MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear Colleagues, Alumnae and Friends of Tulane BME: I am delighted to bring you our Fall 2017 newsletter that describes our department and its recent accomplishments. Our students continue to thrive in our environment of researchand design-focused teaching. Here we spotlight Danika Singh, a senior who is working with Professor Mic Dancisak and our Center for Anatomical and Movement Sciences to balance her interests in biomedical engineering and dance.
Donald Gaver has served as the Biomedical Engineering Department Chair for the past eleven years.
Many of our graduate students are highly involved in bioinnovation and entrepreneurship, and so we provide a brief synopsis of the work performed in Professor Quincy Brown's laboratory. His students from our BME and Bioinnovation PhD programs have formed a company (Instapath Bioptics) that may transform pathology. They have been extraordinarily successful in commercialization approaches related to their scientific studies and recently won the Grand Prize at the International Business Model Competition in Mountain View, CA (the heart of Si Valley)!
His laboratory research aims to develop an understanding of the interrelationships between the mechanical and physicochemical behavior of biological systems with a primary focus on the investigations of the pulmonary system.
We also spotlight a recent alumnus, Lowry Curley PhD, who has founded AxoSim with Professor Michael Moore. This startup company is developing 'nerve on a chip' technology for use in drug testing, and has received major funding from the NSF and DoD. Lowry was recently named to Gambit’s '40 under 40' because of his contributions to the city of New Orleans.
“It is my intent to use this understanding to help, either directly or indirectly, the development of improved therapies for pulmonary disease.”
Our department continues to grow, most recently with the recruitment of Professor Joseph Bull from the University of Michigan. Joe is the inaugural holder of the Elise and John Martinez Chair of Biomedical Engineering. His research focus in cardiovascular biofluid mechanics and biotransport and his interest in teaching and mentoring will expand upon our existing strengths. I encourage you to read the enclosed article to see how thrilled we are to have landed a ‘big fish.' Finally, TULANE BME TURNS 40 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR! Of course we love to celebrate in New Orleans for any occasion - and so celebrate we will! Our Anniversary Bash will be held over Homecoming weekend (November 2-4, 2017), and will include panel discussions led by former BME Department Chairs, laboratory visits, an Anniversary Gala at the Audubon Tea Room and Tailgating before the Homecoming Game. We hope to see you at our celebration - space is limited, so please make your reservations today. Sincerely,
Donald Gaver Alden J. 'Doc' Laborde Professor and Chair Department of Biomedical Engineering
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND
Department Conference • 1:00 - 3:00 PM and J. Bennett Johnston Building Tour • 3:30 - 4:30 PM Anniversary Gala, Audubon Tea Room • 6:00 - 9:00 PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD
Meet & Greet, Lab Tours and Reception • 1:00 - 4:00 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH
Tailgating Before the Homecoming Game • Time TBD
Register today! www.giving.tulane.edu/bme40 Visit http://www2.tulane.edu/sse/bme/for more information. 1 TULANE BME NEWSLETTER
PEOPLE
Dr. Joseph Bull Joins the Department In January 2017, Dr. Joseph Bull joined Tulane’s Department of Biomedical Engineering as a full professor and the inaugural John and Elise Martinez Biomedical Engineering Chair. The John and Elise Martinez Biomedical Engineering Chair was established by the Edward G. Schlieder Educational Foundation to honor John L. Martinez and his wife Elise. Professor John Martinez served Tulane for over 50 years and Elise Martinez was an active volunteer for Tulane and Newcomb. Dr. Bull, who joined the faculty from the University of Michigan, brings his internationally recognized laboratory, focused on biofluid mechanics and the use of ultrasound for drug delivery. More specifically, his research aims to address clinical applications and create new approaches. As an example, Dr. Bull’s work has pioneered the use of ultrasound to generate microbubbles that occlude blood flow in tumors. The functionalization of these microbubbles with specific drugs and ligands enables novel ways to target tumors. Dr. Bull’s vision and future goal is to translate this novel approach for patient therapy. Dr. Bull is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and has received numerous awards for his excellence in research and teaching. When asked why he decided to come to Tulane, he highlighted the close connection between research in the laboratories and teaching in the classroom.
