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
4 ASK AN ALUM! Tips for Success 6 FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Present and Future 7 NEW CURRICULUM The Basics 7 RESEARCH SERIES A Mechanical Wiz 8 DESIGN TOOL BOX Sound like a Pro! 9 SENIOR DESIGN At a Glance 10 PRE-HEALTH CORNER A Welcome 11 MED SCHOOL The Straightforward Truth 12 ROAD MAP TO THE NEXT BIG THING Translational Research
August 2011
Volume VI, Issue 1
Faculty Spotlight Todd McDevitt, Ph.D.—Stem Cell Research Leader
By Dhruv Vishwakarma
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odd McDevitt started his career doing undergraduate work at Duke University, and completed his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington. After finishing a post-doc in Seattle, McDevitt joined the Wallace H. Coulter department in 2004. Along with teaching BMED 2210, a fundamental stepping-stone in the undergraduate BME curriculum, he heads the ESCT (Engineering Stem Cell Technologies) lab in the BME department that focuses on stem cell differentiation. Research at the ESCT is conducted...
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Dr. Todd McDevitt of the Coulter department (Photo: GTRC-GIT)
New Year, New Curriculum The Basics
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s part of the Georgia Tech Strategic Plan put into action Fall 2010, all schools were required to increase the flexibility of a major to better prepare students for the future. In the case of biomedical engineering students, this led to a complete restructuring of the curriculum. At the end of each semester, soon-to-be alumni filled out surveys on what classes they believed to be the most helpful and what they believed to be the least helpful. The result of these surveys helped shape the most recent changes to our curriculum. What has changed: Biology (BIO 1510), Technical Communications (LCC 3403), Digital Signal Processing (ECE 2025), Biochemistry (CHEM 3511) have been removed as require-
By Andrew Lei ments. Two semesters of Senior Design (BMED 4600 and 4601) have been reduced to one semester (BMED 4602) with a second optional semester of Advanced Biomedical Engineering Design (BMED 4603). In its place, there are now 15 hours of “Breadth Electives” to be satisfied by a Minor, a Certificate, the Research Option or a Pre-medical Option. Technical Electives are now referred to as Depth Electives and have an increased total of 12 hours. Total listings of depth electives can be found on the BME website (www.bme.gatech.edu). Economics and Ethics are no longer required to fulfill social science electives. The caveat to all of these new changes is that no one course can fulfill two requirements.
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WORDS
Staff Members
from the editor in chief
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he Pioneer welcomes students, faculty and staff back to Georgia Tech and the Quad! While many of us were away, the center of campus has undergone extensive renovations with the much anticipated addition of Clough Commons and (working!) fountains. Though the Quad has been blissfully free from construction, we do return to a semester of change. For undergraduates, the implementation of the new curriculum announced earlier this spring begins now. Many questions on the impact of the changes are still afloat. We have begun to address these questions in the article New Year, New Curriculum (Cover to page 7) and this month’s Ask an Alum! (page 4) question. We would love to hear your input on the discussion! Just e-mail thepioneer@gatech.edu. Here on staff, we have undergone our own renovations for the new school year. Enter into a much more content centered and navigable website at thepioneer.gatech.edu. New features include articles organized by subject, new menu options, and greater article search capacity. As usual, feedback or suggestions are welcome! One familiarity greets old-comers here in the Quad: the adrenaline filled rush for a job, internship, or co-op. Besides the campus wide Career Fair, the Biotechnology Career Fair will be hosted September 15th in the M-building. I will be joining this mad rush as a soon-to-be graduate this coming Spring. As such, I am serving as the interim Editor-in-Chief this Fall and will be officially taking leave of this office at the end of the semester. Until then, I am extremely excited to be working with both old and new staff members as we embark on an exciting new semester of opportunities! (Please visit thepioneer.gatech.edu for information on how to join the staff!) On that note, best of luck to everyone with classes, job searches, experiments, and whatever that might cross your path this Fall 2011!
EDITOR IN CHIEF Willa Ni FACULTY SPONSOR Dr. Wendy Newstetter OFFICERS Karan Patel Debika Mitra STAFF WRITERS Alex Cooper Dhruv Vishwakarma Subhendu De Belane Gizaw Eric Huang Elise Perez Harish Srinimukesh Rachel Stewart Guergana Terzieva Steven A Touchton Jr EDITORS Gopi Patel Nida Dharani Jenna Fair Shalv Madhani Ayesha Patel Elina Sarmah
PHOTOGRAPHERS
*Executive Officers
“That’s So BM E
Sincerely,
Willa Ni
!”
