BIOTECH REVIEW INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS VOLUME VI ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 2012 THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU by Steven Touchton, Jr.—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department Lebron Paige, M.D., a clinical neurologist and researcher, gave a talk about current engineering principles used to diagnose epilepsy. (Photo: Virginia Lin) by Sarah Gonzales—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department Continued on page 4 Continued on page 7 Insight and update on FDA decision for CardioMEMs innovation
Pioneer A WALLACE H. COULTER PRODUCTION Clinical Challenges Engineers without Borders GETTING BACK INTO THE BEAT of school work is always difficult after a long break. Classes must be test driven, sleep schedules adjusted, books procured and for six adventurous students, internal clocks must be reset to Atlanta time after working to provide clean water to the villagers of Mungoa-goa, Cameroon over winter break. January 9th marked the first day back in the United States for the latest batch of volunteer student field engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Engineers Without Borders-USA is a nonprofit organization with over 12,000 members working on over 350 projects in about 45 developing countries to build better lives for disadvantaged communities around the world. by Sarah Gonzales—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department EWB on their mission trip to Mungoa-goa. (Photo: Engineers without Borders) VOLUME VI ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 2012 THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU Continued on page 7 Insight and update on FDA decision for CardioMEMs innovation Looking at cutting-edge technology outside the GT biotech community VIP—brainchild of GT professor and highlights from student participant BIOTECH REVIEW INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS WITH THE PROMISE TO “keep talking until there’s nobody left in the room,” Lebron Paige, M.D., spoke to a captivated audience for nearly two hours. Regarding the challenges of surgical treatment for epilepsy and new engineering solutions, Paige an epileptologist at the University of Alabama- Birmingham (UAB) Epilepsy Center, spoke to Georgia Tech students on November 8, 2011 in a BMES sponsored event. With an M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Miami in 1994 and an M.D. from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1998, Paige completed a fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Yale University School of Medicine in 2004. His goal for the seminar was to describe epilepsy, current treatments, and the engineering applications to epilepsy surgery and diagnosis. A seizure is an unexpected and unpredictable rhythmic, synchronized, excessive discharge of brain nerve cells. “It’s a hardware level phenomenon,” Paige explained, “on the cell level.” Paige specified that in order to be diagnosed with epilepsy an individual must have at least two seizures. Also, the seizures must be unprovoked - not due to some outside influence such as an alcohol withdrawal Epilepsy, if untreated, can cause a plethora of devastating Lebron Paige, M.D., a clinical neurologist and researcher, gave a talk about current engineering principles used to diagnose epilepsy. (Photo: Virginia Lin) Striving for Sustainability in Mungoa-goa, Cameroon Continued on page 4 by Steven Touchton, Jr.—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department Surgical Treatment for Epilepsy and New Engineering Solutions
Transcript
Pioneer A WALLACE H. COULTER PRODUCTION
Clinical Challenges
Engineers without Borders
GETTING BACK INTO THE BEAT of school work is always difficult after a long break. Classes must be test driven, sleep schedules adjusted, books procured and for six adventurous students, internal clocks must be reset to Atlanta time after working to provide clean water to the villagers of Mungoa-goa, Cameroon over winter break. January 9th marked the first day back in the United States for the latest batch of volunteer student field engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Engineers Without Borders-USA is a nonprofit organization with over 12,000 members working on over 350 projects in about 45 developing countries to build better lives for disadvantaged communities around the world.