“Teaching undergraduates is woven into the fabric of Tulane!” – Dr. Joseph Bull. Dr. Bull’s excellence in research, passion for teaching, and commitment to innovation make him a natural fit with the BME Department at Tulane. Welcome Dr. Bull! Dr. Bull has purchased a Beavertail flats skiff for saltwater flyfishing with his additional love for food he is already a New Orleanian.
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PEOPLE
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Lowry Curley, PhD Lowry Curley received his PhD in 2012 and returned to New Orleans in 2014 to help found AxoSim, a start-up company based on his doctoral research in Dr. Michael Moore’s Neural Microengineering Laboratory. In 2017, he was named to Gambit’s 40 Under 40, for young adults making a contribution to the city of New Orleans. Q: What is the first thing you think about when you think about BME at Tulane?
entrepreneurial mindset, and a great group of people who believed in the idea.
A: The great group of faculty and students that make up the collaborative environment.
A: I would say that you should get involved in as many groups and projects as possible. Tulane has fantastic opportunities to develop translational ideas, participate in business plan competitions, and even gain experience on the investor side of entrepreneurship. Even if a startup isn’t the direction you want to go, without getting exposure to a number of different career possibilities, it is hard to know what your real passions will be in the future.
Q: What research did you conduct at Tulane, and did it have any bearing on your career choice? A: At Tulane, I worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Moore developing tissue engineered models of the nervous system. It was instrumental in shaping my career path, leading me to pursue additional areas of neuroscience research as a post-doc and ultimately back to New Orleans to spin Michael’s technology out as a company. Q: What has your career path been? A: After graduation, I left to do a postdoc in Antwerp, Belgium. It was a great experience but I realized that academia wasn’t the path I wanted to take. After that, I came back to New Orleans and began building AxoSim’s foundation through the NSF I-Corps program. After that program, Michael and I knew we had a great idea and innovative technology. Afterwards, we founded AxoSim and have been pushing the company forward since 2014. Q: When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur? A: I took an entrepreneurship in science class with Edward Karp which first peaked my interest in entrepreneurship. At the time, the idea seemed daunting, but I was able to learn about some great success stories and understand a little about the process. Afterwards, I worked with two startups during my postdoc. That cemented my idea that to bring a technology to a wider audience and drive industry adoption, it took a combination of game-changing technology, an
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Q: What advice do you have for undergrads?
Q: What is your advice for those who want to follow your path? A: Learn as much as you can and don’t be afraid to fail. I think the only way to learn a new set of skills is to immerse yourself in a new environment and not be afraid to chase your crazy ideas. Also, make sure to develop relationships with teachers and other students with the same interests to build a foundation for future success. Entrepreneurship is all about relationships. Q: What do you wish you had known when you were a student? A: I wish I had known more about the opportunities outside of classes and lab research. You absolutely need those core skills, but you can start developing additional skill sets at the same time. Q: Why did you decide to come back to Tulane/New Orleans? A: Honestly, I missed the culture and character of New Orleans. There really is no other place quite like it. When I graduated, I looked for opportunities here in biotech but there weren’t many options yet. A big part of wanting to come back to New Orleans to build a company was the chance to create jobs and grow something here. The innovative environment that Tulane and BME have developed is unique and I wanted to be a part of that again. It was a good decision, because a big part of AxoSim’s success so far has been thanks to Tulane’s support.
PEOPLE CURRENT STUDENTS Dinika Singh’s senior thesis merges her two passions – biomedical engineering and dance. Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Dancisak, she is developing a pressure analysis of the ballerina foot in the pointe shoe in order to improve the ‘toe box’, the front part of the pointe shoe that encases the toes. Her double majors in biomedical engineering and dance offer a unique perspective on the mechanical aspects of the shoe along with the historical and aesthetic constraints of ballet.