Willa Ni Interim Editor-in-Chief The Pioneer
Staff Members EDITOR IN CHIEF Willa Ni FACULTY SPONSOR Wendy Newstetter, Ph.D. OFFICER Debika Mitra WEBMASTER Timothy Lin
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STAFF WRITERS Alex Cooper Dhruv Vishwakarma Amrita Banerjee Sona Chandra Subhendu De Belane Gizaw Eric Huang Elise Perez Harish Srinimukesh Rachel Stewart
Guergana Terzieva Steven Touchton Jr. EDITORS Gopi Patel Nida Dharani Jenna Fair Shalv Madhani Ayesha Patel Elina Sarmah
LAYOUT EDITORS Kevin Lam Kelli Koenig Alex Lee Seung Eun Lee Anum Syed PHOTOGRAPHERS Saranya Karthikeyan William Sessions
COLLABORATORS Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Martin Jacobson Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Adrianne Proeller Shannon Sullivan John Toon Abby Vogel Robinson
Events and Deadlines Pre-Health Column BBUGS WECOME PICNIC Join us for Food, Drinks, and Games! www.bbugs.gatech.edu Biotech Quad August 23, 2011 - 3:00pm GAP SEMINAR SERIES The Graduate and Post-Doc (GaP) Seminar Series is a weekly event of research presentations by two graduate students or post-docs conducting bio-related research. ibb.gatech.edu Garth Thompson and Ian Campbell Jerald Dumas and Swetha Ratha Casey Holliday and Hassan Masoud presenting Rodney Averett and Xueliang Huo Catherine Rivet and Taymour Hammoudi Ivana Kennedy and Guarav Dwivedi
Aug 28 Aug 31 Sept 7 Sept 14 Sept 21 Sept 28
Every Wednesday at 12:00pm in IBB 1128 GRADUATE STUDENT ALUMNI PANEL The panelists will be sharing their experiences on how they got to where they are today and answering questions on attaining a position in these areas and the various aspects their job entails. Whitaker 4th Floor Lounge August 25, 2011 - 12:00pm BIOE SEMINAR SERIES Can Integrated Photoacoustic/Ultrasonic Imaging Become the Preferred Modality for Molecular Imaging? Disucssion on the general principles of these contrast agents using a specific clinical problem: identifying inflamed endothelial cells signalling the early stages of atherosclerosis. ibb.gatech.edu IBB 1128 August 25, 2011 - 11:00am IBB SEMINAR Fabrication of 3D Tissue Chips Using a Layer-by-Layer Technique Fabrication of sterocomplex LbL films by van der Waals interactions and the construction of biocompatible hollow capsules for drug delivery system by LbL assembly ibb.gatech.edu IBB 1128 August 30, 2011 - 11:00pm IEEE/EMBC INERNATIONAL ANNUAL CONFERENCE A major interational conference that features diverse topics in the gield of biomedical engineering. ibb.gatech.edu Boston, MA September 1-4, 2011 CAREER SERVICES Resume Blit Career Focus Things I Wish I Knew as a Freshman Graduate Student Resumes for Industry Successful Interviewing Strategies Creating a Professional Resume Job Search Strategies www.career.gatech.edu
Sept 6,7,9 Sept 8 Sept 8 Sept 14 Sept 21 Sept 26 Sept 28
2011 IBB VENDOR SHOWCASE Registration Open! 35+ plus companies will be on hand to display and demonstrate their equipment and research techniques thereby offering a great opportunity for faculty and staff to learn about new products as well. Ibb.gatech.edu IBB Atrium September 08, 2011 - 10:00pm FIRST “FIRST” FRIDAY Bioengineering Graduate Student Advisory Committee hosts a Bingo Luncheon www.bgsac.gatech.edu September 9, 2011 GEORGIA TECH CAREER FAIR The largest Career Fair on Georgia Tech’s campus. Companies attending the fair are hiring co-ops, interns, and full-time positions, as well as students from all majors and degree types. www.career.gatech.edu Campus Recreation Center September 12-13, 2011 IBB BREAKFAST CLUB SEMINAR SERIES “What’s Eating You?” Quantifying Proteolytic Activity in Health and Disease with Novel Assays and Computational Models. A discussion on studies conducted on a family of powerful proteases in diseases with particular attention to cancer and sickle cell disease. ibb.gatech.edu IBB 1128 September 13, 2011 - 8:30am Mechanotransduction and Mechanotransmission by Cell Adhesion Receptors during Atherogenesis Discussion on the role of integrins and extracellular matrix in inflammatory effects of flow ibb.gatech.edu IBB 1128 September 13, 2011 - 11:00am BIOTECHNOLOGY CAREER FAIR Meet top bioengineering companies Interview with recruiters Find out what the biomedical field has to offer careerfair.bme.gatech.edu MS&E Building September 15, 2011 - 1:00pm 2011 IBB DISTINGUISHED LECTURE Subra Suresh - PhD, Direction National Science Foundation His discoveries regarding the connections between cellular nanomechanics and human diseases such as malaria have shaped new fields at the intersections of traditional disciplines. ibb.gatech.edu IBB Atrium September 20, 2011 - 11:00am
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Ask an Alum! "In light of the new curriculum, how do you think these changes will affect the undergraduate BME program? Would you have chosen the new or the old program and how would you have changed your undergraduate experience?"
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Iove these changes to the curriculum! The new curriculum got rid of the classes I disliked and offers classes and options I wish I had. I highly encourage students who wish to go into design as a career to take the advanced biomedical engineering design course to determine if they like it and to gain experience relevant to the jobs they wish to fulfill. I would have loved to have taken more electives that expanded my knowledge of other fields while still applying towards my degree. Jennifer Moore Class of 2005 Senior Development Engineer K2M, Inc.
