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.
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.
Vice President for Research David Reed has awarded the following Century II Campaign Endowed Equipment Fund (C2E2) awards at the recommendation of the C2E2 Committee.
Reed thanks the review committee members for their participation in this internal award process. For additional information on the C2E2 opportunity, visit C2E2.
By Vice President for Research.
Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Sangyoon Han has been invited to give a discussion at the Chicago Cytoskeleton Symposium at Northernwestern University on October 20th, 2017.
His talk is entitled “Early competition of actin and vinculin for talin-binding dictates NA’s maturation and force transmission.”
The Chicago Cytoskeleton is a forum for cytoskeletal researchers from the greater Chicago area to meet, hear some great talks, exchange ideas, and socialize.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Babies with hypoplastic left heart syndrome may soon be able to forego risky surgery due to a device designed by doctors, students, and technicians from West Michigan.
The condition is complex: a portion of the baby’s heart is pumping with only one chamber instead of two.
Dr. Joseph Vettukattil, chief of pediatric cardiology at Spectrum Health, is working with Spectrum Health Innovations and students and staff from Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich.
Dr. Brent Mulder, the Senior Director of Spectrum Health Innovations, says the final product could take up to 10 years to complete, but the wait will be worth it.
Read more and watch the video at FOX 17 West Michigan, by Erica Francis.
The undergraduate student team involved in the project include Emma Davis, Kat Farkas, Amanda Gogola, and Ami Kling, Biomedical Engineering. Their advisors were Jeremy Goldman and Smitha Rao, Biomedical Engineering. For Design Expo 2017 at Michigan Tech, they prepared a project “Customizing Transcatheter Nitinol Stents for Treatment of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome in Infants” with abstract:
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital heart defect that is mainly characterized by the underdevelopment of the left ventricle. Currently, multiple open heart surgeries are performed to correct this problem. Our team’s goal was to help eliminate the need for the first surgery by designing and testing catheter deployment of a modified nitinol stent with improved patient matching. The idea of deforming the stent with a microsphere to better fit anatomically relevant infant heart geometries was explored, as well as the feasibility of the use of this deformed shape.
The project was sponsored by Spectrum Health Innovations—Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. It won several awards at the Design Expo:
Keat Ghee Ong (Bio Med/LSTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $20,000 research and development grant from Georgia Tech. The project is titled. “Implementation of a Wireless Sensor System for Monitoring Mechanical Loadings at the Internal Fixation Plates of Rats with Segmental Bone Defects.” This is a one-year project.
By Sponsored Programs.
Ong is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering, the Portage Health Foundation Endowed Professor of Technological Innovations in Health, and an Affiliated Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.