January 2013

VOLUME VII ISSUE 4 JAN 2013 THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU

STUDENT

SPOTLIGHT

DESIGN

Insights from Taylor Rose on ways to utilize Tech’s experiences effectively

Dr. O’Connor, Senior Medical Officer at the CDC, describes her journey from college to her position

How to critically solve problems for viable solutions

Pioneer THE COULTER DEPARTMENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF GEORGIA TECH AND EMORY UNIVERSITY

Dr. May Dongmei Wang On the Importance of Data Analysis for Solving Medical Challenges

by Yeonghoon Joung— Joung — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department

Dr. Wang at her bio-informatics and bio-imaging lab.

(Photo: David A. Van)

IN RECENT YEARS, the volume of biomedical data generated is a rich source of clinical and biological information that could potentially save lives. However, analyzing the data to reach important conclusions is a sizable technical challenge.

This becomes apparent for those involved in the field of translational medicine. Professionals in this field work to develop methods and tools to analyze and extract meaningful information from extremely large biomedical datasets, ultimately accelerating and assisting the development of tools, systems, and cures that save lives.

Dr. May Dongmei Wang, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, investigates technical challenges associated with data analysis at Georgia Tech as the Principle Investigator of the Bio-Medical Informatics and Bio-Imaging Laboratory (Bio-MIBLab). She has been deemed the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar Continued on page 3

PrePre -Health Column Journey of a Doctor: Medical Specialties Deciphered

by Subhendu De— De — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department AS DESCRIBED in the previous installment of “Journey of a Doctor”, the path to becoming a physician commences with acceptance and entrance into medical school. After four years of classes, months of practical experience, and standardized exams, the next step is selecting and entering into a residency. During the residency period, the newly graduated medical student will select a specialized area of medicine in which to further their education. The process of becoming a medical specialist entails several more years of education, further examination, and an even greater commitment to the field of medicine. More often than not, selecting a specialty in which to enter can be the hardest decision made by an aspiring medical professional. For undergraduate students, each choice looks more attractive than the last.

Medical specialties are classified based on several criteria. The most overarching classifications include surgery, internal medicine, and diagnostic medicine. Surgery involves the utilization of operative and instrument-based techniques

Continued on page 11

For many, picking a specialty can be challenging.

(Photos: Hyunjun Fred Woo)

From the Editor in Chief Welcome back to a new year and semester! Whether personal, academic or organizational, we are excited to meet new challenges. Here at Pioneer, we emphasize not just the success of others, but most importantly, their journeys. Many accomplished members of this community have all had humble beginnings and strived far to get to where they are now. With this in mind, we cover their processes to give you, the reader, an idea that with some grit and motivation, you can achieve high caliber results for the new year.

First off, we bring to you another installment of our series, “Journey of a Doctor”, where we give students interested in medicine a glimpse into the different specialties they may go into after medical school. For those of you who are interested in dentistry, we bring you the first of our pre-dental track series, guiding you through the application process. For the research minded, we bring to you a feature of Dr. Wang, whose research focuses on providing health care professionals more accurate tools for diagnoses, as well as informatics for device and treatment development. We also bring to you a look into the MD/PHD track through our feature on Nealan Laxpati, a current student of both Emory and Georgia Tech. Finally, for the industry minded, we bring to you a feature on Taylor Rose, who has been one of the top organizers of Georgia Tech’s career fair, as she gives a retrospective view of how she utilized Tech’s resources as a student to prepare for the industry. In our design toolbox, we take a look into the scientific and engineering perspectives to take into account during the design process. Finally, but certainly not least, we sum up the obstacles that hinder companies from creating innovative devices.

As the season brings about new change, we also take a turn in our journey as a publication. We will host our own elections as a new set of leaders pick up from where we have left off. As I write to you my last letter for Pioneer, I am proud to announce that the new Editor-in-Chief will be revealed in the next issue. It has been a great year working with Pioneer, and I am incredibly grateful for the support that this community of students, faculty, and staff members has given towards this publication. Without all of the help from this community, as well as the great staff members putting their time towards this publication, Pioneer would have not been the way it is now. I wish the new set of officers best of luck and cannot wait to see the direction they take Pioneer!

For more regular updates on the happenings of the biotechnology community, feel free to like our page on Facebook: facebook.com/gtpioneer and/or follow us on twitter: twitter.com/pioneergt. twitter.com/pioneergt And as always, feel free to contact us at thepioneer@gatech.edu. thepioneer@gatech.edu

Pioneer Established 2007

EDITOR IN CHIEF Virginia Lin FACULTY SPONSOR Wendy Newstetter, Ph.D. OPERATIONS SECRETARY TREASURER PUBLIC RELATIONS

Timothy Lin Saranya Karthikeyan Guergana Terzieva Jaemin Sung

WEBMASTERS Sara Khalek Elizabeth Walker Felis (Doyeon) Koo Jaheda Khanam Jimmy Nguyen Taufiq Dhana STAFF WRITERS Subhendu De Rachel Stewart Abigail Riddle Amrita Banerjee Arun Kumar Belane Gizaw Guergana Terzieva Harish Srinimukesh Hifza Sakhi Iva Zivojinovic Nina Mohebbi Nithya Paranthaman Prateek Neil Viswanathan Sarah Gonzales Steven Touchton Jr Valeriya Popova Yeonghoon Joung (Robert) EDITORS Harish Srinimukesh Arun Kumar Fatiesa Sulejmani Jackson Hair Kristen Weirich Steven Touchton Jr

With warm regards, Virginia Lin Editor-in-Chief

Pioneer

INSIDE:PIONEER ADVISORY BOARD PROFILE PROFI LE…………………………..…………….……...….

