Biomedical Engineering
Newsletter Nov. 2019
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Welcome to the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Texas!
These are exciting times for Biomedical Engineering at UNT! We are five years old! More importantly, we have graduated 50 students with bachelor’s degrees and nine students from our two-year-old graduate programs. And, in June 2019, we moved into our own building, with research and teaching laboratories, an auditorium, and two state-of-the-art, interactive classrooms. Our graduates are working at a broad array of companies, including Abbott, Alcon Labs, Lockheed Martin, Biomerics, Orthofix and Boston Scientific, among others. Many of our graduates have come back to our program for their graduate studies, and more and more of our BMEN students have gained REU and internship experiences than previous years. Recently, we have partnered with the G. Brint Ryan College of Business to create a unique option for our graduate students – a two-year MS-MBA program. We added five faculty in 2019 and our enrollment has grown to 274 students! I invite you to explore our website and see what we have to offer. Whether you are a prospective student or parent, an industry or research representative, I encourage you to visit us at Discovery Park. Please feel free to contact me. Go Mean Green! Go BMEN!
Sincerely, Vijay Vaidyanathan Founding Chair, Biomedical Engineering
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By the Numbers 2019-20 Undergraduate Program
Graduate Program
Year started: Fall 2014
Year started: Fall 2017
Number of Students: 240 47% Female
Number of Students: MS: 34 PhD tracks with concentration in Biomedical Engineering: 10 29% Female
Average SAT/ACT score for incoming freshmen: SAT: Verbal + Math: 1285 ACT: 28.93
Research Funding YTD: $0.8 M Graduate Assistants: TA: 6 RA: 13
Undergraduate Student Demographics 3%
1%
24%
28%
89%
67%
28%
White
African-American
Hispanic
American Indian
Asian/Pasific Islander
Other
Non-Resident
Graduate Student Demographics 0%
6%
9%
6% 5% 8% White
African-American
Hispanic
Asian/Pasific Islander
American Indian
Other
Non-Resident
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Dr. Rita Patterson AIMBE Fellow, Associate Dean for Research Rita Patterson, PhD, a UNT Health Science Center professor and adjunct faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows, one of the highest professional distinctions for medical and biological engineers. She was recognized for outstanding translational research in wrist biomechanics, collaborative opportunities across educational backgrounds and exemplary service to the bioengineering field. Patterson, a biomedical engineer, has focused much of her research on collaborations with hand surgeons and therapists to investigate the biomechanics of the wrist and upper extremities. She also applies her knowledge of engineering techniques to the study of the spine, knee joints and many other aspects of the human musculoskeletal system. Patterson also serves as the associate dean for research at the UNT Health Sciences Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Biomedical Engineering awarded $300,000 by Hoblitzelle Foundation The UNT Department of Biomedical Engineering was awarded $300,000 by the Hoblitzelle Foundation to support diomedical engineering laboratories. Vijay Vaidyanathan, founding chair, wrote the proposal in collaboration with Susan Holmes and Erin Smith at UNT Division of Advancement; he also made a presentation to the Hoblitzelle Foundation on future department growth and prospects. The funds will be made available to the department in two installments.
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Smart Polymers for Biomedical Applications (SPBA)
This lab is led by Melanie Ecker, who joined the department in fall 2019 as an assistant professor. With the research in her lab, she plans to combine the field of polymer science with that of biomedical engineering. Ecker is a chemist with a strong background in materials science. She graduated in 2015 in Germany in the field of shape memory polymers and has extensive experience in the characterization of materials properties. During her doctoral research, she built a strong expertise in structure-property relationships of polymers. Now, she’s planning to combine her passion for polymer science with the field of biomedical engineering to develop next-generation smart polymeric biomaterials and to work on polymer-based medical devices and sensors. Areas her lab is particularly interested in are 1) conformal and biocompatible neural devices to study the electrophysiology of the enteric nervous system 2) responsive polymeric biomaterials for wound healing and 3) shape memory polymer bandages to prevent of Colonic Anastomotic Leak.
target within the body. That includes, but is not limited to, the mechanical properties, surface and bulk properties, surface chemistries, water absorption, hydrophobicity, surface topography and much more. However, most of the devices currently on the market are using industrial polymers. While they may work for some applications, they are usually not tailored specifically for their application and are borrowed from other industries. This is where Ecker and her SPBA lab has identified a niche. By looking at the environment at a specific anatomical region within the body and by having the application in mind, her lab will be able to customize a polymer so that it has the best properties to fulfill its function. The overall goal is to ensure that the mechanical properties, as well as the chemical composition, are adequate for the application while having the material be biocompatible to cause the least adverse host reaction as possible. We are looking forward to seeing what exciting new devices are leaving her lab within the next couple of years.
