February 2015

VOLUME IX | FEB 2015 | ISSUE 4

THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU

PIONEER

BIOTECH

Learn more about the OculuStaple from the 2014 Capstone Expo

RECENT PUBLICATIONS Journal

Welcome back from the winter break! I hope everyone has had a good first month thus far.

The spring semester has begun, and with it comes change. This will be my last issue with the Pioneer, of which I have been a part for close to four years now. The same can also be said of many of the other staff members who will be graduating this semester. I have had a great time working with such dedicated staff to create great content for all of you, and I can only hope that you have enjoyed it as much as I have. With this letter, I will be passing the reins on to the new Editor-in-Chief, Jonathan Austin, as well as the new executive board, all of whom I believe will perform spectacularly.

This issue of Pioneer looks at two labs in the Coulter Department. The first, run by Dr. Shuming Nie and located at Emory University, researches biomolecular methods for cancer imaging and targeting therapy. The second lab is headed by Dr. Garrett Stanley here at Georgia Tech with a focus on neuroscience. We also have an article about WorkReadyGrad, a startup founded by an alumnus of the Coulter Department, Brian Srikanchana, as well as a Biotech Review looking at the OculoSeal, a pre-health article on osteopathic medicine, and much more.

To get updates about when new articles are posted online, feel free to like our Facebook page at facebook.com/gtpioneer or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/ pioneergt. If you would like, you can also reach us at thepioneer@gatech.edu.

Once again, thank you for a great four years, and best of luck to you all.

So long, and thanks for all the fish, Jackson Hair Editor-in-Chief Pioneer

INSIDE PIONEER RECENT PUBLICATIONS……………………….………….…………..…………...…...….......3 START UP......……............................……………..…….……...……….….......…………........4 EVENTS AND DEADLINES.....……………………………..………………..……...……..........4 BIOTECH REVIEW............................................…….………………….…….…….……….....5 RESEARCH SERIES............………………..………………………..…..…...………...............6 Dr.Garrett Stanley

TOOLBOX.............................................................................................................................7 REU......................................………………..………………………..…..…...………...............8 That’s So BME.....................………….…......…………...…………..……….………..…..........9 RESEARCH SERIES............………………..………………………..…..…...……….............10 Dr.Shuming Nie

Axonal transport cargo motor count versus average transport velocity: Is fast versus slow transport really single versus multiple motor transport?

Lee RH, Mitchell CS.

J Neural Eng

Functional recordings from awake, behaving rodents through a microchannel based regenerative neural interface.

Gore RK, Choi Y, Bellamkonda R, English A.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Jackson Hair

Trends Biotechnol

Quantifying on- and off-target genome editing.

Hendel A, Fine EJ, Bao G, Porteus MH.

FACULTY SPONSOR Barbara Fasse, Ph.D.

Spine

OPERATIONS SECRETARY TREASURER PUBLIC RELATIONS

Established 2007

Steven Touchton, Jr Fatiesa Sulejmani

Hee Su Lee Tino Zhang

WEBMASTERS Josh Diaddigo Arthur Lim Kelsey Williams

Molecular Force Spectroscopy on Cells.

Liu B, Chen W, Zhu C.

Cancer Inform

Bayesian hierarchical models for protein networks in single-cell mass cytometry.

Mitra R, Müller P, Qiu P, Ji Y.

150 years of the mass action law.

Voit EO, Martens HA, Omholt SW.

PLoS Comput Biol.

Ann Biomed Eng

Cathepsins in Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy: Identification in Human Chronic Tears and Temporal Induction Seto SP, Parks AN, Qiu Y, Soslowsky LJ, Karas S, in a Rat Model.

Platt MO,Temenoff JS.

Bone

Coordinated regulation of mesenchymal stem cell differentiation on microstructured titanium surfaces by Olivares-Navarrete R, Hyzy SL, Haithcock DA, Cunendogenous bone morphogenetic proteins. diff CA, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD.