DINIKA SINGH
Dinika was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in San Francisco. She was introduced to engineering by her father, an electrical engineer, and learned about biomedical engineering in a high school program established by Agilent Technologies, “Introduce a Girl to Engineering”. This led to an interest in medical device development. Dinika came to Tulane to study biomedical engineering because of its unique class offerings and undergraduate research opportunities. Her favorite class, so far, has been Product and Experimental Design. Her team's project on a drug delivery method using a microneedle allowed her to see both the laboratory and entrepreneurial sides of biomedical engineering. After graduation Dinika plans to pursue a master’s degree in biomedical engineering, followed by a job as a clinical specialist for a medical device company. Dinika is a member of the Newcomb Dance Company and captain of Tulane’s Bollywood Dance Company, Jazbaa. She is a sister in Phi Mu, a member of Tulane’s Society of Women Engineers and an external vice president of the India Association of Tulane. She also works as a resident advisor and teaches dance. In her free time, Dinika loves to try out new restaurants and hiking.
Biomedical Engineering Seniors Celebrate Graduation
Congratulations to the Class of 2017! Biomedical engineering graduates gather together for one last photo during the School of Science and Engineering Undergraduate Graduate reception on May 20, 2017. TULANE BME NEWSLETTER 4
PEOPLE CURRENT STUDENTS JASON RYANS Jason Ryans is a fifth-year doctoral student working in Dr. Donald Gaver’s laboratory. Jason is developing a multi-scale computational model of the lung. This model will eventually be used to assess an afflicted lung’s function and optimize mechanical ventilator treatment strategies. In addition to his work in the lab, Jason is a co-founder of Flux Diagnostics, LLC, a diagnostics start-up, and has won several awards for his leadership and innovation skills.
Jason’s mother is a chemist so he has always been interested in science. He also participated in a summer internship at the National Institutes of Health following his junior year of high school. This internship, along with an enjoyment of math, led Jason to a major in Biomedical Engineering. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering at Mercer University before coming to New Orleans. He chose Tulane University so he could work in Dr. Gaver’s laboratory and continue the focus of his Master’s thesis. After graduation Jason hopes to pursue a career as either a business development consultant or a research analyst in the life science and biotechnology industry.
Jason enjoys the culture and identity of New Orleans and the good times that can always be found – ‘whether it be food, music, festivals, or nightlife.’ His favorite hobby is billiards and he is also a big movie fan of almost every genre. He also plays the violin, and has since elementary school.
Students Showcase Their Team Design Projects Biomedical engineering students revealed their team design projects at the School of Science and Engineering Capstone Project Expo. Among the projects was a device to help reduce injuries in EMS workers when lifting stretchers, an oxygen tube management system and an app to help reduce pre-term births. Team Nose Goes, which developed an improved nasal gastric tube for use during intubation, won the Kenneth S. Kuhn Memorial Award.
From left to right: Instructor Dr. Lars Gilberton, Team Nose Goes: Cody O’Cain, Sam Luethy, Keith Watza, Zach Murdoch, and Department Chair Dr. Donald Gaver.
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INNOVATION COMPANIES SPIN OUT FROM LABORATORY RESEARCH Instapath Bioptics, a spin-out company founded to commercialize research from Dr. Quincy Brown's laboratory, won the Grand Prize at the International Business Model Competition in Mountain Valley, CA. Instapath also placed first in the Tulane Novel Tech Challenge, the Cox Business Get Started Pitch Competition, and placed second in the Tulane Business Model Competition. Instapath co-founders include Mei Wang, David Tulman, and Pete Lawson, who are all Biomedical Engineering and Bioinnovation PhD students working in the Brown laboratory.