LE …………………………..…………….……...….…. 3 Senior Medical Officer at CDC: Dr. Siobhan O’Connor

ON UTILIZING TECH’S CHALLENGES AND EXPERIENCES..…….4 Taylor Rose

RECENT PUBLICATIONS………………………...……………..…………….........6 BME ANSWERS………….…………….…………………………………………...……... 7 Your Questions Answered by AEMB, the Secret Honor Society of BME

ABILITIES AND REASONS REASON S TO INNOVATE………….…………….………

INNOVATE ………….…………….………... 8

LAYOUT EDITORS Kevin Lam Alexandra Low Marisa Casola Summer Lee Xurong Liu PHOTOGRAPHERS William Sessions Alex Shao Benjamin Stewart David Van Henry Mei Hyunjun Fred Woo Jacob Khouri Rachel Moore Sheridan Carroll Shriya Raje

Innovation in the Biomedical Field

INSIGHTS INTO AN MD/PHD DEGREE………….…………….………….... 9 Nealen Laxpati

JOURNEY OF A BIOMEDICAL BIOMEDI CAL ENGINEER INTO DENTISTRY…………………..…...………………….…………………………

DENTISTRY…………………..…...………………….………………………… ..10 An Overview of the Application Process

FIRST YOU GET GOOD, THEN YOU GET FAST………....………….…12 The Value of Critical Thinking

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COLLABORATORS Karen Adams Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Marty C. Jacobson Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Mark P. McJunkin Colleen Mitchell Adrianne Proeller Shannon Sullivan

Advisory Board Profile Senior Medical Officer at CDC: Dr. Siobhan O’Connor

by Arun Kumar— Kumar — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department THE BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (BME) Advisory Board is made up of highly qualified and accomplished individuals who meet to discuss various aspects of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering with the intention of furthering the Biomedical Engineering program. These individuals come from a variety of backgrounds such as the medical field, industry, and academia. One of the board members is Dr. Siobhan O’ Connor, who currently serves as a Senior Medical Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

O’Connor began her career at Georgia Tech in the School of Chemical Engineering. By her third year, she decided that she wanted to become a Chemistry major in order to fit more biochemistry into her curriculum, though she had continued to have an interest in engineering and BME, while such a program was not available then. She spent a year and a half performing research in a lab before she attended the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. After her residency, O’ Connor was a member of the faculty at the University of Texas before starting her fellowship in Rheumatology. Her experiences with the fellowship allowed her to realize that she wanted to go into public health and become an epidemiologist. She received her Masters of Public Health (MPH) with a focus on International Health from Harvard University. Her strong background in clinical and laboratory research, MPH, and interest in global health and infectious diseases led her to the CDC. After 15 years of working with various infectious diseases, viral hepatitis, and polio, O’ Connor transitioned to an administrative role with the CDC.

Today, O’ Connor works with viral hepatitis and HIV on a global health scale.

She works with other countries to ensure that they have viral hepatitis testing and can build a system to address the infections.

When asked how she became a member of the board and what she contributes to it, O’ Connor responded with an anecdote that reflects the opportunities that Georgia Tech has to offer. When she reconnected with Georgia Tech and the alumni association, members of the Advisory Board quickly realized that she had a unique and important perspective on Biomedical Engineering. As an M.D., Georgia Tech alumna, and someone who retained an interest in BME from her time as an undergraduate at Georgia Tech, it took little time for O’ Connor to receive and accept an offer from the board. As a member of the board, she does help evaluate the department regularly, but she is also involved with helping undergraduate students directly. She has helped students with senior design projects in many facets of the process from design development to acquiring a patent.

As one of the top BME undergraduate programs in the nation, there are many things that the department is doing well, which makes the board’s job much simpler. When asked about her vision for the future of BME at Georgia Tech, O’ Connor hopes that students continue to actively shape their

(Photos: Hyunjun Fred Woo)

curriculum in a way that makes them more desirable for jobs and positions in their futures. With the different perspectives on the board and the initiative to further the department, there is no doubt that the arrow for BME at Georgia Tech is pointing up.

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Continued from page 1

Dr. May Dongmei Wang and the Director of Biocomputing and Bioinformatics Core at Emory-Georgia Tech Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

Her research aims to develop tools and methods to extract meaningful information from large biomedical datasets to assist and accelerate patient care. The Bio-MIBLab focuses on five sub categories of Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) research: mining high throughput next generation sequencing and –omic (e.g. proteomics, metabolomics) data for personalized medicine; analyzing molecular imaging data with clinical decision support system for next-generation pathology; predictive modeling for therapeutics; integrating heterogeneous data from cancer biology and bio-nanotechnology for oncology; and tracking continuous mobile health data for prevention and chronic care. These areas are part of a translational pipeline that takes a clinical problem such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, or chronic condition in patients, and uses a robust feedback process to ultimately reach a solution. Large volumes of data in the form of genomic sequences, image or video are normalized and processed using novel data analysis techniques tailored to deal with the high dimensional data. Once the desired information such as diagnostic biomarkers and chronic health patterns are obtained, this knowledge is validated and built into portable personal health tracking or clinical decision support systems for preventive care and personalized medicine.