by Sarah Gonzales—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
EWB on their mission trip to Mungoa-goa. (Photo: Engineers without Borders)
VOLUME VI ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 2012 THEPIONEER.GATECH.EDU
Continued on page 7
Insight and update on FDA decision for CardioMEMs innovation
Looking at cutting-edge technology outside the GT biotech community
VIP—brainchild of GT professor and highlights from student participant
BIOTECH REVIEW INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS
WITH THE PROMISE TO “keep talking until there’s nobody left in the room,” Lebron Paige, M.D., spoke to a captivated audience for nearly two hours. Regarding the challenges of surgical treatment for epilepsy and new engineering solutions, Paige an epileptologist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Epilepsy Center, spoke to Georgia Tech students on November 8, 2011 in a BMES sponsored event. With an M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Miami in 1994 and an M.D. from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1998, Paige completed a fellowship in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology at Yale University School of Medicine in 2004. His goal for the seminar was to describe epilepsy, current treatments, and the engineering applications to epilepsy surgery and diagnosis. A seizure is an unexpected and unpredictable rhythmic, synchronized, excessive discharge of brain nerve cells. “It’s a hardware level phenomenon,” Paige explained, “on the cell level.” Paige specified that in order to be diagnosed with epilepsy an individual must have at least two seizures. Also, the seizures must be unprovoked - not due to some outside influence such as an alcohol withdrawal Epilepsy, if untreated, can cause a plethora of devastating Lebron Paige, M.D., a clinical neurologist and researcher, gave a talk
about current engineering principles used to diagnose epilepsy. (Photo: Virginia Lin)
Striving for Sustainability in Mungoa-goa, Cameroon
Continued on page 4
by Steven Touchton, Jr.—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
Surgical Treatment for Epilepsy and New Engineering Solutions
PREHEALTH COLUMN………………………………………………………………...3 Mind the Gap NATIONAL BMES…………………………………………………………………….…...5 Gilda Barabino, Ph.D., New President-elect BIOTECHNOLOGY REVIEW………………………………………………………...5 Lab on a TouchScreen Might Make Smart Phones into Pathology Labs RECENT PUBLICATIONS……………………………………………………………..6 NEW DIRECTOR OF FELLOWSHIPS…………………………………………...7 Fulfilling the New Role STUDENT SPOTLIGHT…………………………………………………………..…….8 Aaron Morris, BROS President GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT……………………………………………………………..10 Alice Li
DESIGN TOOLBOX……………………………………………………………………..11 Adding Professional Manufacturing Details
Pioneer Established 2007
Hello, my name is Virginia Lin and I am the new Editor-in-Chief. It is my honor and privilege to lead a new chapter of Pioneer. I look forward to working with both old and new staff members on our new journey. With classes approaching peak testing period, staff members of the Pioneer have recently passed through different sorts of exams – Officer Elections and Recruitment. With the graduation of the vast majority of the old officers, this new Pioneer executive board will be introducing fresh perspective and ideas to this publication. Spring 2012 also ushered some of the most qualified applicants through our recruitment process. With every recruitment season, the applicants have been increasingly outstanding and thus, our decisions have been increasingly difficult. We are honored to have received such incredible interest from such incredible students. For those new staff members, we are proud to share a passion of exploring the many facets of our major with this community. Best of luck to all of you with your new semester, and I look forward to bringing all of you good news! Sincerely, Virginia Lin