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think the new curriculum changes are positive overall because they provide more flexibility for students when planning what courses to take. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about other topics than they would have had under the old curriculum, which put [you] in BME courses early and … had you stick to them [until graduation]. The only major drawback I can see is no General Biology course…This particular change may make Systems Physiology (and subsequent Biology heavy courses) even tougher. Tiara Napier Class of 2012 Graduate student University of Alabama at Birmingham
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had the hardest time with the original curriculum, but I would take it over this new one in a heartbeat. ECE 2025 was essential for me to learn how a lot of the lab equipment works (and thus understand test results). Ethics wasn't amazingly helpful. Economics was invaluable. I tested out of Biology, but [I] really wish I had been able to take it for fun. My GPA would have been much higher if I went through the new curriculum, but I would be a much weaker employee than I am now for it. No matter what curriculum you're in, nothing is stopping you from picking up some books from the library to learn about what you're interested in. Drew Higgins Class of 2010 Research Associate Centers for Disease Control
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believe most students have two general goals in college. First, they want to get good enough at something to get hired and make a career doing it. Second, they want to "experience the world" by trying new things. The new curriculum will afford you… an excellent opportunity to do both. …use your depth electives to get good at something maybe that something is mechanical design… But whatever you do, have a plan. If you take a random hodgepodge of classes For full length responses to this month’s Ask an Alum!, visit www.thepioneer.gatech.edu.
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(maybe because they're perceived as "easy…”), then you'll start sweating bullets when you're standing in line at the career fairs or admissions offices. And those breadth electives? The world is your oyster. This is a great opportunity to develop in other areas… One of the best classes I took at Tech… was Stem Cell Ethics and Policy with Dr. Levine (PUBP and PST departments)… Would I have taken it if the ethics requirement didn't push me to try it? Probably not. Beware, because the new increased flexibility also means you could have the option to only take classes you know you're comfortable with. The new curriculum presents a great opportunity for you to make your education yours. But as Spider Man once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." With the new curriculum, you've got new power to design your education, but it's your responsibility to think about where you want to be in 10 years. Make a plan to figure out how to get there, and touch base with advisors to ensure it all makes sense. Joe Mets Class of 2010 Medical Student Harvard Medical School
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wanted to make a comment on the removal of DSP [ECE 2025] from the required courses. From my experience in research, internships, and working with medical devices, DSP is what sets us apart from the other people working in the field. It allows us to work on multifunctional teams and speak this language. This course was very tough, but is key to understanding the fundamentals of biological signals, which occur in every biological system. I would be shocked if future grads didn’t have a foundation in this area. Jason Rockhold
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am a R&D engineer that has worked for both P&G and Cardinal Health in the past. Speaking from my corporate experience, I found senior design, BMED 2300, biostatistics, biomechanics, and BMED 3500 (the… class you took after… your intro to circuits classes) to be the most important. At the work place, I found myself doing what one typically associates with electromechanical engineering… I was very fortunate to have Brani Vidakovic teach biostatistics because I learned statistics so well that I actually teach it at a local college now… I do wish, however, that I learned to formally create design drawings while I was in school… Overall, I do agree with a lot of these changes to the curriculum because students should be in control of their own fate. I do caution students, however, to learn as much as they can while in school… At first… I was… a pre-med BME with a perfectly good MCAT score and great grades. Yet, at the last minute I decided to go work because I wanted to see what that was all about before committing to becoming a physician. Work was fun, but I didn't see the enthusiasm I experienced while working in hospitals… Conducting clinical research with Dr. Wright was the best choice I ever made through college… I met a
clinical pharmacist there (my role model) and realized that job is even cooler than being a physician or a R&D engineer. Hence, the moral of the story: be wise, and take the classes [or] experiences you think could help you figure out what you want to do with your life… Christopher Lacey Graduate Student University of Florida College of Pharmacy
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s an alumnus, the recent changes to the undergraduate curriculum are definitely a bit shocking, though it is not difficult to see the motivation behind the changes. I have heard complaints… that the curriculum changes reduce the quality of our degree or make the major too easy. While the changes will allow students the flexibility to choose areas that they want to pursue, it does bring up the question: What exactly does being a BME at Georgia Tech mean? Given the choice, I would have chosen the old curriculum... As an undergraduate, I was able to take Pre-med courses, relevant Biochemistry courses, foreign language courses, and undergraduate research on top of the requirements back then. Under the new curriculum, I could have [had either Pre-med courses or foreign language courses] count towards the "Breadth Electives" requirements... If I had graduated under the new curriculum, I would probably not have pursued other interests as much since the bar would have been set so much lower in terms of coursework and expectations. The elimination of several key courses from the curriculum is also surprising… Ted Chen Class of December 2009 Graduate Student
"Do you have any tips for navigating and maximizing the upcoming slew of career fairs, job-related seminars and recruiters?"
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irst, take advantage of the resume help provided by various groups on campus and successful working friends and family members. At career fairs, make sure you are very happy and confident, even if you’re pretending. Put your resume out on every resume site you can think of and update it regularly to show activity, even if that just means uploading the same file again. When looking at job requirements, if you only satisfy half of the requirements, apply anyway. Companies like mine look for great people first and then find an appropriate role for them. Jennifer Moore Class of 2005 Senior Development Engineer K2M, Inc.