Overall, Wang is extremely enthusiastic about bringing her research to the clinic, and the future of biomedical engineering for the students of the Coulter Department at Georgia

Tech. “I came back from industry because I love to work with students”, Wang says with excitement. She is proud of the undergraduate students whom have conducted biomedical and health informatics research in her lab.

These students have first-authored peer -reviewed publications and won national awards (e.g. Goldwater, Hertz Fellowship, NSF graduate fellowships).

Wang also stresses the importance and need to increase BHI training for younger generation of biomedical researchers and health professionals.

As a part of her initiative to train more students to be able to employ the tools of information science, Wang plans on offering an introductory graduate course in BHI. On how students should approach their academic and engineering careers, Wang thinks that they should focus not only on receiving a degree, but on problem solving, acquiring useful technical knowledge, and team working skills. She also stresses the importance of learning to accept failure and be resilient in the face of it. At the same time, she stresses, “be sharp: be very good at one thing, at least one thing [because] confidence is earned.” She continues, “You want to polish something you are so good at, and build upon that, make yourself stand so you become selfconfident.”

As she reflects on her own path to becoming involved with Biomedical Engineering, Wang mentions that she has been incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by excellent academic environments in both China and the United States and to have such role models as her parents and extremely supportive mentors and colleagues. “I was very lucky” she reminisces, describing how she had the opportunity to go to one of the best elementary, middle and high schools in China while having parents who were both

researchers in The Chinese Academy of Sciences and put great value on education. “Going to college was never a question” she says”, the only question was which college and field of study she wished to apply to and pursue. Wang admits that having a career in academia and research had always been a natural choice. She initially had aspirations to go to medical school, but ended up following her parents’ footstep to attend Tsinghua University, the best engineering university in mainland China, known as “the MIT of China.”

Wang further explains that joining Biomedical Engineering was driven by her own choice and urge to “make some contribution or innovation in saving lives.” She says that dealing with large volumes of data and in its various formats (text, speech, images, video and graphics) has always been a part of her career as an electrical engineer and computer scientist joining the Georgia Tech faculty.

Georgia Tech and Emory joint Biomedical Engineering Department has been a nurturing environment for her to fulfill her dream of making a real impact. Wang’s research is forward looking, cutting edge, and targeted and truly embodies the interdisciplinary and translational spirit of Biomedical Engineering. It plays a critical role in filling in the gaps imposed on researchers and clinicians due to the incredible size of modern biomedical and health data sets, and the lack of tools to make sense of it all. At the end of the day, Wang wants to save lives using the science of informatics. With her decision to work with her colleagues and students at Georgia Tech, Emory, CHOA, and Shepherd Center, she says, “looking back, I don’t regret a single day.”

On Utilizing Tech’s Challenges and Experiences Taylor Rose

by Amrita Banerjee— Banerjee — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department LIKE MANY STUDENTS at Georgia Tech, Taylor Rose wanted her experience as a college undergraduate to be more than just learning in the classroom. Rose,

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who graduated December 2012, came to Georgia Tech in pursuit of a Biochemistry degree. However, at FASET, she decided on studying Biomedical

Engineering, since she “wanted to study an engineering discipline that applied life sciences, and Biomedical Engineering seemed to be the optimal choice.”

During her first year, Rose was not sure which extracurricular activities to participate in. She confided in Bethany Naser, the Director of the Office of New Student and Officer Programs, who guided her in finding which path to take.

“She encouraged me to step up to the plate and challenge myself and saw that I had great potential to succeed inside and outside of the classroom,” explained Rose. She started her journey by joining Freshman Council and the social sorority, Alpha Chi Omega; both helped expand her leadership and communication. As a member of Freshman Council, she learned how to work with thirty freshmen with varying personalities. In Alpha Chi Omega, Rose became Vice President of Education her junior year, working and motivating her fellow peers in achieving the goals of the organization. Bethany Naser continued to serve in a mentor capacity for Rose when Rose was a member of FASET Cabinet in 2010.

One of her most significant experiences during her education was studying abroad in Spring 2011 when Rose and a couple of her close friends decided to travel to Turkey. “Why Turkey, you may ask? Well, I really wanted to do something different while also studying to complete my Biomedical Engineering degree. The exchange program in Turkey provided me with both opportunities, and it also seemed to be a great place where I could learn more about other cultures,” said Rose.

“Everything there was completely different, “she remarks, “No one spoke English except for the students.”

However, Rose was expecting these challenges and accepted them. She studied physiology, neuroscience, and statistics while in the classroom, and during her spare time, Rose and her friends traveled around the country.

“We lived in the city of Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and I traveled with my friends along the Mediterranean coast.

We went to the region of Cappadocia, which is what the set of Star Wars is based on,” mentioned Rose. No matter how educational all of these activities were, the funniest thing she recalled happening was, “One morning when my friends and I woke up, we saw that the

chicken in our room had eggs !”

Rose brought back many memories from this trip, but the most significant lesson she learned was to challenge herself.

In addition to studying abroad, Rose decided to see what real-world applications Biomedical Engineering has by participating in the co-op program.

Starting in Spring 2010, she worked for MedShape solutions. At the time, MedShape had just started growing, so Rose watched the company grow from a small independent firm to the big name it is today.

The work that Rose did involved shape memory polymers in orthopedic a ppl i ca t io ns u s ed towards a device for ACL reconstructive surgery. “I saw testing for a 510(K) application for the FDA. This was an approval for a medical Taylor Rose, currently the president of the GT Career Fair, device. It shows that the is a 5th year BME student with diverse experiences.

