’ website. Also in September, associate professor Zoran Nenadic received an NSF grant titled “Brain-Computer Interface Control of Ambulation.” This is a fascinating technology that inspires avatar-like imaginations with real implications for paraplegic patients in the future. Another major story in September was that professor Vasan Venugopalan received a five-year, $3 million Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant in biophotonics from the NSF to create a new doctoral training program. And finally, more recently, BME professor and Beckman Laser Institute Director Bruce Tromberg was appointed as one of only 12 members of the Advisory Council of The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of our young and growing department. These exciting announcements exemplify the cumulative effect of our accomplishments over the last 10 years. We enter the new decade with a renewed determination to be at the forefront of developing engineering solutions for the advancement of human health.
Throughout the year, we will mark our anniversary with special events aimed at inspiring the next generation of biomedical engineering researchers. We will invite leading BME academic and industrial innovators in the field to share their experiences with our students and faculty so we can learn from the very best. We kicked off the season with a keynote presentation by MIT professor Robert Langer at the open house for The Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology. At the bookend, Dr. William Brody, president of the Salk Institute and former president of The Johns Hopkins University, will present a BME Distinguished Lecture, April 19, 2013. For other 10-year anniversary events, please check our website for updates and announcements. I hope you will join in the celebrations and share in the excitement of our proud students and faculty.
Sincerely,
Abe Lee, William J. Link Professor and Chair, BME