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completely lucked into applying to the job I am in now. I met the people about a month before they were recruiting while volunteering for a CDC project. It was a great opportunity for them to see what I could do. When a job opened up, I went into the interview to find that three of the four decision makers were the ones I had been volunteering with for the past three months. My first project was the project I had volunteered on. You can't beat that kind of experience. Drew Higgins Class of 2010 Research Associate Centers for Disease Control
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or career fairs, make sure that you have made a short list of the companies you are interested in talking to… make sure you have looked through these companies' websites and… understand what programs they have set up for college graduates. Also, prepare your elevator pitch… Don't forget to quickly mention what interests you about their firm and how that connects with what you want to do. Go in early before the rush gets in. Also, before going to the company that you are really interested in, try going to a company's booth that… is a company that has low stakes for you just to practice your pitch and become more comfortable. When you're at the booths, if possible, try to talk to a Georgia Tech alum who is recruiting or better yet… a graduate from the biomedical engineering program. Make sure to get their card from them and keep in touch with these people… These are the individuals who will really root for you during the interview process and you'll be surprised how much the companies value their opinions on the candidates (the recruiters want another Tech graduate who can succeed in their company). Stay relaxed and keep in mind [that] this is only one way of building contacts and finding a job. Make sure that you let your personality come out; more than your technical skills, most recruiters are looking for "humans" they would enjoy working with… For the career fairs and seminars, just show confidence and maintain a positive and friendly disposition. Shobhika Dhingra MBA Student Emory University
Faculty Spotlight
from Page 1
using pluripotent stem cells. Functionally, a stem cell is a cell that can replicate itself and differentiate into a more mature cell type. A pluripotent stem cell can differentiate into various other cell types. To make a distinction, multipotent and unipotent stem cells have a lower potential to differentiate into various types of cells with a unipotent stem cell differentiating into only one particular type of cell. In the body, stem cells differentiate according to the environmental clues they encounter. These clues “are molecules involved in regulating those processes” and those are generally referred to as morphogens. Morphogens can be anything from small vitamins to hormones and growth factors. Morphogenesis refers not only to cell fate change, but also to the migration that accompanies it…” Research has indicated that there are certain and sometimes subtle morphogenic differences in the environment that control the differentiation of most stem cells. Furthermore, these morphogens are often products of the stem cells themselves. Studying the effects of certain
morphogens requires simulating a complex bodily environment that is present when a stem cell undergoes differentiation. The McDevitt Lab uses 2-D and 3-D tissue cultures and models to examine what ensues when a certain morphogen is presented under controlled conditions for a controlled period of time. The morphogens can be presented to the stem cells using time-release aggregates, but any kind of consistent delivery to a 3D culture is tough to achieve without a framework of vessels and capillaries. However, in vivo, the stem cells themselves often are a source of the morphogens. In addition, stem cell studies have yet to establish a standard of techniques used to study stem cells, which can hinder repeatability and peer-review. These are some of the issues the ESCT Lab faces when trying to develop a consistent, applicable theory of stem cell differentiation and expanding these findings to stem cell therapies. McDevitt envisions a future that begins with preventative stem cell based therapies rather than full organ replacements. “One of the things about cell-based therapies is that you may be able to help stimulate repair processes at much earlier stages that
www.thepioneer.gatech.edu/sponsorship FOR MORE INFO ON MONTHLY AD SPACE STARTING AT $50
Dr. Todd McDevitt in his research lab. (Photo: GTRC-GIT)
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prevent or delay the progression towards organ failure.” If a patient suffers a cardiac infarction which leads to the death of a cardiac cell population, “the question is how do you mobilize and get to recruit or repair that at a much earlier stage that prevents this, or at least restore or prevent the deterioration of function.” Another possible application is aimed at facilitating novel drug screening tools for pharmaceutical companies since a pluripotent stem cell population can be induced to differentiate any multitude of cell types and thus, serve as more accurate test beds for drugs. These promising future opportunities are currently hindered by a lack of clinical subjects for study, a good framework for mass producing stem cells. The current industry standard will likely not be sufficient for the upcoming growth in stem cell research. The term “stem cell” holds a lot of political and controversial heat, but further study of stem cell therapies will require moving the debate to a scientific forum and increasing public understanding of stem cells and the ethical issues involved. Dhruv Vishwakarma is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department
New Curriculum
from Page 1
Some changes are quite welcome; many students agreed that Senior Design could have been compressed into one semester. This change allows many students to pursue interdisciplinary projects with students in other majors. Changes throughout the curriculum follow a similar theme of unprecedented flexibility. Also, pertinence of certain classes to the BME major had long been questioned. Classes in which the concepts learned were not applicable to a majority of alumni’s careers were removed. On the other hand, students and alumni have voiced concerns over some changes. The removal of technical courses might diminish the scope of potential senior design projects. Competing universities with Biomedical Engineering undergraduate degrees require at least Biochemistry or General Biology. BME students with the requirement of only one semester of or-
ganic chemistry may have a weak foundation in the basic sciences. Other changes, such as a proposed change of the MSE 2001 course to a more relatable biomaterials course would be more useful to students. The department has taken a risk by allowing for more electives. One fear is that the Georgia Tech Biomedical Engineering degree may represent less to those in post-secondary schools or the workforce. As a result, Biomedical Engineering students must be sure earlier of what they want to do with their career and be more hands-on with their own curriculum. This freedom is a great boon to students, but only if they capture this opportunity to cater their courses to the career they want to pursue.
in the Coulter Department
Andrew Lei is an undergraduate student
For real Alumni opinions on the curriculum changes, see page 4 for answers to this month’s Ask an Alum!