(Photo: Taylor Rose) device will work in humans. On top of this, I among other responsibilities. However, did clean room production as well as she took a valuable lesson from this: quality assurance. I also conducted “Any leadership experience teaches you research in lab, designed machine not to take yourself seriously. You have fixtures, and went into a cadaver lab to keep moving forward and learn to be with a doctor once.” The lesson that flexible.”

Rose took from this work was that Rose is currently working for Biomedical Engineering is not just MedShape. However, she starts her fulltheoretical, but it’s a way that also time work in July, working as a helps citizens in the community. consultant for IBM. While she has seen While studying abroad and the engineering side of industry, she participating in the Co-Op Program would now like to work more on the expanded Rose’s horizons, an important business management side. Rose wants extracurricular she partook in was the to work in Project Management, and Georgia Tech Career Fair. Beginning in mentions that, “The leadership 2009 up until 2012, when she served as positions I took at Georgia Tech will help president, Rose saw the inside immensely.” After a couple of years, she happenings that many of us wish we wants to round her education with a could of the largest student-run career Master’s in Business Administration. By fair in the nation. As president of the GT working with peers and underclassmen, Career Fair, during her last year of Rose advises students, “to learn to put college, Rose was heavily involved in the less pressure on yourself and trust your planning. Some of the plethora of abilities. Take advantage of the activities she was responsible for resources on campus and challenge included: managing the space for the yourself in whatever you do to become a companies, renting chairs and spaces better person.” for posters, booking the catering,

laid

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Recent Publications

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Journal

Article Title

Authors

ACS Nano

Self-Powered Magnetic Sensor Based on a Triboelectric Nanogenerator.

Yang Y, Lin L, Zhang Y, Jing Q, Hou TC, Wang ZL.

Acta biomaterialia

Microstructured titanium regulates interleukin production by osteoblasts, an effect modulated by exogenous BMP-2.

Hyzy S, Olivares-Navarrete R, Hutton DL, Tan C, Boyan BD, Schwartz Z.

Angewandte chemie

Nanotechnology-Enabled Energy Harvesting for Self-Powered Micro-/Nanosystems.

Wang ZL, Wu W.

Bioinformatics

MetaGeneTack: Ab Initio Detection of Frameshifts in Metagenomic Sequences.

Tang S, Antonov I, Borodovsky M.

Biomedical microdevices

Sensitive, microliter PCR with consensus degenerate primers for Epstein Barr virus amplification.

Phaneuf CR, Oh K, Pak N, Saunders DC, Conrardy C, Landers JP, Tong S, Forest CR.

Biotechnology Bioengineering

Targeted nitric oxide delivery preferentially induces glioma cell chemosensitivity via altered p53 and O(6) -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase activity.

Safdar S, Payne CA, Tu NH, Taite LJ.

Brain Connect

Dynamic Properties of Functional Connectivity in the Rodent.

Keilholz S, Magnuson ME, Pan WJ, Willis M, Thompson G.

Chemistry

Synthesis and Characterization of Pd@M(x) Cu(1-x) (M=Au, Pd, and Pt) Nanocages with Porous Walls and a Yolk-Shell Structure through Galvanic Replacement Reactions.

Xie S, Jin M, Tao J, Wang Y, Xie Z, Zhu Y, Xia Y.

Colloids and surfaces

Using double-stranded DNA probes to promote specificity in target capture.

Baker BA, Mahmoudabadi G, Milam VT.

Integrative biology: quanitative biosciences from nano to macro

Patient specific proteolytic activity of monocyte-derived macrophages and osteoclasts predicted with temporal kinase activation states during differentiation.

Park KY, Li WA, Platt MO.

Journal of chemical ecology

Seaweed Allelopathy Against Coral: Surface Distribution of a Seaweed Secondary Metabolite by Imaging Mass Spectrometry.

Andras TD, Alexander TS, Gahlena A, Parry RM, Fernandez FM, Kubanek J, Wang MD, Hay ME.

Journal of colloid and interface science

Surfactant mediated charging of polymer particles in a nonpolar liquid.

Guo Q, Lee J, Singh V, Behrens SH.

Journal of ovarian research

Identification of inhibitors of ovarian cancer stem-like cells by high-throughput screening.

Mezencev R, Wang L, McDonald JF.

Medical Physics

Emission guided radiation therapy for lung and prostate cancers: A feasibility study on a digital patient.

Fan Q, Nanduri A, Mazin S, Zhu L.

Nano Letters

Pyroelectric Nanogenerators for Driving Wireless Sensors.

Yang Y, Wang S, Zhang Y, Wang ZL.

Nano Letters

Nanoscale Triboelectric-Effect-Enabled Energy Conversion for Sustainably Powering Portable Electronics.

Wang S, Lin L, Wang ZL.

PLoS computational biology

Functional analysis of metabolic channeling and regulation in lignin biosynthesis: a computational approach.

Lee Y, Escamilla-Trevi単o L, Dixon RA, Voit EO.

PloS one

Monoaminergic modulation of spinal viscero-sympathetic function in the neonatal mouse thoracic spinal cord.

Zimmerman AL, Sawchuk M, Hochman S.

PloS one

Gene Expression Signatures of Extracellular Matrix and Growth Factors during Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation.

Nair R, Ngangan AV, Kemp ML, McDevitt TC.

Science China. Life sciences

Engineering imaging probes and molecular machines for nanomedicine.

Tong S, Cradick TJ, Ma Y, Dai Z, Bao G.