STAFF WRITERS Jonathan Austin

Anirudh Joshi Maithili Appalwar Shanzeh Farooqui Sarah Gonzales Ann Johnson Yinglin Li Andrew McNair Sameer Mishra Alaap Murali Dhara Patel Valeriya Popova Tanvi Rao Abigail Riddle Hifza Sakhi Erik Sampayo Linda Tian Abhinaya Uthayakumar Nadiya Zafar

Semin Cell Dev Biol Ann Biomed Eng Biomater Sci ACS Synth Biol

EDITORS Catherine Chou

Nader Abdullahi Andrew Akers Sruti Bheri Alexis Blazier Julie Chow Hardika Dhir Amanda Klinker Meera Nathan Likhit Nayak Melanie Yoshimura

LAYOUT EDITORS Joy Kim

Kevin Bai Candice Cheung Brandi Nevius Pearly Pandya Yuyan Wang Wenjun Wu Yiran Zhao

PHOTOGRAPHERS David Van

Dustin Blohm Wanda Chen Morgan Hinchey Paige McQuade Anokhi Patel Maya Rajan Hyunjun (Fred) Woo Jimmy Zhou

COLLABORATORS Karen Adams

Paul Fincannon Courtney Lucas Ferencik Sally Gerrish Andrea Clark Mohamad Najia Shuming Nie Brian Srikanchana Garrett Stanley

Implant Materials Generate Different Peri-implant Inflammatory Factors: PEEK Promotes Fibrosis and Olivares-Navarrete R, Hyzy SL, Slosar PJ, Schneider Micro-textured Titanium Promotes Osteogenic Factors.

JM, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD.

Annu Rev Phys Chem

Mol

Bridging the divide between pathogenesis and detection in lymphedema.

Dixon JB, Weiler MJ.

MRI-based Protocol to Characterize the Relationship Between Bicuspid Aortic Valve Morphology and Mirabella L, Barker AJ, Saikrishnan N, Coco ER, ManHemodynamics. giameli DJ, Markl M, Yoganathan AP. Cell-derived matrices for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications

Fitzpatrick LE, McDevitt TC.

One Primer To Rule Them All: Universal Primer That Adds BBa_B0034 Ribosomal Binding Site to Any Bryksin AV, Bachman HN, Cooper SW, Balavijayan Coding Standard 10 BioBrick.

T, Blackstone RM, Du H, Jenkins JP, Haynes CL, Siemer JL, Fiore VF, BarkerTH.

Biomaterials

Microchannel-based regenerative scaffold for chronic peripheral nerve interfacing in amputees.

Srinivasan A, Tahilramani M, Bentley JT, Gore RK, Millard DC, Mukhatyar VJ, Joseph A, Haque AS, Stanley GB, English AW,Bellamkonda RV.

PLoS Biol

Millisecond-scale motor encoding in a cortical vocal area.

Tang C, Chehayeb D, Srivastava K, Nemenman I, Sober SJ.

Acta Biomater

High-strength, surface-porous polyether-ether-ketone for load-bearing orthopedic implants.

Evans NT, Torstrick FB, Lee CS, Dupont KM, Safranski DL,Chang WA, Macedo AE, Lin AS, Boothby JM, Whittingslow DC, Carson RA, Guldberg RE, Gall K.

Acta Biomater

Gelatin methacrylate microspheres for controlled growth factor release.

Nguyen AH, McKinney J, Miller T, Bongiorno T, McDevitt TC.

COSMID: A Web-based Tool for Identifying and Validating CRISPR/Cas Off-target Sites.

Cradick TJ, Qiu P, Lee CM, Fine EJ, Bao G.

Optimizing hepatic flow distribution with the Fontan Y-graft: Lessons from computational simulations.

Tang E, Yoganathan AP.

Ther Nucleic Acids

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surgery Neuroimage

A comparative analysis of mouse and human medial geniculate nucleus connectivity: A DTI and antero- Keifer OP Jr, Gutman DA, Hecht EE, Keilholz SD, grade tracing study.

Ressler KJ

Exp Eye Res

Colocalization of outflow segmentation and pores along the inner wall of Schlemm's canal.

Braakman ST, Read AT, Chan DW, Ethier CR, Overby DR.

Ann Thorac Surg

Energetic implications of vessel growth and flow changes over time in fontan patients.

Restrepo M, Tang E, Haggerty CM, Khiabani RH, Mirabella L, Bethel J, Valente AM, Whitehead KK, McElhinney DB, Fogel MA,Yoganathan AP.