Nick Pashos, a PhD student in Tulane’s Bioinnovation program, and founder of BioAesthetics, is taking advantage of an opportunity to grow his company to the next level. BioAesthetics agreed to a deal with IndieBio, a San Francisco based biotech accelerator, which includes a $250,000 investment and a fourmonth immersion program in San Francisco in preparation for clinical trials. BioAesthetics is developing a nipple and areola skin graft that can be used by surgeons during breast reconstruction surgery for cancer survivors. Billie Heim, BioAesthetics business partner and Tulane BME alumnus, joined Pashos at IndieBio.
Tulane’s Interdisciplinary Bioinnovation PhD Program fosters the design and development of innovative biomedical technologies and products. The program also provides real-world business and regulatory experience critical for pushing biomedical technologies out of the laboratory and into the healthcare environment. Faculty and graduate students in the Biomedical Engineering and Bioinnovation programs collaborate on research projects geared for the medical arena. Several students in the Bioinnovation Program are being advised by faculty in the Biomedical Engineering Departmant. TULANE BME NEWSLETTER 6
OUTREACH Inspiring the Next Generation “Building confidence in design thinking starts when students are young,” notes Dr. Anne-Marie Job, one of the professors running a biomedical themed workshop for the biannual Girls in Stem at Tulane (GIST) program this spring. “They can understand how to prototype and try out an idea. If we can inspire them to think this way early on, we can have a long-lasting impact on their education.” Throughout the New Orleans community, Tulane biomedical engineering faculty and students share their expertise to inspire the next generation of engineers. This work is part of a dedication to service and the community, a key component of the BME department mission and vision. It also reflects the university’s value on public service and New Orleans community engagement, frequently lauded as a distinction setting Tulane apart for incoming students and their families. The outreach efforts of the BME department are hard to quantify, as professors constantly integrate service into their design courses and research activities. All undergraduate BME students participate in research and complete several design-centered courses, through which they partner directly with members of the local healthcare community. Developing empathy is a critical first step that often drives the iterative design process, enabling students to more effectively understand and address needs and make a greater impact. Outside of the classroom, BME faculty lead by example, placing value on inspiring students to reach their potential. They serve on local school boards, such as the New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics School, and open their labs to visiting community students. Undergraduates, in turn, find time to give back despite their equally busy schedules.
A GIST participant shows off the model hand she made.
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BME junior Nathan Nguyen runs an activity he created for GIST and Boys at Tulane in STEM (BATS) that allows students to understand the design and functionality of a motion detector. Explaining his
Two FIRST Alumni, Afsheen Sajjadi, a BME Sophomore, and Kate Elfer, a BME Graduate Student, volunteer at FIRST Bayou Regional Robotics Competition in March, 2017.
energy for making time for this, he notes how excited the students are to participate: “The kids were the ones who drove me to do it again.” Similarly, BME junior Afsheen Sajjadi regularly volunteers with the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which he participated in as an elementary student. “FIRST encouraged my passion for engineering, inspiring me to tackle problems no matter how challenging,” explains Afsheen of his commitment. This year his role expanded to that of speaker, introducing the competition just after the mayor and before a state senator. He told the students how the skills and teamwork he learned through the FRC when he was their age inspired him to join an interdisciplinary team at Tulane that entered and won this year’s NASA Big Idea Challenge. As for the students attending these events, the benefits extend beyond exposure to new science themes. “I didn’t expect it to be so fun!” laughs Maddie Morrison, a seventh grader attending the GIST workshop led by Drs. Job and Raymond, as she proudly displays her prototype hand. Studies indicate that many students don’t consider a career in engineering unless they know someone in the field. This can be a significant barrier for females and minorities, two groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. In addition to the science students learn when exposed to these events, they also take away their experiences with the people they meet and a newfound confidence for their own capabilities. Indeed, the influence of dedicated Tulane faculty and students, with a passion for what they do and a genuine interest in sharing it, is hard to measure. Reflecting on her commitment to outreach programs, frequent volunteer and accomplished graduate student Kate Elfer cites her desire to pass on her own experience. “Programs like FIRST exposed me to design, fabrication, programming, and electrical wiring from age eleven through my high school career,” explains Kate. “I felt equally capable in my first engineering classes knowing that I had the skills to think and work like an engineer.”
