February 2011

THE PIONEER NEWSLETTER is brought to you by the students, faculty, and staff of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The newsletter staff and its collaborators strive to bring you the latest news from all aspects of the BME community. To submit articles, opinions, ideas, or events for publication and for more information about the newsletter, please visit:

www.thepioneer.gatech.edu

Issue inside this

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PRE-HEALTH COLUMN Off Shore Schools

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AMSA Pre-Health Conference

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STUDY MAPS Process used by T Cells to discriminate pathogens

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COULTER DEPARTMENT RECENT PUBLICATIONS

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CAPSTONE PRESENTATIONS Recap Fall 2010

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FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Dr. Brani Vidakovic, Statistics meets BME

February 2011

Volume V, Issue 5

Study Maps Process Used by T Cells to Discriminate Pathogens

By John Toon

R

esearchers have for the first time mapped the complex choreography used by the immune system's T cells to recognize pathogens while avoiding attacks on the body's own cells.

The researchers found that T cell receptors -- molecules located on the surface of the T cell -- first bind with the antigen on the pathogen-invaded cell.

That initiates a signaling process which leads a co-receptor on the T cell to also bind with the molecule that presents the antigen, amplifying the effect. The process resembles how a person at a party might recognize an acquaintance...

Continued on Page 5

Micropipette adhesion frequency assay (Photo: GTRC/GIT)

Capstone Presentations

By Rachel Stewart

Recap Fall 2010

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he two semester long biomedical engineering capstone design project gives students a glimpse of what to expect in industry. These projects provide a basis for one of the growing career choices of graduating seniors, research and development for device based companies.

Students are given a chance to translate theory from classes to practical problems and see tangible results. One of the students, Bilal Bari, a fourth year Coulter Department undergraduate, comments on the expectations of the projects, “[The advisors are] actual doctors [and] actual engineers; the things that you come up with in senior design are solutions to actual problems.” This provides incentive...

ASK AN ALUM! College experiences for career success

Capstone Presentations (Photo: Adrianne Proeller)

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WORDS from the editor in chief

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esides the icy wonderland that welcomed students back to campus, a new printing system greeted users of the BME computer lab. Recovering from an unprecedented three day closing, students have also (partially) recovered their lost prints. For listening and acting on the concerns that students voiced, the department has our gratitude. A response to complaints supports and promotes the ongoing dialogue amongst the members of our biotechnology community.

The Pioneer would also like to welcome new staff members to the team. In the coming months, we look forward to facilitating and motivating the many conversations in our community with these new members. They will not only enter an existing culture of curiosity, but they will also bring a unique perspective to the team.

Enjoy our abbreviated February issue and, as usual, contact thepioneer@gatech.edu with any concerns, suggestions or comments.

Best,

Willa Ni Willa Ni Editor in Chief The Pioneer

What happens when BME doesn’t get you a job…?

Staff DeanMembers Don P.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Willa Ni

Giddens

FACULTY SPONSOR Wendy Newstetter OFFICERS Karan Patel Debika Mitra

STAFF WRITERS Alex Cooper Dhruv Vishwakarma Andrew Lei Benjamin Thomas Mike Mallow Rachel Stewart Subhendu De Nancy Kim LAYOUT EDITORS Kevin Lam Victoria Ibarra Candace Law Seung Eun Lee Anum Syed

EDITORS Gopi Patel Nida Dharani Kanav Jain Laura Kish Shalv Madhani Ayesha Patel Elina Sarmah

PHOTOGRAPHERS Saranya Karthikeyan Virginia Lin William Sessions COLLABORATORS Karen Adams Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Colleen Mitchell Adrianne Proeller Shannon Sullivan John Toon Abby Vogel

*Executive Officers

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“That’s So BME!” Scientific Pick Up Lines in honor of Valentine’s Day

I wish I were adenine because then I could get paired with U. We fit together like the sticky ends of recombinant DNA. Whenever I am near you, I undergo anaerobic respiration.

(Translation:You take my breath away.)

Your eyes have a perfect wavelength of 563.4nm.

Can I have your significant digits?

If I were a function, you would be my asymptote.