Am J Cardiol

Comparison by magnetic resonance phase contrast imaging of pulse-wave velocity in patients with single Fogel MA, Li C, Nicolson SC, Spray TL, Gaynor ventricle who have reconstructed aortas versus those without.

JW, Fuller S, Keller MS, Harris MA, Yoganathan AP, Whitehead KK

Tissue Eng Part C Differential expression of extracellular matrix and growth factors by embryoid bodies in hydrodynamic and Methods. static cultures.

Nat Med

BME ANSWERS.................................................................................................................10 HEALTH..............................………….…......…………...…………..……….………..….........11

Authors

J Theor Biol

From the Editor in Chief PIONEER Greetings everyone,

Article Title

FEB ISSUE 4

Fridley KM, Nair R, McDevitt TC.

Targeting α4β7 integrin reduces mucosal transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus and protects gut- Byrareddy SN, Kallam B, Arthos J, Cicala C, Nawaz F, associated lymphoid tissue from infection.

Hiatt J, Kersh EN, McNicholl JM, Hanson D, Reimann KA, Brameier M, Walter L, Rogers K, Mayne AE, Dunbar P, Villinger T, Little D, Parslow TG, Santangelo PJ, Villinger F, Fauci AS, Ansari AA

Am J Physiol Regul Disturbed flow induces systemic changes in metabolites in mouse plasma: a metabolomics study using Go YM, Kim CW, Walker DI, Kang DW, Kumar S, Orr Integr Comp Physiol ApoE-/- mice with partial carotid ligation.

M, Uppal K, Quyyumi AA, Jo H, Jones DP Circ Res Ann Biomed Eng

Identification of Therapeutic Covariant MicroRNA Clusters in Hypoxia-Treated Cardiac Progenitor Cell Exo- Gray WD, French KM, Ghosh-Choudhary S, Maxwell somes Using Systems Biology.

JT, Brown ME, Platt MO, Searles CD, Davis ME. Focal association between wall shear stress and clinical coronary artery disease progression.

Focal association between wall shear stress and clinical coronary artery disease progression.

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5

4 FEB ISSUE 4

A

STARTUP

BIOTECH

START UP

OCULO-WHAT?

By Erik Sampayo Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

loyal reader of The Pioneer may find the name Brian Srikanchana familiar. He was featured two years ago for launching WorkReadyGrad, a startup that uses a website to bridge the gap between students and industry before graduation. More specifically, the end goal is that students would be equipped with a professional network and the proper skills to enter the workforce. Srikanchana, a 2008 Georgia Tech BME alumnus, is now using the technology of WorkReadyGrad to assess a different problem: the life science doctorate “brain drain”.

Most doctoral programs solely encourage graduate students to pursue a career in academic research, yet the National Science Foundation reports that only 14% of engineers remain in academia after they graduate with a PhD. However, because these programs focus exclusively on training potential doctorates for academia, many graduates enter the industry unprepared. Their lack of connections in and exposure to the various professions that PhDs can hold in the life sciences cause them to remain oblivious to a majority of jobs offers. Some PhDs even become discouraged and settle for jobs for which they are overqualified. As such, the root of the problem – the life science “brain drain” – rests in myopic PhD programs.

By Alaap Murali Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

when they were in graduate school. Trainees are then encouraged to create a digital resume in this platform, where employers receive notifications when talent exists matching their ideal candidate descriptions for job offers.

EVENTS AND DEADLINES

the device acts as a clamp that staples tissue automatically in front of the scalpel, giving doctors a clear path to cut while at the same time allowing for more precise cuts.

Beyond being an online tool to connect PhD trainees with employers and PhD professionals, WorkReadyPhD seeks to usher PhD trainees out of their labs and over to programming with Georgia Bio’s Emerging Leaders Network (ELN). Within ELN, PhD trainees, postdoctoral scientists, and biomedical practicing professionals build relationships with each other around shared interest areas and spur innovation, all the while expanding their professional networks. Thus, BEST and WorkReady PhD have the capacity to make a difference in school-to-industry transitions.

The Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program, led

by Dr. Nael McCarty at Emory, addresses this problem for the biomedical workforce. BEST does this by taking 50 applicants, both predoctoral and postdoctoral, from Georgia Tech and Emory each year and exposing them to different biomedical and pharmaceutical institutions in Atlanta.

The program also engages faculty members by helping them train their graduate students for the needs of the modern life science workforce. This semester, BEST is exploring the use of WorkReadyGrad, though tailored to the needs of its PhD trainees, in the form of WorkReadyPhD.com.

“The technology is basically the same, but the demographics are different,” said Srikanchana. Employers are encouraged to define their ideal post doctorate candidate so that PhD trainees can learn what qualities they need to develop based on industry demand while they still have time. PhD alumni from Georgia Tech and Emory are sought out to submit their “success stories,” describing their current work, how they gained employment, what made them stand out to employers, and what they wished they had known

FEB ISSUE 4

For Naija and his team, the most challenging part of the design process was coming up with an idea“I think what I learned from this Capstone experience is that engineering is a lot more creative than people deem it to be,” Najia says. “One of the initial challenges was coming up with different approaches to what surgeons have been doing for decades. You may be given clinical needs, but you may discover by observing the user environment of the device that there are more explicit needs that need to be addressed.”

To overcome this initial challenge, Najia suggested, aspiring inventors in BME should speak with physicians about challenges they face while practicing and really think about how they can impact that specific field. Having a strong team with diverse backgrounds is also an asset, because members are suddenly introduced to multiple approaches to the same problem. Najia and Borinski, for example, are heavily into research and understand the processes of device testing and safety Mohamad Najia with his teammates at the 2014 Capstone Expo. checks. Padilla and Kolpitcke, on the other hand, have experience (Photo: Submitted) in industry and understand manufacturing concepts. The other great challenge came with presenting the idea to many different kinds of hen it comes to innovation, many of us rejoice at the opportunity people. What he learned, Najia recalls, is that the best way to do this is to create but at the same time are left with no clear way to by eliminating “technical jargon” and presenting an idea in terms of its progress. This is not the case with Mohamad Najia, a former value. This way, the idea will appeal to a larger group of people.

BME student who graduated from Georgia Tech in December 2014, who won the 2014 Capstone Expo along with teammates Drew Padilla, Looking to graduate in 2015, Najia plans to make improvements to Andy Kolpitcke, and Jackie Borinski. In Najia’s eyes, it all simply comes the current product and file for a US patent for OculoStaple within the down to an idea. As an engineer, he suggests, the best way to develop next year. He also plans to continue biomedical engineering through an innovative idea is by observation. When searching for inspiration a PhD program in the fall. For anyone with a passion for innovation for a Capstone Expo project, Najia and his team had the opportunity Najia’s story definitely presents much from which to learn about the to watch two surgeries on patients with ptosis, a condition that causes process of making an idea an actuality. drooping of the eyelids in 80% of elderly people.

W Brian Srikanchana founder of WorkReadyGrad. (Photo: Jimmy Zhou)

FEB

FEB 10 Breakfast Club Seminar Dr. Robert Butera 8:30 AM — Petit Room 1128

FEB 21 4th Annual Pediatric Device Competition Seed grant competition for the scientific and business community 8 AM — Petit Room 1128

FEB 10 Bioengineering Seminar Series Dr. Gerard A. Ateshian 11 AM — Petit Room 1128

FEB 24 Integrated Cancer Research Center Seminar Dr. Yuhong Fan 4 PM — Petit Room 1128

FEB 19 Bioengineering Seminar Series Dr. Buddy D. Ratner 11 AM — Petit Room 1128

FEB 26 The Charles L Liotta Symposium on Advances in Chemistry Celebrating 20 Years of Joyful Science and Service 8:20 AM— Petit Room 1128

“Watching the surgeries”, Najia says, “is a completely different experience in that you notice clinical needs that doctors may not initially present to you.”

The observations in the operating rooms gave him and his team the idea for their winning device, the OculoStaple, which reduces error in ptosis surgeries.

The way ptosis operations currently work, Najia explains, is by a complex procedure of cutting and suturing that has tremendous potential for error. Doctors need to clamp the eyelid tissue, suture directly under the clamp, and then cut tissue in between the suture and the clamp.