Why polymers? Polymers belong to a class of biomaterials that are widely used for medical applications. One advantage of these materials is that they are highly versatile and can be tuned to meet the needs of a specific
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Micro and Nanoengineering Innovations in Medicine (MiNiMedicine)
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MiNiMedicine Lab focuses on engineering biomimetic cellular microenvironments for regenerative medicine and human disease models.
nanotopographical memory effects of stem cells. As exemplified in Fig. 1, nanotopography can regulate the behavior of human bone marrowderived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and eventually decide their fate.
Regenerative medicine aims at replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function. Stem cells have provided With a better understanding of significant new potential opportunities the interactions between cells and for the treatment of untreatable diseases Fig. 1 hMSCs grown on an array of microenvironmental cues, we engineer at present; however, the challenges are pillars of 500 nm in diameter, 950 nm in microscale physiologically relevant to maintain the regenerative capacity of center-to-center distance and 500 nm systems to resemble living tissues, i.e. in height. stem cells and selectively differentiate organ-on-chips by integrating these stem cells into clinically relevant cell cues into microfluidic platforms to types. Conventional cell culture methods understand the progression and advance using flat and stiff plastic surfaces diagnosis and treatment of diseases. We do not recapitulate the biochemical have engineered a 3D microfluidic model (growth factors and cytokines), physical of the bone marrow microenvironment for (nanotopography and stiffness) and study of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) mechanical (fluidic forces and mechanical as shown in Fig. 2. The engineered disease strains) characteristics of the in vivo models are of physiological relevance, cellular microenvironment, and thus cell because they allow precise control over behaviors on such surfaces significantly the cell types and key microenvironmental deviate from their in vivo counterparts. characteristics contributing to the Therefore, there is a pressing need to disease. An ongoing project, sponsored incorporate the microenvironmental by the National Institute of Health, characteristics into and revolutionize stem Fig. 2 Leukemic cells display is to engineer a biomimetic alveolar cell culture technologies. By innovating distinct interactions with stromal interstitium model to assess the toxicity of and osteoblasts in 3D from micro-/nanoengineering techniques and cells engineered nanomaterials. These models 2D, which affects anti-cancer drug biomaterials, we precisely control these resistance. will bridge the gap between expensive, microenvironmental cues in a biomimetic time-consuming studies and traditional, manner to advance our understanding of how these cues unrealistic in vitro models, thus improving our limited regulate cell behavior. One ongoing project, sponsored compression of the role of microenvironmental signals in by the National Science Foundation, is to advance next- disease progression and helping identify new therapeutic generation cell culture technologies by investigating targets and more effective disease treatment options.
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Multidisciplinary Brain Network Study for anti-Epileptogenesis Lin Li’s computational neuroscience laboratory aims to combine multi-disciplinary techniques, such as electrophysiology, neuroimaging and advanced data analysis, to enhance the understanding of network mechanisms of epilepsy, ultimately improving its prevention and cure. Epilepsy is one of the most common and serious neurological disorders. According to the World Health Organization, the global burden of this disease is equivalent to lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Current treatments fail to control seizures in 40 percent of patients with epilepsy, and there are no preventative treatments. Recent studies in functional neuroimaging identified epilepsy as a network disorder, which enlightened a new route for studying and understanding its underlying mechanism using network science. Li’s computational neuroscience laboratory at the Department of Biomedical Engineering aims to perform multidisciplinary electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) and posttraumatic epilepsy, in order to identify biomarkers and targets for novel approaches to seizure control, disease prevention and cure. It is currently not possible to study the latent period of epilepsy in human subjects, due to clinical practice regulations that restrict direct assessment of neuronal networks, for example, using stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG), to patients with recurrent, chronic, drug-resistance epilepsy. The stateof-the-art of research in Li’s lab is a bi-focused program on epilepsy patients. Using modeling techniques, we are
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able to produce the mTLE condition and monitor the process of dysfunctional alternations of the neuronal networks during the early period of the epileptogenesis. Our prior SEEG study suggested a hyper-connected intranetwork brain connectome pattern was established in the early latent period of epilepsy. This result has also been confirmed with non-invasive functional resonance imaging (fMRI). The increase of co-activated brain connectivity revealed by SEEG and fMRI suggested a robust network mechanism of epileptogenesis and has therefore become our target for novel antiseizure therapies to treat these pharmacoresistant patients (Fig). Our current research focuses on the identification of the similar SEEGfMRI patterns in epilepsy patients, especially in young children who have only experienced one to two seizures and who are still considered to be in the midst of epileptogenesis and developing the epileptogenic network. We also aim to continue conducting research in discovering anti-epileptogenesis approaches. Currently, our design of experiments includes the application of local expression of precise inhibition using designer receptor exclusively activated by designer drugs and global expression of inhibition using low dosage laser therapy or photobiomodulations. All of our ongoing projects will be efforts of broad collaborations with other labs and institutions. We will continue to work closely with UCLA Department of Neurology, Cook Children’s Hospital, and Shen Zhen Children’s Hospital, with the shared goal of uncovering the mystery of the epilepsy and finding promising solutions for prevention and cure.