Student Spotlight: Chris Jorgensen A Mechanical Wiz
Jorgensen with Senior Design project: CardioScout (Photo: Guergana Terzieva)
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hris Jorgensen was not the typical senior. At nineteen years old, he was taking his last classes to graduate with the Class of 2010 and was actively involved in the BME workshop, the Guild. His workshop skills greatly contributed to his senior design project. Along with Tahir Haque, Nick Patel and Kevin Rego, his senior design group members, and under the guidance of James Fonger, M.D., Jorgensen created a modification for a bronchoscope,
By Guegana (Georgia) Terzieva which the team has dubbed CardioScout. This medical device was submitted to the Inventure competition, and the team presented this invention to the House of Science and Technology Committee at the State Capitol. Jorgensen participated in numerous groups on campus, but his niche was in the Whitaker basement, where the Guild workshop is located. He got involved with the workshop after completing BMED 2300: Problems in Biomedical Engineering, during the summer of 2009. He liked that Mark McJunkin, the instructor of BMED 2300, maintained an open door policy to all students who are willing to learn. Jorgensen used this opportunity to learn how to use the machines. The time spent paid off; Jorgenson was trained on all of the equipment, which includes a vinyl cutter, horizontal and vertical band saw, CNC mill, manual engine lathe, and two ton arbor press. Jorgensen feels most comfortable with the mill because he has spent so much time working on it during his senior design project. This machine is also the hardest to operate, according to him, due to its many settings and controls. In the beginning of January 2010, he and Ted French, another student, were hired to help as assistants in the workshop and keep it open five days a week. They usually showed other students how to use the
different machines and helped them with their projects. This constant challenge of building new devices and adopting new projects was one aspect that Jorgensen enjoyed the most. While Jorgensen regularly spent six hours a week in the Guild, he spent up to ten hours a week when building his senior design project. The technical knowledge he had acquired while working with different machines enabled him to create the prototype for his senior design project, the CardioScout. This metallic device can be applied along with the Olympus BF Q180-CA bronchoscope and is meant to view the heart without the invasive operations that are currently necessary. Since the heart is surrounded by the pericardium, it is hard to access; the current techniques for viewing the heart involve a long incision through the breastbone or multiple small incisions in the side of the chest usually performed by a robot. Another possible application of the CardioScout is the delivery of stem cells directly into the heart to aid in the regeneration damaged tissue. During his last semester, the group was going through a patent process with the CardioScout, which attests to Jorgensen and his team’s engineering skills. Jorgensen graduated May 2010 and is heading towards medical school. Guegana Terzieva is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department
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Recent Coulter Department Publications BIOMATERIALS
CELL AND TISSUE RESEARCH
Mediation of osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells on titanium surfaces by a Wnt-integrin feedback loop.
Scaffold-free culture of mesenchymal stem cell spheroids in suspension preserves multilineage potential.
Olivares-Navarrete R, Hyzy SL, Park JH, Dunn GR, Haithcock DA, Wasilewski CE, Boyan BD, Schwartz Z. JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Spatial correlations of trabecular bone microdamage with local stresses and strains using rigid image registration. Nagaraja S, Skrinjar O, Guldberg RE Experimental technique of measuring dynamic fluid shear stress on the aortic surface of the aortic valve leaflet. Yap CH, Saikrishnan N, Tamilselvan G, Yoganathan AP. BONE
Coordinated tether formation in anatomically distinct mice growth centers is dependent on a functional vitamin D receptor and is tightly linked to three-dimensional tissue morphology.
Baraniak PR, McDevitt TC.. JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
Common muscle synergies for control of center of mass and force in nonstepping and stepping postural behaviors. Chvatal SA, Torres-Oviedo G, Safavynia SA, Ting LH. MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE
Layer-specific functional and anatomical MRI of the retina with passband balanced SSFP. Muir ER, Duong TQ. NUCLEIC ACID RESEARCH
Hybridization kinetics between immobilized double-stranded DNA probes and targets containing embedded recognition segments.
Lee CS, Chen J, Wang Y, Williams JK, Ranly DM, Schwartz Z, Boyan BD. Spatiotemporal delivery of bone morphogenetic protein enhances functional repair of segmental bone defects. Kolambkar YM, Boerckel JD, Dupont KM, Bajin M, Huebsch N, Mooney DJ, Hutmacher DW, Guldberg RE.
Baker BA, Milam VT. PLOS ONE
Characterizing mRNA interactions with RNA granules during translation initiation inhibition Zurla C, Lifland AW, Santangelo PJ.
Design Tool Box Sound like a Pro! Introduction to Misused Terms
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n engineering school, you spend your time on lectures, problem sets, projects, and machining lessons. Ultimately, your goal is to be a professional engineer and design real products. Communicating your designs clearly can be a challenge because the language that is used in school is often different than in industry. Here are some commonly misused terms tips for clear communication to “industry people.”
Mil: Means “0.001,” or “one thousandth of an inch.” This term is also used to mean 1 mm, or “one millimeter.” Look out for this one, and always ask for clarification. Most machinists now use “thou” instead of “mil” to mean “0.001” for this reason.