Many times, however, the complexity of the process causes doctors to accidentally cut the suture. When this happens, they have to clamp the eyelids again and cut more eyelid tissue than intended, which can cause more vision problems in the elderly. Najia and his team created OculoStaple to completely eliminate the need for suturing. Instead,

Rendering of OculoStaple. (Photo: Submitted)

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RESEARCH

TOOLBOX

FEB ISSUE 4

INSIGHT INTO NEUROENGINEERING PARAMETRIC DESIGN ITERATIONS USING CONFIGURATIONS

By Erik Sampayo Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

Stanley: As an engineer, I didn’t realize that I was getting into a field that was so philosophical. You start to think about what makes us human and how we interact with the world. I think there are inherent philosophical questions. Patterns of activity in the brain are a code of sorts, and we have yet to understand how they represent senses such as seeing a face or hearing our name called. The ultimate question is, ‘What is that code?’ One thing we can do as engineers and scientists is try to understand this code and how it defines our thoughts and actions.

Interviewer: How will your research affect our everyday lives?

Dr. Stanley is currently involved in multiple projects including how rats manage to sense their environment through their whiskers. (Photo: Jimmy Zhou)

G

arrett B. Stanley, PhD, is a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University researching sensory pathways of the brain, has been at the forefront of an upcoming neuroscience boom. We at the Pioneer decided to interview him and learn more about his passion.

Interviewer: You started as a Mechanical Engineer – you even got a PhD for it. What made you passionate about neuroscience?

Stanley: I was an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech. I was a mechanical engineer at the time and didn’t know anything about biology.

When I went to Berkeley for grad school, I was studying control theory, but I serendipitously starting working in a cardiovascular physiology lab and started taking courses in physiology. I learned how the body operates under a lot of different conditions and how it reacts in various ways with the outside world, and I realized that the body, especially the brain, is the ultimate control system, so I continued to study it.

Interviewer: By discovering how we see and feel, some may say you are discovering the essence of self. Do you find something philosophical with your work?

Stanley: One thing to know is that unlike those of a lot of other organs in the body, diseases and disorders of the brain and the nervous system are incurable. Any disorder one can think of – Parkinson’s disease, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and so on – have some kind of treatment., mostly involving drugs that are not very effective.

As we are looking at a growing senior population, this becomes a huge problem.

Aberrant firing in the neurons impacts a lot of these disorders. Neurons are about push and pull. Think of a car. Some neurons accelerate and some neurons break. When these disorders occur, the acceleration and braking of these neurons get unbalanced, and you essentially have electrical car crashes in the brain. Hopefully the kind of research we do, what I refer to as learning to read the neural code, can extend to writing the neural code, and we can find a way to counteract these imbalances. This would be the key to solving a lot of these disorders, including even the loss of senses.

O

By Marty Jacobson Instructor in the Coulter Department

ne of the most powerful features in SolidWorks is the ability to configure features based on a table of values. Once comfortable with this process, one will be able to explore different design directions within one file or to represent multiple variations of a design within one file. For example, one might design several sizes of a device using these tools; when a change is made, all variations on the device should reflect the updates, saving time and reducing risk of error. Or, one might design an entire chess set using one file, with each chess piece represented as a different configuration but sharing the same underlying geometry to ensure basic consistency between parts.

The following tutorial I created to cover these techniques is available at: http://youtu.be/Q66zGgk0eC4 1. While building an object, give names to the key design parameters.

To do this, enter the name of each dimension in the name field directly above the value for the Smart Dimension on the left hand side of the screen.

Interviewer: What academic path would you recommend for somebody who wants to make developments in the field of neural engineering?

Stanley: It’s a field heavily involved in both medicine and technology.

There is a massive technology explosion right now in neuroscience.

I think that the people who are going to be the cutting edge of all this will be well versed in both sides; biomedical engineering does a good job of creating synergy between the two fields.

Interviewer: Do you have other passions besides neuroscience and engineering?

Stanley: I like to cook bacon, curing and smoking the meat. It’s fun and has a science to it. As a hands-on person, I like to build things, like doing woodworking projects with my son.

Interviewer: What inspired you to grow such a bodacious beard?