From the Editor in Chief EDITOR IN CHIEF Virginia Lin FACULTY SPONSOR Wendy Newstetter, Ph.D. OPERATIONS Timothy Lin SECRETARY Saranya Karthikeyan PUBLIC RELATIONS Jaemin Sung WEBMASTERS Felis (Doyeon) Koo Sara Khalek Jaheda Khanam Karan Suraj STA FF WRITERS Subhendu De Rachel Stewart Belane Gizaw Sarah Gonzales Christine Hang Cathy Heo Arun Kumar Nithya Paranthaman Asra Rehan Hifza Sakhi Harish Srinimukesh Jaemin Sung Guergana Terzieva Steven Touchton Jr Prateek Neil Viswanathan Iva Zivojinovic EDITORS Harish Srinimukesh Nida Dharani Jackson Hair Shalv Madhani Caroline Massaro Ayesha Patel Elina Sarmah Kristen Weirich LAYOUT EDITORS Kevin Lam Marisa Casola Yeonghoon Joung Kelli Koenig Candace Law Summer Lee Sam Lim Xurong Liu Alexandra Low Eesha Mathur PHOTOGRAPHERS William Sessions Sheridan Carroll Jacob Khouri Arthur Lo Rachel Moore Alex Shao Hyunjun Woo COLLABORATORS Karen Adams Paul Fincannon Sally Gerrish Marty C. Jacobson Jennifer Kimble Megan McDevitt Mark P. McJunkin Colleen Mitchell Adrianne Proeller Shannon Sullivan
EDITOR IN CHIEF `
FACULTY SPONSOR
OPERATIONS SECRETARY
PUBLIC RELATIONS
WEBMASTERS
STAFF WRITERS
EDITORS
LAYOUT EDITORS
PHOTOGRAPHERS
COLLABORATORS
FDA PANEL REJECTS………………………………………………….………..…...3 Promising CardioMEMS Monitoring System
CLINICAL CHALLENGES……………………………………………………….…..4 Surgical Treatment for Epilepsy and New Engineering Solutions
BIOTECH REVIEW………………………………………………………...………………11 Outside the Quad
INSIDE: PIONEER
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A CRITICAL MILESTONE to any medical device is passage through the FDA approval process. One of the main obstacles of the approval process is recommendation from an FDA advisory committee. The FDA has 50 committees and panels that are composed of doctors and scientists that deliberate over a device’s safety and efficacy, as demonstrated by previous studies with the device. Most committees meet multiple times a year to analyze cutting-edge technology and determine whether or not each device should be recommended for FDA approval. At the FDA Circulatory Systems Devices Panel’s meeting in December 2011, the panel advised against the approval of CardioMEMS’s CHAMPION heart monitoring system, a system that provides physicians with patient data to help predict heart failure. The CHAMPION heart monitoring system received investigational device exemption (IDE) from the FDA in 2007 and had trial results published in the Lancet in February 2011. The results were promising, with a reduction of hospitalization by 39% over 15 months. However, the Circulatory Systems Devices Panel brought up concerns that the clinical research was biased by human intervention. It was found that patients who received the CHAMPION heart monitoring system received high level medical attention from company-employed nurses who advised doctors directly through emails and phone calls. Additionally, there were some concerns that the trial’s single-blind design (investigators were not blinded to treatment assignment) enabled additional forms of bias in the study. As a result, the panel voted 6-to-4 against approval. Jeffrey Borer, M.D., of the State University of New York, the chair of the committee, stated that, “Everybody believes something good happened here. But we can’t say why.” Richard Lange, M.D., of the University of Texas added: “This device is the cat’s meow. We all want it to work.” Though the panel’s decision is undeniably a setback, many believe that additional trials could lead to the device’s approval. CardioMEMS, a medical device startup based in Georgia Tech’s Technology Enterprise Park, is the center of a new technological breakthrough that may change the future of heart failure prevention. The technology, based on DARPA-funded research for jet engines, uses microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS) to quantify pressure. The implanted monitoring device, roughly the size of a paperclip, can accurately measure changes in pulmonary arterial pressure in the heart to help predict heart failure in high-risk patients. The device also uses RF signals to both externally power the device and transmit data, enabling its low-profile size. Data from the device is sent to the physician, enabling him or her to monitor the patient from a computer or mobile device easily and conveniently. The information from the CHAMPION heart monitoring system can provide the physician with the information necessary to reassess medication or treatment options before emergency intervention is required. The device can be implanted through a catheter, typically during endovascular repair procedures. After receiving funding from both Banc of America Securities (Now a part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and Georgia’s Life Sciences Facilities Fund, St. Jude Medical bought a 19% equity stake in the company for $60 million in 2010, with an exclusive option to acquire the company for $375 million if it met certain commercialization milestones.