Events and Deadlines Pre-Health Column THE F. L. “BUD” SUDDATH MEMORIAL AWARD Open to graduate students in the field of biology, biochemistry and bioengineering who have demonstrated significant achievement in research. Awardee will receive $1500 scholarship. suddath.gatech.edu Campus contact: James Godard james.godard@ibb.gatech.edu Campus deadline: February 18, 2011 15TH ANNUAL HILTON HEAD WORKSHOP Regenerative Medicine: Innovations for Clinical Applications Bringing together academic & corporate scientists and their students working at the cutting edge of regenerative medicine and medicine technologies, this year’s workshop provides an intimate forum of the latest insights and discoveries in this rapidly progressing field. www.hiltonhead.gatech.edu Early registration deadline: February 18, 2011 Late registration deadline: March 16, 2011 GEORGIA TECH 5TH ANNUAL PRE-HEALTH CONFERENCE The conference begins with a keynote speech from Congressman Phil Gingrey, M.D. Afterwards, learn about how to get into health professional schools, the AMCAS application, life in medical school, and more. Attendees will have a chance to participate in mock interviews where they will develop effective communication skills.

February 26, 2011 - 9:00am THE GT FACULTY WOMEN'S CLUB SCHOLARSHIP Open to undergraduates who have a parent or guardian employed at GT and who have a GPA of 2.75 or above.

(5) $1000 scholarships. www.gtfwc.gatech.edu Campus contact: Sue Cross sue_cross1735@hotmail.com Campus deadline: March 1, 2011

Pre-Health Column Off Shore Schools

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By Jennifer Kimble

portion of the students who are not granted candidacy to their medical, veterinary or nursing schools of choice right after they graduate, lose sight of the big picture. In their rush to start school immediately, they sacrifice properly evaluating their choices and jump on the option of attending an off shore school.

On the other hand, some students fully evaluate their situation and work on the issues schools had about their first application.

Though this can sometimes take more than a year, students do reapply and get accepted. In this application method, schools are impressed with candidates who work hard to achieve their goal. I can help you with this!

For students who are seriously under prepared for their respective graduate schools based on their GPAs, MCATs or GREs, an off shore school might not be the best option. Those

students will still be evaluated on their licensure examination, also known as “the boards.” Some off shore schools with better reputations have expressed concern for students who are not academically prepared for a professional education. These schools have even elected to decline applications on the basis of doubting a student’s ability to succeed on “the boards.”

The “Big Three” of the Caribbean are: Ross University School of Medicine, St. George’s University and American University of the Caribbean. These programs have informative “webinars” the gives a tour of the program and life on the island. I have also evaluated all three of these schools and am more than happy to discuss my impressions with you. To learn about other schools that come to campus to promote their programs, visit AMSA (www.amsa.gatech.edu).

If you plan to go off shore, please be aware of the following: 1. People will question your professional knowledge base. Building a patient population base or getting hired in a group practice might be challenging. The likelihood of entering a highly competitive residency also drastically decreases. On the other hand, some off shore schools have been graduating people for over 25 years. Residency directors know the reputation and quality of these graduates and therefore have no qualms about those students’ ability to succeed in a residency program.

Newer programs have yet to have a chance to establish a reputation with residency directors.

2. Where do the students go after graduation?

What geographical areas? How does the school aid you in gaining your clinical rotations? Who can you talk with if you have concerns about your future career?

3. In what field do most graduates do their residencies? Is there any state that will not recognize your education from that school? What is the alumni support of that program?

4. Understand that students of these schools will not live in the U.S. This sounds obvious, but a surprising number of students drop out after a semester because the transition is too difficult.

Some of these schools are in underdeveloped countries.

Starbucks are not on every corner and a 24 hour grocery store is not a short drive away. For some students, “roughing it” is too challenging.

For students who are accustomed to frequently visiting family, consider how often these visits are and the longest period of separation. Then compare that with the logistical requirements of attending an off shore school.

Have you ever been outside of the US? Some apartments don’t have generators, so if they power goes out, it’s out!

5. Ask about the faculty and the available academic support. For many schools, students are on an island for 16-20 months.

Who will be the faculty role models? What training do they have? Where will students receive clinical training? Need therapeutic care? What happens if something happens to a loved one in the US while you are on the island? What happens to you, if you are sick or injured? Many of these schools have professors from US schools spend 2-4 weeks teaching histology (ex.), then they fly home. Who is there to answer histology questions you might come across after that professor goes home? Or, they might be international faculty.

How are classes taught? How many students are in your lectures?