By Marty Jacobson and Mark McJunkin one half inch and you will be respected by builders. Nominal dimensions in reference to raw material shape do not necessarily mean that the shapes that you purchase are exactly sized to the nominal dimension. For example a 2x4, is not 2x4 at all. It measures closer to 1.5X3.5. Nominal Dimensions : Metal Metal stock is specified in this order: (Thickness) x (Width) x (Length) If you ask for a 9’ 3” long piece of 6” wide aluminum, 1” thick, your supplier will know that you are not a frequent metal purchaser. Most of this type of material is sold in 12’ lengths; These 12’ lengths are commonly called “sticks.”
Tenth Means “0.0001,” or “one ten-thousandth of an inch”. It does not mean “1/10,” or “one tenth of an inch.” Do not refer to “0.1” as “one tenth” or you may be regarded as green. Diameter Could mean “inside diameter” (ID) or “outside diameter” (OD or Ø). To avoid confusion, never say “diameter;” instead, say “inside diameter” or “outside diameter.” Also be aware that a change in the dimension of a hole diameter will be cut in half on either side of the hole. This sounds obvious but really gets your attention when you are trying to properly communicate and specify a diameter change. Nominal Dimensions Dimensions that are a standard unit of measurement. For example, if you specify a dimension to .4995 and there is no reason for the specific tight dimension, you will look foolish. Specify .5 or
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CNC Machined Heat-sink. Designed and machined by Mark P. McJunkin. (Photo: Mark McJunkin)
Nominal Dimensions: Wood There are none. At least, no reliable nominal dimensions can be found in a catalog listing. The wood is most definitely not the same size as when it left the sawmill, or yesterday, for that matter. Measure before you spec or buy! “Some Material” versus “The Right Material” Metal parts take so much energy – physically and mentally – to produce that the single most important step in making a part is buying the right size of material. Usually, you want the smallest piece that your part will fit into, which we call ”net shape,” thus reducing the amount of work needed to produce your part. Calling for an estimate Even though you may be asked to get an estimate as one of you first assignments as an intern, you should never cold-call a new supplier and ask for “an estimate”. The supplier will know immediately that you are shopping the job and are not the decision
maker. It is more appropriate to state clearly that you are doing a pricing study and would like to know if the vendor would be interested in bidding on the work to be done. After you get a, “Yes,” submit your request for bid and also provide an articulate description of the work to be performed via CAD. Do not try to articulate your design verbally. They will most likely hang up the phone because they have other potential customers that know exactly what they want. If you try to act bigger than you are, suppliers will hear it in your voice and give you high prices just to see if you are naïve. Join the club Knowledge of terms and industry language/slang has purpose because they save all parties time in a competitive business climate. Ask plenty of questions and keep an ear out for how people communicate to get things done. Marty Jacobson and Mark McJunkin are instructors of the Coulter department
Senior Design Spring 2011 At a Glance
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he usually spacious lobby in Whitaker was once again bustling with posters, presenters, and the faint smell of pizza. Students enrolled in Senior Design II (BMED 4601) presented two semesters worth of effort this past April, which showcased innovative solutions to current medical problems. Below is a sampling of a few projects, which designed devices ranging from a micro-needle path to a multifunctional lighting system and a blood pressure monitor.
MicroPatch: Microneedle-based Insulin Delivery for Diabetics with Vision Impairment Tasked with finding an alternative insulin injection method for visually impaired diabetics, this team, made up of Sonia Im, Christine Lee, Gita Mahmoudabadi and Nhien Tong, proposed a dissolvable microneedle array that would deliver the drugs molded into the tips of the needles. On top of developing a device, userfriendly packaging with tactile clues for dose amounts as well as an instruction label was developed. The students also had a prototype of the entire device from the microneedle array made in a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) to a tailored packing tray. This prototype was tested on a porcine cadaver. MicroPatch was advised by Lynn Miller. Lukari Multifunctional Lighting System Current lighting for hospital procedures not only contribute excessive heat, but also have suboptimal lighting conditions. Kai
By Willa Ni Chieh Chiang, Francisco Gonzalez Duran, Elysia Hwang and Yan Hui Lye set out to design a modular lighting system that would reduce shadows cast for diagnostic lighting. The solution was an easily adjusted combination of LEDs mounted on motor powered rings. This allows the user to change the lighting angle by pointing an infrared remote control, which the lighting system can pinpoint. This design also reduces shadows cast by lighting. Future steps include gathering feedback with the prototype. Lukari was advised by Dr. Jeremy Ackerman, M.D. Ph.D. BP ACE: Design of a blood pressure monitor for exercise stress tests Patients undergo stress tests in order to detect cardiovascular disease. Currently, various sensors, including a blood pressure cuff, are attached to the patient as he or she is on a treadmill. Unfortunately, the movement decreases the accuracy of the blood pressure readings. BP ACE developed hardware (motor-inflated cuff and electrets condenser microphones) as well as software (LabView code which extracts K-sounds from the recording) to increase accuracy of readings. The students, Christina Dwan, Erik Gustafson, Abby Hill and Christopher Jackman, also included a playback feature that allows a physician to onduct his own assessment of the blood pressure. BPACE was advised by Dr. Kristin Bing. Willa Ni is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department
Left: Prototype Hardware (Photo: BP & ACE) Middle: Sideview of dissolving polymer microneedles (Photo: Micro Patch Team) Right: 3D CAD rendering of the proposed Lukari Lighting device (Photo: Lukari Multifunctional Lighting Team)
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Pre-Health Corner A Welcome - From the Office of Pre-Health Advising!