Nanomaterials, Biomolecular Engineering, and Cell Circuits
Brian Meckes’s lab focuses on developing nanomaterials that improve therapeutic targeting and enhance cellular programming. In particular, his lab will create the next generation of smart, tailorable and responsive nanotherapeutics that are able to more intelligently interact with specific cells. These nanotherapeutics will be designed to recognize and respond to protein signals from neurons, thereby improving targeting of specific brain regions and subpopulations of neurons. These new classes of nanomaterials will have significant implications for improving patient outcomes and reducing sideeffects in medications conventionally used to treat cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and mental health disorders. His research also seeks to create cellular models that mimic developmental and degenerative processes. These studies will open new avenues for programming cell behavior for regenerating complex tissues while identifying novel drug targets that slow disease progression.
Meckes joined our faculty this summer as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. Meckes was previously at Northwestern University, where he was the Eden and Steven Romick and an International Institute for Nanotechnology Postdoctoral Fellow. While there, his research focused on the use of highthroughput nanolithography to program stem cell behavior and the development of spherical nucleic acid nanoparticles with improved biodistribution and enhanced immunostimulatory properties for cancer immunotherapy platforms. Prior to his position at Northwestern, he received his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego and his B.S. in Bioengineering from Rice University. Dr. Meckes’s research has resulted in 20 publications and five pending patents.
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New Biomedical Engineering building is open!
UNT has opened its new $12.6 million biomedical engineering building where glass-walled, open concept labs and classrooms create a transparent and collaborative environment for cutting-edge research and learning.
labs, faculty investigate exoskeleton technology that may someday help people with limited mobility; develop nanotechnology and optics to diagnose cancer; and biopolymers and flexible bioelectronics that may help doctors deliver medications and manage illnesses.
Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest growing programs at UNT, increasing more than five-fold since its first class in 2014.
The biomedical engineering program offers diverse educational tracks and unique degree plans, providing students opportunities to specialize in audiology, public health, music performance health, business, management, computer science and biology.
The 26,250-square-foot building, which opened for classes Aug. 26, is located on UNT’s Discovery Park campus and provides faculty and students with modern classrooms, research labs, facilities for microscopy, cell culture and optics as well as teaching labs and a senior design lab. The new labs feature hi-tech instruments such as a bio 3D printer that prints cells mimicking human tissue and a 3D virtual dissection table that allows students to delve inside the human body without a scalpel. Inside research
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Undergraduate students are able to pursue two minors in addition to their major in biomedical engineering. Master’s students can complete an additional master’s degree, including an MBA, in just two years. Students interested in a Ph.D. can pursue materials science or mechanical and energy engineering with a specialization in biomedical engineering.
First graduates: New teaching faculty:
May 2018 Where are they: Alcon, Abbott, Lockheed Martin, graduate school, medical school
Design Day, April 2019
Dr. Venkat Keshav Chivukula, Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering), University of Iowa; Post-doctoral research at Oregon Health and Science University
Dr. Xiaodan Shi, Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering), Mississippi State University; Post-doctoral research at UTA
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Contact us: Web: biomedical.engineering.unt.edu Phone: 940-565-3338 Email: vijay.vaidyanathan@unt.edu
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