6. These schools cost approximately what a private professional school does. Make sure the school is accredited to be eligible for school loans. Do you have to pre-pay your tuition for the entire year (or years)? If so, is there a refund in the case of a transfer or withdrawal? What if the school closes? Remember

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that you do not get the same loan packages as US students, so you might be borrowing back at a 3 to 1 ratio. What is the average indebtedness rate for a school’s graduates?

7. Be cautious about slick websites. Some off shore schools put all their money into creating flashy websites with pictures of beautiful buildings and sugar sand beaches. Are you going on a honeymoon or to school? Ask yourself, “Does the school own the buildings?” Obviously, schools who own their buildings are going to keep reinvesting in the physical campus. If the school just rents their buildings, little prevents them from cancelling the lease and moving away while you are at home for winter break.

8. Statistics. Numbers can be manipulated to reflect any information of many motivations. A school might boast high pass rates on “the boards,” but how many times did students have to take the test before passing? What prep do they give you before “the boards?” Do you have to meet certain school criteria before sitting for the boards?

9. Attrition rates. How many students in the entry class drop out before graduating? Why? Is the school accepting large numbers of woefully under prepared students? Why? 10. Transferring? Some students start an off shore school on the grounds thinking that they will transfer to a US program after their first semester. They want to use their first semester at

XYZ School as a way to show US schools that they can handle medical/veterinary/nursing school.

Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to transfer to a US program, because the US programs do not have room in their classes. On the extremely slim chance that a student is accepted to a US program, he/she may have to retake classes you have already had. I tell my students that if they start at an off shore school, they need to plan to graduate from that program. Some off shore schools will allow you to visit the location, if you are interested. If you are at the point where you seriously contemplate going off shore for a medical education, please make an appointment to speak with the Director of Pre-Health Advising (www.advising.gatech.edu).

Overall, please remember that your decision to attend a certain school (stateside or off shore) is a personal one. No one can, or should, tell you where to apply or attend. You need to make that decision; this is your future. You will want to do some preliminary research before you apply to the schools, but remember that the interview is a two-way street. This allows you the opportunity to see if this is a place you want to be for the next several years. I am more than happy to listen to you as you talk through this decision, but ultimately, it is your choice.

Jennifer Kimble is the Georgia Tech Pre-Health Advisor.

AMSA Pre-health Conference 2011

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he Georgia Tech American Medical Student Association (AMSA) will be holding the 5th Annual Pre-Health Conference on Saturday, February 26th in the Management Building located in Technology Square. The conference is designed to give premedical and pre-health students an opportunity to interact with representatives from graduate schools, learn about the admissions process and explore the various careers in the health care industry.

AMSA meeting (Photo: GT AMSA)

Students attending the conference will be able to participate in ten different workshops with a variety of topics, such as MCAT information, student panels and mock interviews. In addition to the workshops, students will also be able to attend a networking lunch at which at least 50 different graduate programs will be represented. Finally, students will attend a school fair where they

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By Subhendu De will be able to meet admissions officers from many graduate programs and learn about the opportunities for continuing health education both in the United States and abroad. The school fair will be open to all Georgia Tech students from 3 to 5 p.m.

Nida Dharani, a second year pre-medical BME student, reminisces about her experience at the 2010 AMSA Pre-Health Conference. She found the workshop addressing gap years between graduation and applying to medical school the most helpful. Dharani also attended the panel of current medical school students who answered the questions of pre-medical students.

This proved to be both insightful and informative. While enjoying a delicious lunch, Dharani even had the opportunity to chat with a panel member about his experiences in medical school and achievements after graduation. Dharani says, “It’s definitely worth going!” and plans to attend this year’s conference too.

The conference’s keynote speaker is Georgia Representative John “Phil” Gingrey, M.D. Shivani Goswami, the AMSA Conference Chair, recruited Representative Gingrey to address Georgia Tech students about the upcoming health care reform and how it will change the health care industry and the health care education landscape. Goswami recommends that pre-health students attend the conference in order to “network with admissions representatives, learn about current trends in healthcare, and meet other pre-health students with similar goals.” She also encourages attendees to ask questions at the workshops or panels in order to get as much from the conference as possible.

Students who want to attend the conference can register at GT AMSA’s website, (amsa.gatech.edu), which also provides program information, directions and parking information.

Registering before February 4th will allow students to take advantage of the early bird discount and AMSA members will receive a further discount.