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elcome (back) to Georgia Tech! I hope this semester goes very well
for you! This fall marks the dawn of a new age— Clough Commons! I like to think that prehealth advising is the closest office to the new full service Starbucks! As the Director of the Office of Pre-health Advising, I am part of the Undergraduate Studies suite (Room 205 Clough Commons). We have a well-stocked resource room (suggestions for materials, such as books or movies, are appreciated) and some amazing programming to help students set personal goals for academic success. When planning, one of these goals should be to get your academic house in order. Make it a goal to have a minimum term GPA of a 3.6. To accomplish this, you should take advantage of the Center for Academic Success (www.success.gatech.edu), which has programs like one-on-one tutoring. Housing also has a great resource (www.housing.gatech.edu/academicservices) with links to the different tutoring offices on campus. There are some great workshops scheduled on campus centered on teaching time management, study skills, and test taking to name a few. For most of my students, they were the “smart kids” in high school, but never really studied. Now, they are struggling and finding it hard to ask for help. Georgia Tech doesn’t give trophies at
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graduation for students who never needed academic assistance. Swallow that pride and get help! Talk to your professor and your academic advisor for some guidance. Make it a priority to get to know your faculty members. If you add the “Office of Pre-health” to your T-Square account, there are numerous resources at your disposal, such as tip sheets that faculty have helped me craft to help them get to know you. I cannot tell you how many students over the years have done really well in the classroom and went to collect letters of evaluation from professors only to receive weak letters because the student never allowed the faculty to get to know her. These are not bad letters, but letters that basically said “Susie was a student in my class. She made an ‘A’ and seemed nice. Let me know if you have any questions.” Considering how competitive professional schools are, a letter like this could very well prevent a student from being accepted. Go to office hours and start a study group, so your faculty can see your group work skills. I meet many successful pre-health students each year. One of the most common traits of these students is that they are proactive. They do not sit back and wait for opportunities to fall into their laps; they go out and try to make opportunities happen. One cornerstone of the engineering education experience is problem solving skills. Thus, combining that with the proactive
By Jennifer Kimble nature of successful pre-health students, I expect great things from you during your time at Tech! If you are pre-health and not connected with my office, please do so ASAP! To register for the listserv, please go to lists.gatech.edu/sympa and sign up for the pre-health listserv (pre-health@lists.gatech.edu). In order to make an individual appointment with me, you need to attend a Mandatory Pre-Health Workshop. If you attended one last year or attended my FASET session, you are cleared for the remainder of your time at Tech. The next workshop will be advertised to the Pre-Health Listserv. I do walk-ins for quick questions and do not require that you attended a workshop. The hours are Tuesdays from 11-1 and Wednesdays from 1-3 in my office. In the meantime, join a Pre -health society like AMSA, if you are not already a member. Check it out at www.amsa.gatech.edu. For a Pre-Dental Society visit cyberbuzz.gatech.edu and for a Pre-Pharmacy Student Association visit (cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/ppsa/index.html). Please contact me if you have any questions (jennifer.kimble@carnegie.gatech.edu or 404-385-2475)! Jennifer Kimble is the Georgia Tech Pre-Health Advisor.
Med School: The Straightforward Truth Direct From Current Medical Students
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any of the members of our Biomedical Engineering community are participating in the pre-medical track, which is intended to prepare an undergraduate student for medical school. But what exactly is med school like? How exactly does it compare to our undergraduate years? Two medical students from Emory University have some answers. Though accreditation organizations give medical schools specific guidelines, the individual schools have some flexibility in designing their own curricula. The Emory University School of Medicine has the closest association with Georgia Tech, and its curriculum and much of its structure are shared by many other medical schools. The first eighteen months of medical
However, the students at Emory are not lacking in patient contact during this first eighteen months, though they are primarily focused on academics. Clinical training occurs early in the first year of medical school, and by the fall every student spends one afternoon every other week at practitioner’s office doing outpatient work, learning patient communication and physical diagnostic skill. This allows the students to begin building abilities that will later be vital to communicating and working with patients effectively. After the first year modules are completed, the students take the first part of the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination), a four-part test that a person must pass in order to become a
Adam Prasanphanich is a student in the M.D./Ph.D. program at Emory. (Photo: William Sessions)
school are dedicated to “building a core database of knowledge,” as Mark Weng, a fourth year medical student at Emory, explains it. Later, this database becomes the platform from which problems can be solved. This compilation of medical information is built in a series of classes that consist of two elements, a lecturestyle class of over a hundred people in the morning and a smaller discussion oriented class of about ten people in the afternoon. In order to cover the large quantities of material, these classes are organized into four- or five-week modules, which focus on specific medical topics, such as the cardiovascular or nervous system.