The Annals of thoracic surgery

Effects of Targeted Papillary Muscle Relocation on Mitral Leaflet Tenting and Coaptation.

Rabbah JP, Chism B, Siefert A, Saikrishnan N, Veledar E, Thourani VH, Yoganathan AP.

The Journal of cell biology

Observing force-regulated conformational changes and ligand dissociation from a single integrin on cells.

Chen W, Lou J, Evans EA, Zhu C.

BME Answers Your Questions Answered by AEMB, the Secret Honor Society of BME

by AEMB 1. Hey BME Answers, is there anyway to get in contact with BME Tech alumnus. I’d love to have a better idea of what people with our degree do!

In BME, we quickly are introduced to several people in the BME field through the efforts of our introductory BME 1000 class. However, after that class it can be hard to keep in touch with the outside world! There are two great ways to talk with alumni and to see how they used their degrees: 1) Ask the academic advising office for contacts of graduates 2) Join a club that brings in guest speakers.

Sally Gerrish is an awesome resource for anyone looking to get connected with alumni. She knows everyone! Her office is in the academic advising suite on the first floor of our building (same as Paul and Kim). Shoot her an email to schedule a meeting, or just drop by and say hello!

Several of the BME specifici clubs bring in guest speakers that can help you grasp what it is our graduates do. Notably BMES, BROS, and GTNeuro. BMES especially since it is our student led professional society. It is worth checking out if you have never been!

2. What is the difference between an MD, a PhD, and an MD/PHD? These are all forms of graduate training that many BME students pursue. An MD is the degree you want if you are going to be a medical doctor. This degree allows you to see patients, prescribe medicine, make people feel better, etc. An MD can do research, but generally has to work a little harder to receive funding because it is not a research-intensive degree. A PhD on the other hand is strictly a research degree. This is the degree you want if you are dedicated to being on the edge of human knowledge and continually expanding what we know.

Professors are typically PhDs especially at Tech! You will learn to work in and run a lab, write proposals, grants, theses, and of course use Microsoft excel. Finally, the MD/PhD is a path that a few students each year try to take. It is for those who are focused on performing clinically relevant research. The nature of the research should greatly benefit from the added training of the MD coupled with the patient contact. The MD/ PhD takes the longest of the three options (typically lasting 7 years), but in theory leaves you very well prepared to advance the world of medicine and healthcare. Medical school (MD) is

typically very expensive, leaves you in debt, but you are pretty much guaranteed a good job! There is a lot of funding available for graduate school (PhD) so you should end up with little to no debt. Finally, MD/PhD training is completely paid for (often by the NIH) and has an associated stipend. At the end of the day, all three paths have their benefits and drawbacks, but the important thing to remember is that you will be a doctor!

3. I was recently told we are a “Jack of all trades master of none”. That doesn’t sound like a great selling point. How can I leverage my BME training at a career fair/during a job search?

My advice to you would be to take your diverse training, which specialists may see as a weakness, and reverse the table!

Show them that since you were able to learn such a broad spectrum of skills that you are confident in your ability to learn the skills necessary for the job you are applying for.

Show them your “go-getter” attitude and examples of leadership you have taken while at Tech. Our curriculum is heavily focused on group work. Engineers are known for being antisocial. Use that group work and your awesome projects to your advantage. As a BME, you are not only well-equipped to tackle engineering problems you also have the skills to work with others. Go get that job!

4. Hey, I noticed we have this sweet 15 hour block for doing a minor. Any advice on how to go about selecting one?

Those fifteen hours were built into our curriculum to really let you explore something that you love. Thus, my advice is to pick a minor that is related to something that you have an intellectual curiosity and a passion for doing! Personally, I chose Spanish because I felt it would help me communicate with my future patients. Pre-meds of course have those hours filled up with their pre-med pre-requisites. Everyone else out there though can benefit from perusing the course catalogue at: www.catalog.gatech.edu/. There you will find a list of many minors that will give your education a unique shape! Finally, the research option is great for anyone considering graduate school (especially PhD training). It will guarantee that you have done a lot of research and learned to write a thesis. Grad schools love those two things!

YOUR ADVERTISEMENT COULD BE HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU/SPONSORSHIP

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Abilities and Reasons to Innovate Innovation in the Biomedical Field

by Prateek Viswanathan— Viswanathan — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department THE BIOMEDICAL INDUSTRY FACES SIGNIFICANT HURDLES for innovation in today’s market. As outlined in “The State of Innovation in the Biomedical Field,” biomedical companies require three conditions to innovate: A reason to innovate, the ability to innovate, and the ability to sell innovations. “FDA and Patent Law Revealed” has already examined the ways in which the current regulatory climate hampers companies’ ability to sell their products. This current article will examine the factors that curtail corporations’ abilities and reasons to innovate.

As explained in “Innovation in the Biomedical Field: An Introduction to its Current State”, in this slowly recovering but still dazed economy, most enterprises do not have enough funds to invest in large scale research and development (R&D). Companies’ funds are limited and required for payrolls, business acquisitions and mergers, and day-to-day management, amongst other practical matters, and most managers do not want to spend a significant proportion of their limited money on projects that may not pay off for years, if at all. With their budgets strained, how can corporations release and manufacture new products with less financial investment?