Subhendu De is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

Study Maps

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by using that person's strong handshake or distinctive voice to supplement their recollection of facial features.

"We show for the first time the important role of the co-receptor in contributing to the discrimination process that takes place in the T cell," said Cheng Zhu, a Regents professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "This is a cooperative binding process with the co-receptor co-engaging with the T cell receptor. This cooperative binding has a synergistic effect that amplifies the action."

The resulting binding, which then triggers the body's defensive activities, is stronger than the sum of the individual binding that would result from the T cell receptor and CD8 co-receptor operating independently.

The two-step binding process, which alters the accepted model for T cell recognition, was reported Jan. 20 in the early online edition of the journal Immunity.

The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Zhu and his colleagues found a time delay between when the T cell receptor engages the antigen peptide and when the CD8 co-receptor goes into action. That delay was about a second in the hundreds of contacts studied. The researchers also found that the binding feedback loop was rapid, short-lived, reversible, synergistic and peptide-discriminative.

The research used a technique known as micropipette adhesion frequency assay

to study the mechanical interactions between T cells and the antigen, known as a peptide major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) -- a glycoprotein.

For the study, pMHC molecules taken from a transgenic mouse were placed onto a red blood cell held by a micropipette, simulating the activity of antigen-presenting cells which normally isolate these foreign molecules and display them for recognition

by T cells. A mouse T cell held by another micropipette was then placed into contact with the red blood cell for varying periods of time.

By microscopically examining adhesion between the two cells when separated, the researchers were able to determine whether binding between the T cell receptor—and the CD8 co-receptor—had occurred.

In studying the data from hundreds of contacts between different types of antigens, the researchers saw a step in the probability of binding, then a jump to a second step. By alternately blocking binding between the pMHC and the T cell receptor, and between the pMHC and the CD8, they were able to determine that the first step represented binding with the T cell receptor while the second step represented binding with the CD8.

The micropipette adhesion technique, developed by Zhu and his student, allows the study of interaction between T cell receptor molecules—of which there are as many as a million—and pMHC protein molecules. Earlier techniques had isolated the receptor molecules for study in a solution environment, but Zhu believes his two-dimensional technique provides a more realistic representation of their

Professor Cheng Zhu in research lab. (Photo: GTRC/GIT)

activity because the receptors remain on the T cell membrane.

Until now, scientists had assumed that T cell receptor and CD8 binding with the antigen took place at approximately the same time, reinforcing one another to make the intermolecular connection strong enough to trigger an immune response.

"What was surprising to us was that the two interactions do not occur simultaneously," said Zhu. "There is a delay of about one second, and we attribute that to the intracellular interactions that have to take place within the T cell before the CD8 can engage."

The research confirmed earlier findings that T cell responses to lower affinity antigen ligands were more dependent on CD 8 binding. "We confirmed this finding, but demonstrated that the major function of CD8 was to amplify recognition of the higher affinity antigen, meaning the magnitude and kinetics of the CD8 contribution favors the response to low levels of strong antigens," Zhu explained.

T cell receptors are among the most important molecules in the immune system because of their role in recognizing the antigens on target cells. The receptors also must distinguish those threats from the body's own cells to avoid triggering an unwanted immune response.

For the future, Zhu would like to clarify what advantages the two-step process provides when a tiny amount of "non-self" antigen peptides are presented together with a large amount of "self" peptides, and attempt to understand how the T cells seek out interactions with foreign antigens.

In addition to Zhu, the research team included Ning Jiang, Jun Huang, Baoyu Li, and Yan Zhang of the Coulter Department.

Collaborators from Emory University included Lindsay J. Edwards, Carrie D. Beal and Brian D. Evavold. Evavold, an associate professor in Emory University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a collaborator of Zhu's in this project, provided the transgenic mouse T cells and pMHC used in the research.

"This new study adds significantly to the understanding of how T cell receptors and associated molecules differentiate the antigens of the body's own cells from those of an invader," Zhu added. "It may be that this co-receptor plays a role in helping discriminate viruses that have mutated and are no longer a direct match to what the T cell is looking for. That's another hypothesis we hope to study."

John Toon is a communications officer in the GT Research News & Publications Office.

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Recent Coulter Department Publications ANNALS OF PLASTIC SURGERY

IET SYSTEMS BIOLOGY

Fibrin Glue: A Scaffold for Cellular-Based Therapy in a CriticalSized Defect.