The CardioMEMS CHAMPION Heart monitoring system was rejected by the Circulatory Systems Devices Panel with a 6-4 decision
FDA Panel Rejects Promising CardioMEMS Monitoring System by Alex Cooper—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
The CardioMEMS CHAMPION Heart monitoring system was rejected by the Circulatory Systems Devices Panel with a 6-4 decision
(Photo: CardioMEMS)
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problems, including effects to one’s social interactions and level of achievement. The debilitating disease comes in many different shapes and sizes. However, depending on the severity of the case and the level of treatment, individuals with epilepsy “can be and are high functioning people.” Paige explained that there are both generalized and partial seizures. In generalized seizures, an electroencephalography (EEG) will initially show a normal setting until, suddenly, every electrode will fire instantaneously. Severe generalized seizures can begin with a tonic phase where the patient is very stiff then breaks into a clonic phase where rapid muscle spasms occur. “These are dangerous. They kill people,” Paige warns. Partial onset seizures have a much wider variation in how they can affect an individual - from unintelligible vocal outbursts to purposeless, harmless movements. The origin of partial onset seizures can arise in any single place on the cortex of the brain and “look vastly different if you’re watching the patient. Using video recordings of seizures, analysis of movements can help identify the location in the brain a seizure most likely originated. For example, Paige explains, “Lip-smacking is a classic temporal lobe symptom.” On the subject of diagnosis and treatment for the disease, Paige recalled wondering as an undergraduate if “when the rubber meets the road, the technology would ever really fly.” In coming to Georgia Tech, Paige hoped to introduce students to the newest cutting edge techniques and instill a desire to learn and contribute new ideas to the field. The EEG, a primary tool used to diagnose and characterize epilepsy and epileptic seizures, tells doctors when and where a seizure occurs. While reading an EEG is simple enough, obtaining
clear, accurate recordings is significantly more difficult. The skull impedes electrical signals; extra-cranial signals result in poor resolution measurements. To pinpoint the exact location of a seizure, electrodes must be implanted in the form of a grid on the surface of the brain for “intracranial monitoring.” Regarding treatment for seizures, a myriad of medical options exist. Some patients “are rendered seizure-free with a single drug, some with two drugs, […] and some will never be seizure-free regardless of how many drugs they’re on.” It is the latter case where surgery is offered. “And when I say surgery,” Paige explains, “I’m talking cutting out part of somebody’s brain.” The neurosurgeon receives from the epileptologist a sort of “cut-here map that says take this part out…, but don’t take that, that or that.” Of course, one obvious question arises: what else is being taken out? Paige explains: the area of brain responsible for the seizures has “blasted away” the normal function in that area, and it has either been lost or has migrated to another part of the brain. In some partial onset cases, such as temporal lobe epilepsy, surgery has resulted in 80-90% definitive cures. Extra-temporal surgeries, occurring outside the temporal lobe, have a success rate of about 50%. However, surgical removal as a treatment cannot be used on generalized epilepsy as no one section of the brain can be removed to stop the seizures. Surgery is not an option for patients with problem areas adjacent to vital areas. For these patients, new technologies are on the rise. Speaking of new technologies, Paige mentioned one company that is developing a radio-linked electrode array. With no cables to push through the scalp during the 6-7 days of EEG monitoring, the new electrode array eliminates the “highway to infection” and allows more time to monitor the EEG. The implantation of a strip electrode and a depth
Clinical Continued from page 1
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electrode in the problem area eliminates the need for surgery altogether. Implanted in a trough in the skull, it acts as a feedback device, able to listen and classify the EEG into ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’. If it detects an abnormality, the device stimulates with pulses of current between the two leads, bathing the area in current, which has been shown to disrupt the rhythmicity of seizures and, ultimately, abort the seizure. The device is soon to be FDA approved, Paige explains. In this first generation, the device requires a battery change; however, Paige says, the next generation will have a battery that is rechargeable through a coil underneath the skin. “You can get data in and out from that coil, and you recharge the battery from then on.” “This is an amazing option for people who have been refused a surgical option,” Paige excitedly explains. To help with the difficult surgical placement of electrodes, he cited another new technology. A group has developed a degradable brain-conformable silk substrate with embedded transistors, which eventually leaves the electrodes on the surface of the brain. Paige addressed several other cutting edge technologies from the optical mapping of an EEG to a seizure abortion device that cools the
brain upon detection of a seizure. Many of the technologies that Paige discussed are the product of collaborations between engineers and physicians on real world applications. This, he explains, is where the future lies. Considering the limitations of current procedures, Paige emphasized the importance of exploring new technologies and ideas for diagnosis and treatment. One student suggested the use of accelerometers in smart phones to distinguish abnormal brain patterns. “That’s exactly the type of thought process I came here to try and stimulate,” Paige responded, “accelerometry, automated video interpretation, who knows?” Paige has helped to establish a neuroengineering conference at UAB where some of the engineers, clinicians, and basic scientists meet and “kick around things like that.” “Having a buddy who will sanity check your crazy engineering ideas” and vice versa forms an irreplaceable collaboration. There is huge potential for engineering applications in epilepsy surgery, Paige explained, with many in-the-laboratory engineering applications coming down the pipe that need to be brought from the lab to practical implementation.
