Feng Zhao (Bio Med) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $459,000 research and development grant from Department of Health and Human Services – National Institutes of Health. Jeremy Goldman (Bio Med) is Co-PI on the project, “Development of Off-the-Shelf Completely Biological Small-Diameter Blood Vessel with Human Stem Cells.”
The is the first year of a potential three-year project.
Bruce Lee (BioMed), Rupak Rajachar (BioMed), Ameya Narkar, Ariana Tyo and Saleh Akram attended the 42 Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Lee served as the chair of the Bioadhesion Division within the Adhesion Society and was one of the organizers in the meeting. Rajachar chaired two sessions entitled “Interfaces in Pharmaceutical Sciences” and “Bioadhesive Chemistry.”
Narkar gave an oral presentation entitled “Evaluating Rapid Switching and Reversible Adhesion of Adhesive Hydrogel-Coated PDMS Micropillars,” a project directed by Lee. Narkar also co-chaired a session entitled “Bioadhesive Chemistry.”
Tyo gave an oral presentation entitled “Optimizing of Two-Step Adhesive Coating for the Mitigation of Field Associated Infection in Cetacean Satellite Telemetry Tags,” a project directed by Rajachar.
Akram gave an oral presentation entitled “Controlling Redox Reaction of Conductive Smart Catechol Adhesive using Electrochemistry,” a project directed by Lee.
The meeting took place February 17-20, 2019.
Jingfeng Jiang is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $450,187 research and development grant from the National Institutes of Health, “Elastography-Based Analytics for Benign and Malignant Breast Disease.”
Ultrasound elastography is used to pinpoint possible tumors and differentiate malignant, cancerous growths from benign lesions throughout the body, including in the breast. “Cancer tissues are stiff, and aggressively change their surroundings,” says Jiang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Tech.
“Ultrasound elastography uses imaging to measure the stiffness of tissue. Depending on who does the reading, the accuracy can vary from 95 percent to 40 percent,” Jiang says. “Forty percent is very bad—you get 50 percent when you toss a coin. In part, the problem is that ultrasound elastography is a relatively new modality.”
Ultrasound elastography could be an excellent screening tool for women who have suspicious mammograms, but only if the results are properly interpreted. Jiang’s research team, along with Zhengfu Xu, assistant professor of mathematical sciences, will use their graphics processing unit (GPU) to perform advanced processing of raw ultrasound data so physicians can use that information in their clinical workflow. “Mainly, radiologists will use our software together with ultrasound elastography and ultrasound for diagnosis,” says Jiang. “Our goal is to greatly reduce the guesswork.”
Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Jingfeng Jiang is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $450,187 research and development grant from the National Institutes of Health. Zhengfu Xu (Math), assistant professor of mathematical sciences, is co-pi. This is a three-year project.
Michigan Tech students interested in medicine, veterinary medicine and other health-related professions participated in the Health Professions Interview Workshop on Monday, April 9, 2018. The workshop was designed for students preparing for health-related graduate programs and admission interviews.
Thirteen pre-health students engaged in one-on-one personal interviews, Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) and a large, team-building earthquake simulation.
“I really enjoyed the medical school mock interviews. I think MMIs are so unique to medical school interviews that most students don’t have any exposure to that kind of interaction,” said Rachel Wall, biological sciences student.
MMI interviews are used by many medical and health professions programs as part of the admissions process. An MMI is comprised of short, structured interview stations used to assess non-cognitive qualities and how applicants handle themselves in a particular situation. Some MMI stations involve role-playing situations where the interviewee is required to play a particular role and take an ethical stance in decision-making.
Wall continued, “Even the group activity portion is not something most people experience while being evaluated. I think those of us who participated in this will be much better prepared for our medical school interviews than our peers who haven’t had this type of exposure and practice.”
The biology department has hosted similar events in the past, but on a much smaller scale. This year, the pre-health department teamed up with Career Services to host a larger workshop for students of all majors with an interest in health professions.