First, companies are starting to innovate on the manufacturing side of their businesses. They deemphasize actual innovative products with new features, and spend more money researching and perfecting more efficient methods of manufacturing to cut costs. For instance, many companies in the orthopedic industry use a specific “Electro-polishing” (EP) method in the process of manufacturing a bone screw. However, this specific process is not required for every orthopedic component, and increases production time per screw from 4.5 days to 17 days. Instead of improving the bone screw, these companies would streamline their manufacturing process by eliminating the unnecessary EP method and reaping a significant saving.

However, innovation in biomedical manufacturing methods also faces multiple regulatory hurdles, some of which have been discussed in “FDA

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Regulations and Patent Law Revealed”.

Companies do not always have to develop a new product themselves; many search for other companies to acquire. For instance, a small biotech company named Sirtus Pharmaceuticals had been conducting research on “Sirtuins”, a class of enzymes thought to be involved in the aging process.

Their share-price doubled overnight when GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) bought out this small biotech company for $270 million. Other businesses such as Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic have used biotech buyouts to start their own research, or otherwise suffer sagging sales.

So even in the face of budget crunches and a reduced ability to innovate, companies can still generate new products.

Many corporations wonder if innovation is really worth the financial investment.

Three factors threaten biomedical companies’ profits from innovation: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Reimbursement, a new database of medical results, and a new tax.

The CMS reimburses hospitals and doctors for different procedures, as discussed in “Innovation in the Biomedical Field: An Introduction to its Current State”, but spending cuts and lower budgets have reduced reimbursements, making hospitals more circumspect about buying new and expensive technology. Biomedical companies will have to sell their products at lower prices and generate lower profit margins.

The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is due to launch an open-source website soon at www.healthdata.gov which is designed to bring together federal data sets, tools, and health care data in one large database for evidence-based medicine.

Exploring the effects of the economy on Biotechnology companies.

(Photo: Quest)

Evidence-based medicine attempts to quantify the difference in performance between different devices of the same function, and the government aims to use this to provide patients and customers with a way to easily determine which medical device is the most effective. If there is no actual difference between devices, customers will gravitate towards the cheapest products. As a result, companies will be under more pressure than ever to cut costs and create cheaper devices.

In addition, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), manufacturers will have to pay a 2.3% excise tax on the sale of any medical device, excluding eyeglasses, contacts, and hearing aids. While 2.3% of sales do not sound significant, companies would only be able to adjust

to this pressure by laying-off workers and minimizing R&D funds. As a result, companies such as Stryker are cutting back on R&D and planning to spend their money more wisely on products they have been building and selling already. This will limit R&D even in a healthy economy. An analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers disagrees with this evaluation, claiming that the excise tax will put pressure on companies to

find innovative and cheap solutions. In short, no one is entirely sure how this tax will affect biomedical innovation.

The biomedical industry is changing.

In a weakened economy, few companies can afford the heavy investment into R&D, and even fewer companies can afford entering the biomedical devices market and navigating FDA regulations and legal patent battles. This also results in few consumers that can pay

profitable prices for new medical devices. While many of these obstacles can be managed and minimized, some are here to stay. This does not mean that innovation will disappear from the market. Companies will instead find a safer route to better profits by focusing innovation by enhancing their existing products and using more economical manufacturing processes.

Insights into an MD/PHD Degree Nealen Laxpati

by Sarah Gonzales— Gonzales — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department THE PHYSICIAN SCIENTIST: some students shake their heads in disbelief at the idea, others have never heard of it. Few have the resolve and ambition to venture down one of the most rigorous academic programs in the world, the elusive MD/PhD. Nealen “Neal” Laxpati is among those ambitious few.

Laxpati, a 6th year in the MD/PhD program offered jointly by Emory University and the Georgia Institute of

Technology, originally had no intention of going down the MD route. As an undergraduate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California, Laxpati realized that while the creation of new devices was rewarding, it was translational research that truly called to him: the opportunity to tailor current technology to specific patient needs and clinical demands. “It's one of the most rewarding things about the life of a physicianscientist.

To know personally those for whom you work both in and out of the lab is amazingly motivating and highly important for conducting effectively translatable research” Laxpati says.

Neal Laxpati is currently conducting research on the septohippocampal axis and its role in focal hippocampal epilepsy in the neruomodulation lab of Dr. Robert E. Gross M.D., Ph.D., an adjunct faculty member at Georgia Tech and Emory as an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology . By using optogenetic tools and electrophysiologic recording s, Laxpati functionally dissects in vivo neural circuitry in attempts to reduce the Neal Laxpati is an MD/PHD student at Emory University and presence of seizures.

Georgia Tech and a GT water polo team member.

Outside of the lab, Laxpati (Photo: Neal Laxpati) is the president of the

MD/PhD Student Association at Emory University and is involved in the water polo community by currently coaching Emory’s Women’s Water Polo club and as a member of Georgia Tech’s Club Water Polo team.

Laxpati’s advice to those who are considering an MD/PhD program is to first gain experience - especially research experience. Most MD/PhD programs require around eight years and upwards of education to complete depending on pacing, rigor, and research; it is therefore imperative to know that becoming a physician scientist is something you are passionate about.

When choosing a joint graduate program, one’s research interests should be a factor in the decisionmaking process. As one interested in translational research, it was “the extremely collaborative atmosphere” at Georgia Tech that impressed Laxpati the most and continues to impress him to this day..

As for the future, Neal Laxpati’s goals include specializing in neurosurgery and one day, establishing his own lab in neuroscience.

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Journey of a Biomedical Engineer into Dentistry An Overview of the Application Process

by Hifza Sakhi — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department IF SOMEONE ASKED YOU to visualize a future in which you are a dentist running a clinic, what imagery would come to mind?

