Winter 2017 insider

CONTENTS

Saltman Quarterly

Volume 4 | Winter 2017

Illustration by Laurel Bowling | SQ Staff Illustrator

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3D Printing a Functional Liver: Personalized Medicine

UCSD Making HIV Testing More Easily Accessible for Service

Essay Contest Winner Feature: On GMOs

PRINTING THE PATH TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE

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DR. SHAOCHEN CHEN IS A FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE BIOMATERIALS AND TISSUE ENGINEERING CENTER AND A PROFESSOR IN THE BIOENGINEERING AND NANOENGINEERING DEPARTMENTS. HIS CURRENT WORK IS ON CREATING BIOMEDICAL DEVICES IN ORDER TO 3D PRINT LIVERS.

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ny book you peruse or newspaper you casually toss out owes its existence to Johannes Gutenburg’s original printing press, which revolutionized the transfer of information and led Europe out of the Dark Ages. As time went on, printing advanced from the second dimension to the third, and now 3D printing is a topic of interest due to its increased accessibility. At UC San Diego, students can reserve a 3D printer at Geisel Library, a convenience that has led to a variety of projects such as making models of hearts to replicating ancient Mayan artifacts. While students experiment with 3D printing at the library, Dr. Shaochen Chen, a professor in the Bioengineering and Nanoengineering Departments, works down the road in the Structural Materials Engineering Building, where he develops and perfects new methods to print a functioning liver.

In Dr. Chen’s highly interdisciplinary lab, his team of biologists, engineers, and chemists tests different nanomaterials and methods of nanomanufacturing to find the best method of constructing cellular scaffolds that hold cells to create tissue. The 3D printers, no larger than carry-on suitcases, have exposed components, allowing Chen and other lab members to tinker with them easily and change the parts. One 3D printer Dr. Chen uses implements

stereolithography, where 3D objects are created layer by layer with a polymer that is hardened by short bursts of UV or visible light. While engineers focus on the construction of the printer, biologists and chemists work to find biomaterials. Currently, they are using biodegradable polymers which mimic the human body and interact with stem cells. These polymers also disintegrate over time, eliminating the need for unnecessary invasive surgery in the case of implant removal. Along with decellularized materials, which are the natural scaffolding materials in the body that support cells structurally and biochemically, the biodegradable polymers are used as the building blocks to create the cellular scaffolds.

Dr. Chen plans to apply his research towards personalized medicine in tissue regeneration from organ damage due to congenital diseases, infections, and even cancer. While the future of creating actual human organs for transplant is far away, his research is making waves in the drugtesting industry by creating more realistic models of organs with greater accuracy and precision than the traditional 3D printer. Dr. Chen and his team are revolutionizing the way 3D printing can be used towards organ printing and personalized medicine.

Emma Huie | UTS Staff Writer Read more at sqonline.ucsd.edu

sqonline.ucsd.edu

INNOVATION FOR SERVICE:

ENGINEERING WORLD HEALTH

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iotechnology is a rapidly growing field that couples scientific advancement with community service. Engineering World Health is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that similarly works to generate new global health technology.

skills in patient care, collaborative efforts with scientists and researchers, and the foresight and planning needed for largescale implementation. These qualities are crucial to any successful biotechnology endeavor.

UC San Diego’s chapter of Engineering World Health designs, builds, and implements medical equipment locally to serve disadvantaged communities globally. Started in 2012 by a group of friends, the chapter aims to create a qualitative, low-cost HIV diagnostic pipeline.

Engineering World Health students are coming closer to achieving their goal. Having recently traveled to and worked with clinics in Tijuana, where the number of HIV patients is rapidly growing, they are hoping to move forward with clinical testing and receive lab validation by the end of the quarter.

HIV patients must be periodically tested to ensure that their treatment is effective. Currently, the HIV viral load test equipment required costs around $70 per test. The prototype being developed

by Engineering World Health would cost a tenth of that, making testing much more accessible for individuals in high-risk HIV areas.

Julie Yip, a project manager for the organization and bioengineering undergraduate student, speaks passionately of her hopes to soon see the product in use: “Even seeing a small group of patients locally diagnosed will help us to see the impact we can have globally.” When asked about the organization’s interdisciplinary focus, Yip mentions the variety of skills and passions required to make the project a success. Engineering majors, along with biology and chemistry experts, provide the framework for a chapter like this. She also emphasizes the importance of communication

When Yip is asked about what potential members should know, she says, “Every individual has a lot to offer in his or her own way, even if they’re not engineers. The members of Engineering World Health all have common goals and similar passions that manifest themselves in different ways.”