More than a dozen volunteer interviewers, facilitators, actors and evaluators participated in the event—including faculty, students and staff from Pre-health, Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, and Career Services. Central Michigan University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program also provided volunteers for the workshop.
The application and interview process for Health Professions Programs can be daunting, but this workshop, “is a part of the ongoing effort to grow and improve pre-health at Michigan Tech,” according to pre-health coordinator Nicole Seigneurie who spearheaded the workshop.
Elizabeth Scaife, biological sciences major, notes, “the Health Professions Interview Workshop was a wonderful experience full of challenging ethical questions, and a fun group activity that helped me find my strengths and weaknesses for future interviews for vet schools.”
By Career Services.
Bruce Lee (Bio Med) attended the 2018 Annual Meeting for the Society for Biomaterials in Atlanta to give an invited talk in the session entitled “Thought Leader: Mussel and Plant Polyphenol Inspired Biomaterials.” Lee also served as one of the moderators in this session.
Research by biomedical engineers at Michigan Tech was featured in the article “SME’s Humans of Manufacturing — Developing Hearts,” in Additive Manufacturing. The article focuses on Dr. Martin Bocks’ efforts to solve cardiology problems in small children.
“Right now, we use stents that are FDA approved for adult indications such as coronary or peripheral vascular disease, or stents for the biliary tract,” said Dr. Martin Bocks, a pediatric cardiology specialist at the Cleveland Ohio’s UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.
Working with biomedical engineers from Michigan Tech University and Case Western Reserve University, he has developed a new type of stent made of a special zinc alloy that safely degrades over time and is gradually taken up by the body. It is not permanent like those made of Nitinol, stainless steel, or other bare metals, but shares many of the same properties.
Dr. Bocks explains that the manufacturing process is much the same as any other metal stent, except that the zinc is much harder to work with. “We start with the raw material provided by the team at Michigan Tech, have it cast into rods, and extruded into tubes or a cannulae, which are then laser cut according to our stent design. It’s electro-polished, crimped onto a balloon, and delivered. So far, it looks like an excellent alternative for pediatric patients.”
Read more at SME, Smart Manufacturing Experience, by SME Media.
Bruce Lee (Bio Med), Rupak Rajachar (Bio Med) and Ameya Narkar attended the 6th World Congress on Adhesion and Related Phenomena, organized in conjunction with the 41st Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society in San Diego.
Lee chaired a session entitled “Biomedical Adhesives and Clinical Applications.” Lee also served as the elected vice chair of the Bioadhesion Division within the Adhesion Society and will serve as the chair of the division in the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society in 2019.
Rajachar gave an oral presentation entitled “Optimization of Novel Fibrin-polydopamine Adhesive Hydrogels for Use in Marine Wound Healing.”
Narkar gave an oral presentation entitled “Effect of Ionic Functional Groups on the Oxidation State and Interfacial Binding Property of Catechol-based Adhesive,” a project directed by Lee. Narkar also co-chaired a session entitled “Bioadhesive Chemistry.”
Jeremy Goldman (Bio Med/IMP) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $217,791 research and development grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE) is Co-PI on the project, “Exploratory Research to Suppress Intimal Hyperplasia by Controlling Zinc Implant Biodegradation.”
This is a one-year project.
Home Health Care News published an article about FM Wound Care, a start-up company that is awaiting FDA approval to market a product designed to prevent infection, based on technology developed by Megan Frost (Bio Med).
A biomedical engineer and a health care entrepreneur have teamed up to improve wound care with a product designed to prevent infection and reduce the need for some post-acute care, including home health.
FM Wound Care, LLC, based in Trenary, Michigan, is awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval on a nitric-oxide-infused, self-sterilizing wound dressing designed to kill bacteria following surgery. The post-op bandage could potentially reduce the need for some care performed by home health care providers, and lower overall wound care costs.
Megan C. Frost, PhD, and entrepreneur Jeff Millin believe their product—the Sentry Wound Dressing—prevents infections by slowly releasing nitric oxide (N.O.) over the course of seven days, allowing patients to wear the same wound dressing for a week.