Graduate Spotlight
FOURTH YEAR GRADUATE STUDENT of the Georgia Institute of Technology Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stacie Gutowski was initially interested in graduate school after her experience in undergraduate research. She first heard about the Georgia Tech BME program through her Master’s advisor, who was an alumnus of Georgia Tech. After her interview, she understood why her advisor recommended Tech – the notable collaborative environment amongst the labs and professors. For the first two years of graduate school, Gutowski wanted to work with biomaterials and attained a Biomaterials Training Grant. After rotating through two different labs, she decided to work under Andres J. Garcia, Ph.D., Professor of the School of Mechanical Engineering of Georgia Tech. Her research deals with developing a base polymer coating for neural electrodes, which help to restore neurological processes after a neurological injury or disease. Currently, the problem with these implantations is the subsequent scar tissue formation, which obstructs the electrodes from gathering the incoming data and preventing successful neurological restoration. The aim of Gutowski’s project is to allow the coatings to reduce scarring, cell adhesion and inflammation. Recently, Gutowski has finished her two-month preparation for her thesis proposal, a rigorous process that requires presenting a 25 page document to a committee of five professors. Afterwards, a presentation is given to the committee in addition to any GT members who are interested in the topic. Feedback is solely given by the committee, which is helpful by pointing out potential issues or presenting future directions. Gutowski notes that proposals are less stressful than graduate qualifying exams since “you’ve researched enough to be proficient in what you’re talking about.” Whereas for the exams, “you don’t know what you’re going to be asked.” In addition, Gutowski advises undergrads to “figure out
what you love to do and run with it.” For graduate students, the best preparation for a thesis proposal is “getting feedback from other people that weren’t involved in the project.” Gutowski is also the education and outreach chair for BBUGS (Bioengineering & Bioscience Unified Graduate Students). Due to her involvement, she hopes to find a job “doing something with outreach with kids.”
Stacie Gutowski by Christine Hang—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
Gutowski is a fourth year BME graduate student who is also the education and outreach chair for BBUGS.
(Photo: Jacob Khouri)
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Journal Article Title Authors
AAPS PharmSciTech Recovery of skin barrier after stratum corneum removal by microdermabrasion. Andrew S, Lee JW, Prausnitz M.
Advanced Materials Replacing a battery by a nanogenerator with a 20 V output. Hu Y, Lin L, Zhang Y, Wang ZL.
Annals of Biomedical Engineering
Effect of zinc and nitric oxide on monocyte adhesion and endothelial cells under shear stress.
Lee S, Eskin SG, Shah AK, Schildmeyer LA, McIntire LV.
Antioxidants and Redox Signaling.
System redox regulation of cellular information processing. Dwivedi G, Kemp ML.
Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Manipulating substrate and pH in zymography protocols selectively distinguishes cathepsins K, L, S, and V activity in cells and tissues.
Wilder CL, Park KY, Keegan PM, Platt MO.
Biomaterials Engineering fibrin polymers through engagement of alternative polymerization mechanisms.
Stabenfeldt SE, Gourley M, Krishnan L, Hoying JB, Barker TH.
BMC Bioinformatics Improving the accuracy and reliability of microarray data in the presence of artifacts.
Moffitt RA, Yin-Goen Q, Strokes TH, Parry RM, Torrance JH, Phan JH, Young AN, Wang MD.
BMC Systems Biology Constructing stochastic models from deterministic process equations by propensity adjustment.
Wu J, Vidakovic B, Voit EO.
BMC Systems Biology Systematic remodeling of the redox regulatory network due to RNAi perturbations of glutaredoxin 1, thioredoxin 1, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.
Kippner LE, Finn NA, Shukla S, Kemp ML.