Singh K, Moyer H, Williams JK, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD.

So, you want to be a systems biologist? Determinants for creating graduate curricula in systems biology.

Voit EO, Kemp ML.

BIOMATERIALS

IMMUNITY

Differences in valvular and vascular cell responses to strain in osteogenic media.

Ferdous Z, Jo H, Nerem RM. .

The role of integrins in the recognition and response of dendritic cells to biomaterials.

Rogers TH, Babensee JE.

BIOMECHANICS AND MODELINGS IN MECHANOBIOLOGY

Theoretical study on the effects of pressure-induced remodeling on geometry and mechanical non-homogeneity of conduit arteries.

Rachev A, Gleason RL Jr.

BIOMEDICAL MICRODEVICES

Highly-compliant, microcable neuroelectrodes fabricated from thin -film gold and PDMS. McClain MA, Clements IP, Shafer RH, Bellamkonda RV, Laplaca MC, Allen MG.

BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL GPIbα-vWF Rolling under Shear Stress Shows Differences between Type 2B and 2M von Willebrand Disease.

Coburn LA, Damaraju VS, Dozic S, Eskin SG, Cruz MA, McIntire LV.

CALCIFIED TISSUE INTERNATIONAL

Inorganic Phosphate Induces Mammalian Growth Plate Chondrocyte Apoptosis in a Mitochondrial Pathway Involving Nitric Oxide and JNK MAP Kinase.

Zhong M, Carney DH, Jo H, Boyan BD, Schwartz Z.

Two-Stage Cooperative T Cell Receptor-Peptide Major Histocompatibility Complex-CD8 Trimolecular Interactions Amplify Antigen Discrimination.

Jiang N, Huang J, Edwards LJ, Liu B, Zhang Y, Beal CD, Evavold BD, Zhu C. .

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICALS

Optimization of microdermabrasion for controlled removal of stratum corneum.

Andrews SN, Zarnitsyn V, Bondy B, Prausnitz MR.

JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS RESEARCH Hyaluronic acid stimulates neovascularization during the regeneration of bone marrow after ablation.

Raines AL, Sunwoo M, Gertzman AA, Thacker K, Guldberg RE, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD. .

Effect of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate concentration on network properties and in vivo response of poly(β-amino ester) networks.

Safranski DL, Weiss D, Clark JB, Caspersen BS, Taylor WR, Gall K. .

JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Effects of the combination treatment of raloxifene and alendronate on the biomechanical properties of vertebral bone.

Diab T, Wang J, Reinwald S, Guldberg RE, Burr DB. .

JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE The use of automated parameter searches to improve ion channel kinetics for neural modeling.

Hendrickson EB, Edgerton JR, Jaeger D.

CLINICAL AND VACCINE IMMUNOLOGY

.

Microneedle vaccination with stabilized recombinant influenza hemagglutinin induces improved protective immunity.

Weldon WC, Martin MP, Zarnitsyn V, Wang B, Koutsonanos D, Skountzou I, Prausnitz M, Compans RW.

Predicting cytotoxic T cell age from multivariate analysis of static and dynamic biomarkers.

Rivet CA, Hill AS, Lu H, Kemp ML.

CLINICAL ORAL IMPLANTS RESEARCH Osteoblast response to titanium surfaces functionalized with extracellular matrix peptide biomimetics.

Bell BF, Schuler M, Tosatti S, Textor M, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD.

MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR PROTEOMICS

.

NEUROIMAGE Spatiotemporal dynamics of low frequency BOLD fluctuations in rats and humans.

Majeed W, Magnuson M, Hasenkamp W, Schwarb H, Schumacher EH, Barsalou L, Keilholz SD. .

CRYOBIOLOGY Cytotoxicity Effects of Cryoprotectants as Single-Component and Cocktail Vitrification Solutions.

Lawson A, Ahmad H, Sambanis A.

PLOS ONE Sustained Delivery of Activated Rho GTPases and BDNF Promotes Axon Growth in CSPG-Rich Regions Following Spinal Cord Injury.

Jain A, McKeon RJ, Brady-Kalnay SM, Bellamkonda RV. .

THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

SUBMIT YOUR RECENT PUBLICATIONS TO: thepioneer@gatech.edu

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Molecular stiffness of selectins.

Sarangapani KK, Marshall BT, McEver RP, Zhu C. .

VACCINE Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination using a microneedle patch.