Do you picture a bustling office full of patients and clinicians?

Maybe you can envision yourself using dental instruments and managing your staff of assistants, hygienists, and secretaries.

Perhaps you can hear the sounds of x-ray machines churning out images for diagnostic purposes or the faint buzzing of drills as patients undergo restorative procedures. Although these all too familiar sights and sounds do capture a snapshot of what it is like to be dentist, there is actually much more to it than meets the eye.

Dentists are doctors who diagnose and treat problems in teeth, gums, and other parts of the mouth. Common procedures involve filling cavities, installing braces, performing oral surgery, and whitening teeth. Besides handson delivery of care, dentists also educate their patients about better ways to maintain their oral health. The large range of skills required for the occupation is developed through intense training at dental school. However, not only the coursework at dental school is rigorous – so is the application process.

Since admissions to dental school are very competitive, a combination of a good GPA and Dental Admission Test (DAT) score is generally imperative. Many schools require applicants to maintain an overall GPA and a science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Math) GPA above a 3.00. Likewise, a good score on the DAT is a must. The DAT is the dental equivalent of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and consists of a Natural Sciences Section (100 questions), Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) (90 questions), Reading Comprehension Section (50 questions on 3 passages), and Quantitative Reasoning sections (40 questions). The Natural Sciences section is further divided into Biology (40 questions), Organic Chemistry (30 questions), and General Chemistry (30 questions). Unlike the MCAT, the DAT does not have a physics section.

Hence, applicants should understand both the scope and depth of different subjects being tested on the DAT and prepare accordingly. For the biology section, Barron’s or Cliffnotes’ AP Biology books, and textbooks from genetics, cell biology, and microbiology classes are excellent study materials. For the Chemistry sections, applicants often mention using Chad’s chemistry videos. The PAT tests visual abilities through questions involving paper-folding, orthographic drawings, counting cubes, identifying correct aperture openings, and angle discrimination. BME undergraduates definitely have an edge on the competition for this section because the engineering curriculum includes skill -building with orthographic sketches and CAD software.

Besides honing those skills, BME students can also practice paper folding and use the Crack DAT PAT software. For the quantitative reasoning and reading comprehension sections, using SAT and ACT study resources can be helpful. Although individual differences may mandate different focuses, the above resources can provide students with a decent guide to the types of resources that are effective for tackling particular portions of the test.

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Besides GPA and the DAT, shadowing experiences are also required. Dental schools want to ensure that prospective students are cognizant of the challenges of this field along with the opportunities that it can provide. Shadowing experiences help applicants gain exposure to the types of obstacles that they may face as dentists, such as working with fidgety children or tedious procedures located in parts of the mouth that are hard to access. Through shadowing, students may also learn effective communication skills, which are paramount for a dentist.

Dental schools do differ in the amount of shadowing experiences required, but Georgia Regents University (formerly Medical College of Georgia) requires applicants to have 180-200 hours of shadowing completed when they apply and other programs may have similar requirements. For students looking for a shadowing opportunity close to campus, the Pre-Dental Society at Tech has connections with The Ben Massell Dental Clinic. Besides shadowing, the clinic also provides students with the rare opportunity to be involved in the process of delivering patient care by assisting the senior dental students from Georgia Regents University with procedures.

In addition to balancing academics and shadowing experiences, students should also take part in extracurricular activities.

Tech offers a myriad of extracurricular activities through its 300+ organizations on campus. Students should take advantage of this and take part in activities that they are truly passionate about, whatever those may be.

It is important to remember that the quality of their involvement in an activity is much more important than the quantity of activities that they are involved in. Often, networking obtained from in-depth involvement in an organization may help students to acquire internships and jobs, which can bolster their resumes.

Lastly, the rigor of courses taken and grades in the prerequisite courses are also important factors. Depending on the school, required pre-requisites courses may vary, but for all schools, the minimum is two semesters of math and English, as well as a year in each of the following science classes with labs: biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. Some dental schools also want applicants to take courses like microbiology, neuroscience, anatomy and physiology, and biochemistry to supplement their science classes. Likewise, courses in other social sciences like psychology, economics, and sociology as well as statistics are also highly recommended by some schools.

These important factors alongside a strong interview will determine if an applicant will get into dental school.

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PrePre-Health Column for the treatment of diseases. In contrast, internal medicine focuses on diagnosis and non-surgical methods towards the treatment of diseases. Finally, diagnostic medicine solely focuses on techniques used to identify, classify, and diagnose diseases. Other areas of healthcare include public health and dietetics, which involves the study of food and nutrition.

Surgery uses operative and instrument-based techniques to treat medical conditions, help improve bodily functions, and in certain cases, improve appearance. Surgical residencies are incredibly competitive and often take significantly longer when compared to other specialties. Various well known surgical specialties include cardiovascular surgery, involving the heart and cardiac blood vessels; neurosurgery, which includes the brain, spine, and skull; and orthopedic surgery, which involves the hand, feet, ankles, and reconstruction. Other specialties that fall within the domain of surgery are anesthesiology, which plays an extremely important role in every surgery; otorhinolaryngology, which refers to surgical treatment of the ear, nose, and throat; and vascular surgery, which focuses on peripheral blood vessels. Also popular are specialties dealing with elective, or voluntary, procedures, such as plastic surgery.

Overall, surgery is a diverse field that is always pushing the boundaries of creativity and ingenuity in regards to the many ways in which patients treat their ailments.