licensed physician. After passing part one of the USMLE, the students begin their third year of medical school, which is commonly viewed as the most demanding year. Clinical rotations begin during this year, so the students go through varying phases of work in areas of the medical field such as medicine, surgery, psychiatry, or neurology. Inside the rotations, the students work in small groups under several qualified professionals to ensure that the students learn and that the patients receive topquality care. Weng gives a short description of what happens clinical rotations, “I’ll go into the hospital and they’ll have me work a patient and present an assessment and treatment plan to the other people on my
By Rachel Stewart
team. There’s a lot of hierarchy in these rotations, but it’s structured in such a way that we can learn from more experiences people each level.” The fourth year of medical school continues these rotations, and after it is completed, the students are awarded their M.D., though they must also pass the last section of the USMLE before becoming a licensed physician. Adam Prasanphanich, an M.D./Ph.D. student who is currently in a lab rotation at Georgia Tech, however, differs from the normal medical school schedule because of his status as an M.D./Ph.D. The first two years of medical school are normal, but then the process of medical school is interrupted to complete the Ph.D. The option to become an M.D./Ph.D. is, for Prasanphanich, the choice to work for health in every way, “Most M.D./Ph.D.s, we come from science backgrounds; we see the importance of delivering patient care and improving health of individuals. Doing just the research isn’t enough, even though all this biomedical research will end in improved patient care as well. There’s something different in terms of experience between helping someone in person and being in a lab and contributing to the knowledge base in the field, and we can’t pick one or the other.” Overall, Weng and Prasanphanich agree that the largest difference between medical school and an undergraduate school is that the school no longer “holds your hand.” Learning is mostly self-guided with none of the chapter-by-chapter lesson plans that occur in undergraduate classes. There are also few homework assignments or projects to guide a student’s learning. Prasanphanich describes the differences in teaching and learning methods between the degrees, “It’s hard to learn at first how to identify what you are confident in and what you are deficient in and need to study more,” and Prasanphanich continues with an idea what Weng also expressed, “Some people want to study something and totally master it. That’s not possible because of the breadth of knowledge you have to learn and because of how rapidly clinical medicine and science changes.” Though medical school is generally considered manageable and is not filled with the horror stories that some people tell about it, students agree it is far more demanding than anything they faced in their undergraduate careers. Rachel Stewart is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department
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Road Map to the Next Big Thing An Introduction to Translational Research
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evolutionizing medicine with an elegantly ergonomic device or curing patients with a devastating illness tease the daydreams of biomedical engineers. These tantalizing thoughts do not seem all too impossible when surrounded in cuttingedge research news and lofty grant proposals; vortex in the phrase “from bench to bedside” and this sounds like the perfect protocol for translational research. Upon closer inspection, the path to translational research is distinctly different from basic research. Greg Dane, Coulter Project Director, explains that translational research is “research with the intention of getting a product of some sort into medical practice,” while basic research “adds to the body of knowledge and in some cases may later become the basis for translational research.” If a faculty member is indeed interested in pursuing translational research with an idea, then the innovation must be evaluated for marketability and competitiveness and submitted for a patent. After further development and risk mitigation, a working prototype of the product undergoes pre-clinical studies in small and large animal models before eventually leading to studies in humans. With each subsequent test, the product must demonstrate acceptable risk mitigation. Along this path, the product reaches a fork in the road. If the innovation has advanced enough, “a large company in industry could license the technology and continue the development through human clinical studies and the FDA regulatory process… until it becomes approved for use.” The other option that Dane mentions is the startup route. While the professor usually maintains more control over the product throughout its development, there are some caveats: “startups need to secure their own venture capital funding and they need to be managed well to succeed.” This is where the Coulter Translational Research Program can help. Founded on Wallace H. Coulter’s vision of “science serving humanity,” his endowment currently funds this program at Georgia Tech and Emory University. “Typically [the money] is provided to a project at a very early stage” and is used to
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add value and decrease risk in the innovation. Ultimately, the product needs to be advanced enough to attract either industry interest or venture capital to continue later development, which could cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. To apply for a Coulter grant, a Georgia Tech BME faculty member must collaborate with an Emory University clinician. A first-time or renewal proposal is submitted for review to the oversight committee. In the review, the projects are evaluated for potential market, strength of intellectual property (IP), and future funding potential. The committee usually receives 15 proposals a year and funds five to seven of the proposals with $100,000 each. Additionally, the program provides support to the projects in terms of IP, market and competitive analyses, business mentors, and contact with venture capitalists, among many other benefits. One of the most recent successes in the Coulter Translational Research Program has been Apica Cardiovascular. Co-founded by Ajit Yoganathan, Vinod Thourani, Jorge Jimenez
By Willa Ni
and James Greene, this startup has developed a transapical port for minimally invasive heart valve repair or replacement. Venture capitalists invested $5.1 million earlier this year, which will allow final development and initial clinical trials of this technology. Other BME professors who have created startups following funding from the Coulter Translational Research Program include Michelle LaPlaca with Zenda Technologies, which enables testing for early stages of cognitive impairment or mild traumatic brain injury, Ravi Bellamkonda with Regeneration Matrix, which is an oriented nanoscaffold device for regenerating damaged peripheral nerves, and Barbara Boyan with SpherIngenics, pursuing microencapsulation technologies directed at tissue reconstruction. Overall, the future of translational research looks bright. The Coulter Translational Research Program is annually increasing the number of projects funded, and many state funded organizations exist to provide additional support. Although students and post-doctoral fellows are usually involved in startup efforts in labs through professors, these many funding and support opportunities, such as the Georgia Research Alliance, the Enterprise Innovation Institute, or the Advanced Technology Development Center, encourage the pursuit of innovative medical products by all. Willa Ni is an undergraduate student in the Coulter Department