Hiraishi Y, Nandakumar S, Choi SO, Lee JW, Kim YC, Posey JE, Sable SB, Prausnitz MR.

Capstone Presentations from Page 1

to develop useful products rather than to get a good grade.

Professor Franklin Bost teaches the sophomore engineering design class (BMED 2300) as well as the senior capstone design and development class (BMED 4600 and BMED 4601). With his extensive experience in the business, as well as the design of medical devices, he is the perfect mentor for capstone design students. Bari comments that “I think Professor Bost has done a really good job designing the course where he eases you into it.” The design process can initially be overwhelming for students as they might not have industry experience, which makes Professor Bost’s insight all the more helpful.

BME has applications in varying fields like cardiovascular, imaging, and neurobiology. This allows for capstone projects to be in a variety of fields. For instance, the group consisting of Chris Jorgensen, Kevin Rego, Nick Patel and Tahir Haque, along with their advisor Dr. James Fonger, has a project entitled CardioScout: A Novel Device for Stem Cell Delivery to the Beating Heart. Jorgensen explains how the delivery device works: “[the] device is a minimally invasive way to inject stem cells into the surface of the beating heart after [one has] a heart attack.”

This particular project is more involved and requires a sincere time commitment as their advisor, Dr. James Fonger, has additional plans. By Fonger’s suggestions, the team is working on getting the device patented and is currently in touch with a patent lawyer. In fact, they expect to present their product to the House Science and Technology subcommittee in February. Jorgensen enthusiastically mentioned, “we’re going to the capital to [present] just because they want to show off how good Georgia Tech is.” This device is expected to be popular as it is not only novel, but also a cost effective method of surgery.

Another group including Bari is working on a project in the neurobiology and imaging field. Their project involves reducing cost of surgery for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Currently, the common treatment is Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) that involves electrical stimulation using electric probes that suppresses the areas causing PD. This surgery can cost up to $100,000, and in addition to this, the battery requires

Students standing at their poster during the Capstone Presentations. (Photo: Adrianne Proeller)

replacement every 5 years, which can cost up to $20,000. The proposed treatment involves applying optical fiber technology to pinpoint the location of the brain tumors by recording firing rates of neurons.

The capstone project, mimicking an industry setting, depends on a positive team dynamic. Bari appreciates the team effort that is driving the success of this project. He says, “I think it would be a lot harder [to do alone] … it was the result of three people working [together].” Bari explains that team work is essential to developing a device. The process requires a lot of background research, including possible manufacturing methods, and it is easier with “reliable team members.”

Often times in industry, a team is composed of engineers from different backgrounds. This allows different perspectives on product design and development. In spirit of this, students are encouraged to form multidisciplinary teams. One team is composed of four biomedical engineers, and two mechanical engineers. Lead by Dr. Timothy Johnson, they won first place at the Mechanical Engineering Design Expo held at Georgia Tech. The project involves simplifying and reducing the cost of cataract surgery. The current approach to surgery, capsulohrexis, which is the removal of the lens, uses tweezers in order to gain access

to the cataract. This is of course time consuming and difficult. It also lacks consistency as the level of precision depends on the dexterity of the surgeon.

Johnson’s group has developed a product ‘AutoRexis,’ which, as the name suggests, is a robotic approach to the surgery. The device improves consistency and effectively reduces time of surgery. The cumulative experience of the BMEs and MEs has been instrumental in the development of this product.

Though the projects vary in subject, level of commitment and difficulty Bari agrees that “it’s all what you make of it [that matters].” The capstone project gives students a chance to explore different fields of biomedical engineering and provides an introduction of what to expect in industry. The guidance from professors, doctors and industry professionals is what drives this class, exposing students to product design and development. Having a ‘usable’ product at the end of the semester is ideal, but success in this class is not measured solely on the direct results. It is about understanding the big picture behind developing a product—understanding the economics, manufacturing processes, unmet needs in the market and research and how these must come together to deliver a usable product.

Rachel Stewart is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

Enjoyed This Article?