RESEARCH
Students meet to discuss ideas and observations during an NIH sponsored summer immersion program.
NIH Grant Sponsors a Summer Clinical Immersion Experience The development and application of biomedical devices and technologies to address human health problems requires biomedical engineers who can successfully translate and commercialize their design ideas. Through a National Institutes of Health sponsored grant awarded to Dr. Lars Gilbertson, rising BME seniors now have the opportunity to experience firsthand the problems encountered by clinicians. The summer clinical immersion program represents a scaling up of the
collaborative model created by Dr. Lars Gilbertson, together with Dr. Korndorffer from the Tulane University School of Medicine. The program matches students with clinicians to create clinically relevant medical technology that will be carried forward as capstone design projects throughout the student's senior year. The summer program also represents a significant collaboration with the Taylor Center's Jordan Stewart and Dr. Laura Murphy, providing a Human-Centered Design framework
for the projects. Overall, this unique experience enhances the existing Team Design course by enabling its students to engage in medical technology design projects that address clinical needs. Arguably the most important deliverables are the students themselves who, by their deep involvement in the identification of clinical problems and systematic application of design principles, will emerge from Tulane well prepared for careers in medicine and health-related engineering practice.
Dr. Miller Receives Multiple Grants Dr. Kristin Miller has received several grants for research projects investigating age-related tendinopathy and pelvic organ prolapse. Symbolic of her laboratory’s locations within both the School of Science and Engineering and the School of Medicine, Dr. Miller's laboratory combines computational and experimental approaches to better understand the importance of soft tissue mechanics in tissue engineering and regeneration. Through collaborations with faculty in Tulane’s departments of pharmacology, epidemiology, and orthopedics and with community hospitals, Dr. Miller is making an impact in the fields of orthopedics and women's reproductive health. Gabrielle Clark, a graduate student in Dr. Miller’s lab at the J. Bennett Johnston Building, prepares to measure the ability of cells to alter the size and function of reproductive tissue.
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RESEARCH Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publication Highlights B Hu, JQ Brown. Optimization of Optical Sectioning Performance in Thick Tissue Imaging with Stage-Scanning Inverted Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (iSPIM) Novel Techniques in Microscopy, NTu1C. 3. Imaging performance of iSPIM in fluorescently-stained intact human tissues has been optimized by combining with structured illumination or electronic confocal slit detection, or both. SI achieved the highest SBR in propidium iodide-stained prostate.
Bayer CL, Wlodarczyk BJ, Finnell RH, Emelianov SY. Ultrasound-guided spectral photoacoustic imaging of hemoglobin oxygenation during development. Biomedical optics express. 2017; 8(2):757-763. Few technologies are capable of imaging in vivo function during development. In this study, we have implemented spectral photoacoustic imaging to estimate tissue oxygenation longitudinally in pregnant mice. We used the spectral photoacoustic signal to estimate hemoglobin oxygen saturation within intact, in vivo mouse concepti from developmental day (E) 8.5 to E16.5-a first step towards functional imaging of the maternal-fetal environment. Future work will apply these methods to compare longitudinal functional changes during normal vs abnormal development of embryos, fetuses, and placentas. In vivo ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging of mouse development. Images were acquired with a Vevo LAZR small animal imaging system. (a-e) shows the ultrasound image (greyscale), (f-j) are overlays of photoacoustic signal (red) at 780 nm, and the ultrasound image. Ultrasound provides high resolution of anatomy, while PA provides from blood and other endogenous absorbers.