Stanley: Currently I’m doing research into the whiskers of lab rats.

Having my own whiskers is a way for me to recognize the wealth of information these rats have contributed.

2. Right-click on the “Annotations” folder in the history tree. Select the option to enable the visibility of all Smart Dimensions, which is called “Show Feature Dimensions”.

3. Right-click on any feature. Choose the option titled “Configure Feature”. A simple spreadsheet will appear. You should now be able to see the dimensions relevant to each feature in your design. Doubleclick on each dimension over which you would like parametric control.

4. You can now create new permutations of your design by simply adding new rows. Typing in the details of the feature’s parameters directly into the spreadsheet will cause those features to draw their values from the table.

5. Double-clicking on the various configuration names will cause the model to rebuild, pulling the values from the row associated with that configuration.

6. Remember to name the spreadsheet and to click the blue floppy disk “Save Table” icon in left hand corner of the configuration table before closing the table. Otherwise, the table layout will not be saved, and you will have to add all features to the table again every time you want to use it.

6. Lastly, each and every configuration you create represents a branching of the design history tree. Any features you add to one configuration will be suppressed by default in all other configurations, allowing you to explore different design paths without worrying about creating a mess in your other design iterations.

7. If at any point you want to add a feature from a different configuration to other existing configurations, simply open the configuration table by choosing “Configure Feature”, select the existing design table name from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the table interface, and then add whichever features you would like to the table. You can then switch them on and off for each configuration, in whichever combination you feel is appropriate.

8 MARISSUE ISSUE45 FEB

REU

REU FOR THE

SUMMER

By Dhara Patel Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

E

very summer, there are many ways for college students to spend their time, whether by traveling, working, or studying. However, it is often hard to choose which of the three to do, given the limited time and resources. A great opportunity to mix all three while building one’s resume, as well as to possibly form new lifelong connections, is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). There are many such programs throughout the US and beyond, so be sure to look at the variety of colleges and fields available, and apply away! Here is a condensed list of some of the programs that are being offered this year: EBICS’s Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems program at UIUC, MIT, and Tech. The program focuses on engineering stem cells to create specialized environments for micromachines. The deadline to apply is February 15th.

UM*STAR program at the School of Public Health in the University of Maryland. This program is for minority/ disadvantaged sophomores and juniors who would like to become biomedical engineers or behavioral scientists with a focus on cardiovascular disease. Applications can be found on the website and by emailing rsapp@umd.edu.

Computational Sensing and Medical Robotics at Johns Hopkins in the CISST and LCSR research centers. The program will focus on improving medical machines, such as for MRIs. The deadline to apply is March 2, 2015.

Varied Summer Research program at NYU. The program is open only to juniors and offers opportunities in a range of topics, such as biological sensors and protein-engineered materials. The deadline is March 2, 2015.

Summer Research Program at University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Much like at NYU, students can choose what they would like to pursue, from nanomaterials to virology. The priority deadline is February 2nd, and the final deadline is March 2nd.

Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program (BESIP) at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in Bethesda, Maryland. There is a very wide range of topics that can be pursued, such as tissue biophysics, neurobiology, etc. The deadline is February 9th.

Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) at the University of Southern California. This REU is open to sophomores and juniors and has a set list of projects on topics such as wireless medical implants. The deadline to apply is February 2nd, and the full list of topics can be found online.

The School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES) REU at Wake Forest University and Virginia Tech. This opportunity focuses on Translational Research, with an emphasis on human response to trauma and injury. The deadline is February 13, 2015.

REU

FEB ISSUE 4

The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) at University of vWashington, Seattle.

The experience will focus on programming the neural interface and allow students to choose between nineteen labs. The deadline to apply is February 1st.

The Amgen Scholars program, hosted at twelve different locations including MIT, University of Tokyo and UCLA. The program offers the opportunity to pursue one of a variety of fields such as biological engineering and Health Sciences and Technology (HST). The deadline to apply for this program is February 2nd for all the institutions except Caltech, which has a February 14th deadline.

The Health Sciences and Technology Program at Harvard and MIT. The focus is in either biomedical informatics or biomedical optics, with tracks in genetics/genomics and/or bioinformatics/ computer science. Students should apply by January 31st.