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Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Brani Vidakovic

By Dhruv Vishwakarma

Statistics Meets BME

D

r. Brani Vidakovic completed his undergraduate work in their biomedical applications. Similar to Fourier transformations, Mathematics and Statistics at Belgrade University and wavelets map time-domain signals to time/scale domains. Several obtained a Ph.D. in Statistics from Purdue University in West advantages arise from the inherent properties of wavelets, such as Lafayette, Indiana. After spending 8 years as an Assistant and their ability to parsimoniously describe smooth or discontinuous Associate Professor at Duke University, he arrived at Georgia signals as well as to explore scale contributions to a signal. During Tech – first in the ISyE department and eventually to the Wallace the course of his research, Vidakovic has encountered some H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech surprising results—“It turns out that health is manifested by and Emory University. In the Coulter Department, Vidakovic is the irregularity of a subject’s bioresponses”. For example, the creator of the BME 2400 biostatistics course regularity of diameter changes in pupils can and is currently conducting research be used to infer ocular health or disease – if regarding the use of Bayesian statistical the pattern is regular, the data points methodology in the study of biomedical data. towards macular degeneration, inferior eye The Bayesian method, or Bayesian health or damage. This turns out to be a inference, is a relatively new alternative to general pattern in biological signals (EEG, the traditional “frequentist” inference which mass spectra, gait, etc) and is becoming a is utilized in most statistical tasks. The very useful clinical diagnostic tool. general Bayesian method can be described as Vidakovic has created the BME specific a way of incorporating expert opinion, prior statistics course, BME 2400, with a primary knowledge and extra experimental focus on biomedical and biological applicainformation into a statistical solution. tions. Vidakovic has ensured that an Dr. Brani Vidakovic facilitating discussion Through the use of Bayes’ theorem appropriate amount of theoretical statistical in a BMED 1300 class. (Photo: William Sessions) (developed by non-conformist priest Thomas methodology is taught alongside true-to-theBayes in the 18th century), “the synergy of prior information and world biomedical applications. Additionally, Vidakovic is facilitating experimental observations leads to a more precise inference.” The young biomedical engineers in BME 1300 this semester. advantage provided by the Bayesian method depends on the Data mining, reduction and analysis is gradually growing as a amount of information available and varies on a case-by-case basis. need in most areas of research. The experimental equipment can In a last few decades, biomedical research has reached a point now gather huge data sets at an ever-growing rate, and new where the equipment used provides more samples of information approaches need to be developed to make sense of these large than can be individually interpreted. These “high-frequency and data sets.

Vidakovic’s methodologies are becoming more massive” data sets cannot be efficiently analyzed using the fundamentally important with each day. Giving insight into the traditional statistical toolbox, but rather by computational analysis; motivation behind his research, Vidakovic explains, “Thirty years the results are then inferred to a summary. This kind of analysis ago statisticians strived for more data, so that Gaussianity could be involves taking huge data sets and using any other knowledge used. Nowadays, we are drowning in oceans of data, and new about the data to reduce the size of the data set to something of methodologies need to be developed.’’ meaning to the researcher, a method known as data reduction.

Another area that Vidakovic’s group studies is wavelets and Dhruv Vishwakarma is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department.

Ask An Alum! Extracurricular Activities Internships, Co-ops, and Work Abroad

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he Prompt: “What extracurricular activities, such as internships, co-ops, or work abroad, contributed the most to your current career and how vital were those activities to achieving your career goals? In hindsight, is there any internship or company you would have liked to work with?”

very summer is precious while in undergrad. When else in your life are you going to have the opportunity to stop for ten weeks and try something new? I spent one summer working as an Administrative Assistant at a surgical practice, and another summer at a formal internship program with Procter & Gamble (a large consumer goods company). Working with surgeons gave me a deeper understanding of how medical devices are delivered and maintained by medical staff. Working at P&G allowed me to see all that it takes to get a product from concept to market. P&G isn’t traditionally a biomedical company and getting to see how products are developed outside the medical scene was a great learning opportunity for me. Both experiences combined gave me a better understanding of what I wanted to do long term—develop medical devices. When it was time to pursue full time employment, I was able to communicate to employers what I wanted to do and

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why I wanted to do it with specific work experiences to discuss. I am confident that it is those summer experiences that set me up for success in my full time career.

Shelley Eckert, Associate Project Engineer, (C.R. Bard) Graduate of May 2010

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never obtained a summer internship. I worried about it while in school, but it did not end up adversely affecting my career. I still think it would have been beneficial experience, and at the time, I would have liked to work with St. Jude Medical's program because I was interested in their devices.”

Ryan Davis Manager, Field Clinical Engineering, (EnteroMedics Inc.) Graduate of May 2005