P Zille, VD Calhoun, J Stephen, TW Wilson, Y Wang. Fused estimation of sparse connectivity patterns from rest fMRI: Application to comparison of children and adult brains, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 29 June 2017, DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2017.2721640. Neuroimaging data is heavily used to analyze both brain functions and brain structure In particular, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides non-invasive measurements over a time frame of seconds with a spatial resolution of millimeters. Many fMRI analyses focus on functional segregation (i.e. the identification of specialized brain areas for a given task) as well as functional integration (i.e. coordinated cerebral activity between brain regions)[1]. In this paper, we will be interested in the latter. More precisely, we will rely on functional connectivity measures for the discovery of statistical patterns of cerebral activity across various brain regions. We propose a model to extract sparse co-activated sub-networks from fMRI images in a multi-class setup. Using simulations and real data, we demonstrate that this method can efficiently identify both shared and class specific variables. We hope this model provides an accurate and powerful tool for extracting connectivity patterns among populations.
Sagittal and axial view of brain networks extracted using a novel computational model.
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RESEARCH Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publication Highlights Computer
Holt RG, Luo D, Gruver N, Khismatullin DB.
Reflector
Quasi-static acoustic tweezing thromboelastometry. J Thromb Haemost. 2017 Jul;15(7):1453-1462. doi: 10.1111/jth.13724. Epub 2017 Jun 9. PMID: 28453901
Function synthensizer Amplifier Matching transformer
Digital camera
Transducer
Essentials Blood coagulation measurement during contact with an artificial surface leads to unreliable data. Acoustic tweezing thromboelastometry is a novel non-contact method for coagulation monitoring. This method detects differences in the blood coagulation state within 10 min. Coagulation data were obtained using a much smaller sample volume (4 μL) than currently used.
(Above) Schematic of the acoustic tweezing device. (Right) Illustrations representing a whole blood sample levitating in the device under increasing acoustic pressure (from left to right). The levitator frequency was 29.4 kHz, the field of view of each image is 5 mm x 5 mm, and the elapsed time between images is 3s.
a b
The Khismatullin laboratory at the annual awards dinner, held in May, to recognize outstanding students in the department.
FACULTY NEWS Research Updates • Honors & Awards • Innovative Projects Kristin Miller’s Biomechanics of Growth and Remodeling Laboratory had two students give podium presentations at the 2017 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport meeting in June. Michael Moore was invited to speak at the 2017 Organon-a-Chip World Congress held July 11-12 in Boston, MA. He presented his work on a peripheral “nerve-on-a-chip” which is the innovation that formed the basis of AxoSim Technologies, a biotech start-up company based in New Orleans.
Damir Khismatullin, along with R. Glynn Holt (Boston University), co-founded Levisonics, which uses a novel method for assessment of whole blood or blood plasma coagulation.
Yu-Ping Wang was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s College of Fellows.
J. Quincy Brown was a Conference Co-Chair at the Clinical and Preclinical Optical Diagnostics Conference, European Conferences on Biomedical Optics, in Munich, Germany, in June 2017.
Donald Gaver’s Biofluid Mechanics Laboratory demonstrated that modification of the pulmonary surfactant distribution through novel modes of ventilation could be useful in inducing uniformly recruited lungs, reducing ventilator-induced lung injury in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Eiichiro Yamaguchi is a co-author on the paper.
Carolyn Bayer presented a scientific webinar in January, 2017 on her research in photoacoustic imaging of placental function at https:// www.visualsonics.com/ resource/webinars.
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Department of Biomedical Engineering Lindy Boggs Center Suite 500 New Orleans, LA 70118
PEOPLE
LinkedIn UPDATE
INNOVATION
If you’re already a member of LinkedIn, it’s easy to join. Just type “Tulane Biomedical” in the “Groups” search box at the top of the LinkedIn home page.
RESEARCH OUTREACH
There are now more than 650 Tulane BME alumni, students, and faculty members in the “Tulane Biomedical Engineering Students and Alumni” group on LinkedIn.com.
Keep Up With The Latest News The BMEN web site is frequently updated with news about our students and research. Get the latest updates at http://tulane.edu/sse/bme/newsandevents/. One of the ranking metrics used by Google and other search engines is “popularity” as measured by the number of referring web sites. If you control a personal or business web page, please consider adding a link to your alma mater: http://tulane.edu/sse/bme/.