The Summer Institute in Biomedical Optics at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Students will conduct research at either MGH or MIT and also take classes on biomedical optics. The deadline to apply is February 16th.

For premed students, there are also various programs geared towards them: Pathway to Medical School Program at the SOWEGA-AHEC in Gainesville, GA. This program is for students in rural areas who are pursuing family or primary care, such as OB/GYN, general surgery, internal medicine, etc. The deadline to apply is March 1st.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine. Case Western has a whole list of different programs to choose from so it is definitely recommended to check its website. Topics include lung and blood research, HIV research, etc. as well as an additional Summer Medical Dental Education Program (SMDEP) program. Deadlines vary, but most are around March 1st.

Health Professions Advanced Summer Scholars Program at Des Moines University. The program is for underrepresented sophomores and juniors, with emphasis on osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies.

THAT’S SO BME...

BY: Pearly Pandya

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11 MAR FEB ISSUE ISSUE 54

RESEARCH

PRE-HEALTH

DO YOU SEE THEM?

UNDERSTANDING OSTEOPATHY

MARISSUE ISSUE45 FEB

By Yinglin Li Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

H

uman interest is usually reserved for objects visible to the naked eye – the shiny new car on the street, a glittering store display – but one piece of matter is gaining an immense amount of interest in the scientific community despite being unable to be seen: the nanoparticle. This tiny molecule is smaller than a blood cell or a grain of pollen yet has researchers, ranging from those in the biomedical to those in optical fields, lining up to unlock its secrets.

Dr. Shuming Nie specializes in the research of nanoparticles for applications in oncology, specifically in the cancers of the lung, breast, and pancreas. Dr. Nie graduated in 1983 from Nankai University in China and obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Northwestern University.

He later did his post-doctoral research in Chemistry at both Stanford University and Georgia Tech before deciding to pursue applications of science in the field of medicine.

Dr. Shuming Nie and his team are revolutionizing the field of cancer research, specializing in the research of nanoparticles for applications in oncology. (Photo: Submitted)

Using nanomaterials such as polymers and semiconductors to hone in on the tumor and bind to it, Dr. Nie and his team of researchers aim to diagnose and treat cancer. The team is manipulating the morphology, or structure, of the blood vessels around the tumor in a manner they call the passive method. Specifically, the particles are too large to transport through pores of healthy blood vessel. However, the vasculatures of the tumor cells have larger pores, just big enough for the nanoparticles to pass through. To increase their specificity, the nanoparticles are marked with antibodies or ligands that identify certain cell receptors present only on the surface of tumor cells. This is known as the active method.

The use of nanoparticles is not limited to diagnosis. Imagine that a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer and is in need of surgery. The patient would first be injected with or asked to drink a contrasting agent of nanoparticles. Two to three hours later, anesthetics would be administered and the surgery begun. When the surgeon begins to operate, the cancerous tissue will glow fluorescent thanks to the nanoparticles that have bound to the cancer cells, making the operation more efficient.

Dr. Nie’s research has moved on to clinical trials, but the future of nanoparticles still has much more to offer. Many challenges stand in the way, with one of the most important being to design a molecule that will function properly in vivo, as the molecule may function properly in a test tube but may not within the complex and hostile environment of the human body. Nevertheless, from cancer to cardiovascular disease, nanoparticles have a bright future in the improvement of medical screening and treatments.

BME ANSWERS

By ALPHA ETA MU BETA - The BME Honors Society

1. I’d like to get involved in research but I don’t know how to get started. When should I start and how do I find a good lab?

Many BME students get involved in research as a way to find out if a lab career is right for them because they took a class with a professor and were interested in their work, or perhaps just to spruce up their résumé (though hopefully this is not the only reason). In any case, participating in research as an undergrad is a great experience that helps to translate course content to actual experiments and to gain skills in different laboratory techniques that come in handy for classes like BMED 3110 and 3610. Start by finding faculty in the BME department - or in other departments - whose work sounds interesting, reading some of their publications, and sending the faculty member a concise but descriptive email highlighting interest in their work and desire to get involved. It is best to email multiple researchers, but be sure to tailor each email as generic emails tend to get fewer responses. Also consider talking to professors after class or during office hours and seeing if they have any openings in their lab. Other undergrads or even graduate students (yes, they’re nice, friendly people even if they are working all the time) can also assist with getting a feel for what a lab is like or maybe even with becoming connected to a researcher in the lab who is looking for an undergraduate mentee. The key to finding a position is persistence!