Samreen Haque | UTS Staff Writer

Editor-in-Chief: Rahul Nachnani Executive Editor: Sid Ambulkar Head Production Editor: Madalyn De Viso UTS Production Editor: Tushara Govind Production Team: Denny Bao, Nicki

Guivatchian, Rashi Saxena, Dominique Sy

Online Editor: Cade Oost SQ Features Editor: Karen To UTS Features Editor: Rithvik Shankar Staff Writers: Samreen Haque and Emma Huie Staff Illustrator and Photographer: Laurel Bowling and Vanessa Lundsten

Head Advisers:

Steven Wasserman, Ph.D. Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology Hermila Torres Manager, do/bio Center

For more stories, visit sqonline.ucsd.edu

sqonline.ucsd.edu

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SQ High School Essay Contest Winner | Biotechnology Vivian Nguyen | Westview High School In the third annual High School Essay Contest, the SQ Community Outreach team asked high school students to write a 500-750 word piece about biotechnological advances and possible ethical and societal implications of a biotechnological advance. SQ hopes this experience will encourage and celebrate science communication among future scientists and inspire them to think about biology in a broader context. The winner, Vivian Nguyen, is an 11th grader at Westview High School interested in genetics and human biology.

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ith great power comes great responsibility; as is true in Spider-Man’s world, is in ours as well. In our dynamic society, advancements in science and technology are ubiquitous and occur at a seemingly exponential rate -- take biotechnology, for instance. In the past few decades, we have made great strides forward in this field, as seen in the development of genetic engineering, medicine, vaccines, and modified crops. However, this momentous progress in biotechnology has not only changed numerous lives, but has also sparked a debate about the ethics regarding these innovations, one of which is present in our everyday lives: genetically modified foods.

One such debate results from genetically modified foods, as these products raise public concern about their safety. According to Statistica, genetically modified crops, which help to improve crop resistance and increase nutritional value through the genetic modification of the crops, accounted for 70.9 million hectares of land in the U.S. Even with this large amount of genetically modified crops a significant percentage of Americans (26%) specifically seek out nongenetically modified foods. These Americans represent the portion of the population concerned about the potential hazards of these genetically modified foods, which have been believed to decrease antibiotic effectiveness, as well as increase risk of allergies, stunted growth, and cancer, according to several studies. Additionally, genetically modified foods result from the exchange of genetic information, usually added from another set of DNA, which is a concern to many adversaries of genetically modified foods. However, this concern seems to result from a lack of awareness about these foods, rather than the danger of the food itself. An immense amount of evidence indicates that genetically altered foods are safe to eat,

and many of the experiments that warn of the risks of eating genetically modified foods have been refuted due to lack of details or significant errors in experimental design. A prime example is the experiment run by GillesÉric Séralini in which he linked genetically altered foods to increased risk in cancer and death. He was widely criticized in the scientific community for the minuscule sample size, the short duration of the experiment, as well as the use of a rat species with a predisposition to tumors. However, to an uninformed civilian, this study might be enough to reinforce an antagonistic attitude toward genetically modified food, as they would be unaware of the flaws in the experiment and they would take the results as fact, without accounting for the bias of the experimenter nor the misleading study. Instead, people should be informed of the significant accumulation of scientific studies from credible, nonpartisan sources, including many from the European Commission, that reaffirm that there are no significant risks from consuming genetically altered foods. Additionally, in educating the population about genetic transformation, they will realize that the exchange of DNA is a natural phenomenon, as in the case of viruses, which have often introduced new genes to various organisms throughout history.

Nevertheless, the controversy remains, and people remain uneducated about biotechnology. To rectify this problem within the population, a rudimentary understanding of the technology is essential. In order to do so, people must understand the basics of biology behind the technology, which can only result from education and readily available and accurate information. Additionally, society must place an emphasis on verifying unbacked claims, as well as understanding the requisites of a sound experiment. However, it is also the responsibility of the scientific community to continue to provide valid data and research, execute extensive experimentation, and persistently pose questions to provide evidence to either support or reject biotechnological innovations. Through cultivating a more perspicacious population, many concerns regarding biotechnology that stem from ignorance and misinformation may be placated.

However, another problem arises which is much harder to solve than simply educating the public. Although humans have proven that we can edit the genome of organisms, many challenge whether we should alter nature and “play God”, and many more question the potential risks with changing the natural order of life. Should we influence nature so heavily by changing and integral part of life? These questions are not so easily answered, and must be considered in the field of biotechnology. A potential solution for this is an intensive study of the risks and benefits of such new technology to influence the public’s opinion. Even then, it is hard to discern the morality of editing the genome of organisms, which accounts for the heated debate within the scientific community over genetically modified organisms.

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