Internal medicine, like surgery, is also an expansive field incorporating every single area of the human body. Notable specialties include cardiology, which involves the treatment of the heart, neurology, which encompasses diseases within the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, and oncology, which deals with cancer and other malignant diseases. Internal medicine also includes specialties that are critical in the day-to-day lives of people. Family medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology are obvious choices for aspiring physicians who want to work intimately with people from all walks of life. Other exciting internal medicine specialties include emergency medicine and Infectious Disease (ID), which focuses on diseases caused by various biological agents.

The final category of specialties includes areas of medicine that are not traditionally associated with the stereotypical idea of a physician. Nevertheless, these specialties are especially important and necessary for accurate and quality care of patients. Pathology, which involves the study of disease through examination of cells, tissues, and organs, is vital to proper diagnostic care, which is imperative to both surgeons and internists alike. In the same vein, radiology, which involves the use of radiation and medical imaging for diagnosis and therapy, is one of the rapidly growing fields of medicine.

Finally, the clinical laboratory sciences, which comprise chemistry, microbiology, immunology, and hematology, involve the use of experimental techniques to study aspects of diseases and to develop more effective treatments.

With such a wide variety of medical specialties, the next step in the journey of a doctor is not an easy one. Deciding on a specialty requires having a passion for that field of study.

Certain specialties are more competitive than others, but they are equally important. Undergraduate students who have an interest in a particular specialty should make an effort to shadow a physician in that field in order to best understand the lifestyle and career path that it entails.

calendar January 14 Creating a Professional Resume 5pm – Bill Moore Student Success Center 16 Graduate and Postdoc (GaP) Seminar Series Seung Bae Lee - Advisor, Maysam Ghovanloo, PhD, and Hiroaki Yoshida - Advisor, Andrew Lyon, PhD 12pm — IBB 1128 23 Successful Interviewing Strategies 5pm — Bill Moore Student Success Center 24 Graduate Student Resumes for Industry 4:15pm — Bill Moore Student Success Center 28 Job Search Strategies 5pm — Bill Moore Student Success Center 29 Young Innovators in BME Seminar Claudia Fischbach-Teschlz, Cornell 11am — Whitaker 1103

February 5 Creating a Professional Resume 11am — Bill Moore Student Success Center 6 Interviewing for Graduate Students 4:15pm — Bill Moore Student Success Center 7 Successful Interviewing Strategies 11am — Bill Moore Student Success Center 12 Business Etiquette 11am — Bill Moore Student Success Center 18 Graduate Job Search Strategies 4:15pm — Bill Moore Student Success Center 19 Job Search Strategies 11am — Bill Moore Student Success Center 21 2013 Suddath Symposium The Inorganic Face of Life: From Metalloproteins to Cells and Whole Organisms 8am — IBB 1128 26 Young Innovators in BME Seminar Edward Boyden, MIT 11am — Whitaker 1103

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(Photos: Hyunjun Fred Woo)

First You Get Good, Then You Get Fast: The Value of Critical Thinking

by Abigail Riddle— Riddle — Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department DESIGNERS AND ENGINEERS ARE PAID TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. Yet, in an age of rapid technological progression, engineers are finding themselves unable to think critically. At present, the market is flooded with poorly designed, rapidly produced products that lead to an overflow of waste. This abundance is evidenced by the fact that the United States spends more money on trash bags in total than ninety other countries spend on everything. However, there is a different kind of waste that is equally corrosive to the progress of society— people thinking solely for the sake of thinking. When the context of thought is lost, the innovator is no longer producing his or her own product and is no longer responsible for his or her intellectual property.

Our fast-paced culture has impacted the engineer’s problem-solving plan. With this wave of surplus comes the pressure to produce products that are beautiful, unique, profound, and disposable due to their expedited quality.

Industry needs to return to its roots: design for functionality and durability. The beauty of true industry should lie in the sharing of well thought-out ideas. Humility and patience produce products that retain value. There is something to be said for a gathering of specialized craftsman that are working together to fashion a product of use, value, and longevity.

Mark McJunkin, an expert in concept development with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, suggests that linear problem solving is not a completely effective education. A linear education

produces a student with a plethora of credentials and not many tangible skills.

Learning a valuable skill takes specialization and hours of repetition. He says that “the key is steady refinement of a craft; you should never be in a hurry.”

In a world where Google is God and Wikipedia rules, it can feel very laborious to focus on the depth of knowledge rather than its breadth.

With so many influences swirling around engineers, it can be difficult to focus one’s eyes inward. Thus, they often lose sight of exploring innovative ideas. Here are six ways to ensure that your thought process is sufficiently insular.

Ways to get “good” before you get “fast”: 1. Acquire the ability to clear your palate of all interruptions.

2. Learn to maintain focus for up to five hours.

3. Materialize thoughts into reality 4. Practice visualizing processes in your mind based on what you know of reality due to recurring rehearsal.

5. Begin implementing a goal to find the simplest of solutions. You should strive for the fewest possible moves to achieve the desired end result.

Make problem solving an active process driven by curiosity.

Be able to know that you’ve done something similar before, yet solve the problem as if you don’t have the solution.

The security of science lies in knowledge-based decision making. Insular thinking, a work environment unimpeded with the distractions of mass productions, will eventually put intellectual responsibility back in the hands of the engineer. The speed of a process should be a result of continual re-launching into the unknown. The ultimate objective should be to produce both sustainable and profitable bio products.

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