M

By Abhinaya Uthayakumar Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

ost pre-medicine students tend to think that there is only one route at medical school. They fail to realize that they have a plethora of options available to them, similar to when they applied for undergraduate and graduate schools; specifically, a second degree option exists rather than just the typical “MD” or allopathic degree. In fact, there are two kinds of practicing physicians in the United States: allopathic physicians (MDs), as mentioned earlier, and the underrated osteopathic physicians (DOs). Both are fully licensed physicians, trained in diagnosing and treating illnesses and disorders as well as in providing preventive care.

tests for board certification regardless of degree (DO or an MD).

Furthermore, to those still doubtful of this “new” type of medicine, American patients have actually been using osteopathic medicine for more than 130 years. Osteopathic medicine began as a nineteenth century health reform movement that emphasized preventive care and a holistic approach to healthcare and discouraged the overuse of medications. Physicians today continue to encourage healthy lifestyles that aim to fight and prevent illness. They listen to their patients’ health concerns and often make recommendations that include natural hands-on healing techniques. These physicians fill critical needs in our healthcare system, particularly as primary care In fact, it was recently announced that the Accreditation Council for providers in rural and underserved areas.

Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American Osteopathic With the single accreditation system recently in place, it is Association (AOA), and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) have agreed to a single accreditation essential for all pre-medicine students to educate themselves about system for graduate medical education (GME) programs in the United both allopathic and osteopathic medicine. Neither is necessarily States. After months of discussion, the allopathic and osteopathic superior; potential medical students simply need to make a choice medical communities have committed to preparing future generations of of how they want to learn and help their patients. Pre-med students physicians with the highest quality GME, ultimately helping to ensure the should also inform themselves about osteopathic training and quality and safety of health care delivery. The single accreditation system practice because both types of doctors frequently work together will allow graduates of allopathic and osteopathic medical schools to in clinical settings. The pre-health advisor here at Georgia Tech, complete their residency or fellowship education in ACGME-accredited Andrea Clark, and other health professionals recommend that programs and demonstrate achievement of common milestones and all pre-medicine students arrange opportunities to shadow both allopathic and osteopathic physicians and decide for themselves competencies. which path towards becoming a licensed physician interests them Despite these new reforms, the value of these two letters, “DO,” is the most. It is important to keep options open, especially when you still very much underrated and often the target of condescension. Many just may find another interest in a different medical school route. students fail to realize that both routes require four years of medical school followed by a residency program. A surgeon will take similar

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2. Do the classes REALLY get harder like everyone says? Does it ever get easier?

Do you really want things to get easier? Students come to Georgia Tech to challenge yourself, and the fact that courses seem to – and do – get harder says a lot about the caliber of our BME program. However, the difficulty is almost always manageable. There are also plenty of resources available such as the Learning Commons, which is a great place to study and will soon have tutors available for most BME subjects. Furthermore, almost every class has a graduate or undergraduate TA in addition to professor’s office hours. As the curriculum progresses, wonderful BME comrades from all of those group projects will accumulate as well. One of the great things about BME is how we are able to work together to solve all sorts of problems, so try not to let the thought of tough classes ahead worry you!

3. When should I start making summer plans?

If you have not already, start thinking about it now! Many programs have deadlines in January or February, and you do not want to limit your options by getting started after Spring Break. There are all sorts of things one can spend the summer doing: classes at Tech, studying abroad, traveling, research, interning and sleeping (though try to make sure your summer does not solely consist of that last one). If you are thinking about going into industry, consider an internship, and go to the Spring Career Fair. Pre-meds can consider shadowing, a medical service trip, or working in a research lab. If none of these options sound appealing, try something else that sounds interesting! There are plenty of resources around to help find a fulfilling way to spend your summer, including Kim, Paul, and Sally in the academic office as well as upperclassmen who have already treaded the path you are on. In any case, do not delay!