Disability Rehabilitation Dusty: an assistive mobile manipulator that retrieves dropped objects for people with motor impairments.
King CH, Chen TL, Fan Z, Glass JD, Kemp CC.
European Cells and Materials
Fibronectin– and collagen-mimetic ligands regulate bone marrow stromal cell chondrogenesis in three-dimensionial hydrogels.
Connelly JT, Petrie TA, Garcia AJ, Levenston ME.
Ground Water Boundary condition effects on maximum groundwater withdrawal in coastal aquifers.
Lu C, Chen Y, Luo J.
Integrative Biology Magnetic manipulation and spatial patterning of multi-cellular stem cell aggregates.
Lab on a Chip Microfluidic chamber arrays for whole-organism behavior-based chemical screening.
Chung K, Zhan M, Srinivasan J, Sternberg PW, Gong E, Schroeder FC, Lu H.
Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention
An analysis of scale and rotation invariance in the bag-of-features method for histppathological image classification.
Raza SH, Parry RM, Moffitt RA, Young AN, Wang MD.
Medical Physics Scatter correction for full-fan volumetric CT using stationary beam blocker in a single full scan.
Niu T, Zhu L.
Nano Letters Piezotronic effect on the output voltage of PH3T/ZnO micro/nanowire heterojunction solar cells.
Yang Y, Guo W, Zhang Y, Ding Y, Wang X, Wang ZL.
Nanotechnology High output nanogenerator based on assembly of GaN nanowires. Lin L, Lai CH, Hu Y, Zhang Y, Wang X, Xu C, Snyder RL, Chen LJ, Wang ZL.
Nucleic Acids Research Integration of sequence-similarity and functional association information can overcome intrinsic problems in orthology mapping across bacterial genomes.
Li G, Ma Q, Mao X, Yin Y, Zhu X, Xu Y.
Pediatric Cardiology Age– and Chamber-specific differences in oxidative stress after ischemic injury.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Large area and structured epitaxial graphene produced by confinement controlled sublimation of silicon carbide.
De Heer WA, Berger C, Ruan M, Sprinkle M, Li X, Hu Y, Zhang B, Hankinson J, Conrad E.
Psychiatry Research Default mode network dysfunction with adults in prenatal alcohol exposure. Santhanam P, Coles CD, Li Z, Li L, Lynch ME, Hu X.
Stem Cells and Development
Osteogenic differentiation of stem cells alter vitamin D receptor expression. Olivares-Navarette R, Sutha K, Hyzy SL, Hutton DL, Schwartz Z, McDevitt T, Boyan BD.
Recent Publications
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Here at Georgia Tech, our chapter successfully built a concrete water tank and laid piping for the distribution of water to over 400 villagers after two and a half grueling weeks in the mountainous tropical region of Cameroon. The chapter’s latest trip marks over three continuous years of service to the people of Mungoa-goa and an ongoing project to sustainably provide much needed water supplies. Forty percent of the village does not have access to water, a serious problem that the student run GT EWB has nearly corrected. After deliberation between options such as rainfall collection and pumping water from an existing catchment, the GT EWB eventually decided to drill a well in December of 2010. In May 2012, the next team of GT EWB will be going back to Cameroon to install a solar-powered pump.
Though trips of this nature may sound simple in principle, several pit falls had to be overcome to make the last one a success. In the northwest region of Cameroon, electricity is unreliable and at a critical point in the developmental design process, all contact with the community was lost when the representative for Mungoa-goa had to move to another part of the country to provide for his family. Eventually contact was restored and the project was once again on its way. Hannah B. Kates, current President of GT EWB and one of the six students on the trip, had been involved with the
Cameroon project since her freshman year. Commenting on her favorite part of the trip, she said, “For me personally, since I’ve been working on it and watched it develop over the years, it was really exciting to be actually implementing the designs and meeting the people who we’re trying to serve.” Success on the solar powered well in Mungoa-goa means more than access to clean water. The women and children of Mungoa-goa, no longer spending such a great portion of their time fetching water, will then have more time
to devote to education. The average level of education in Cameroon is 5th grade. GT EWB is also involved in other projects including the Global Soap Project, Habitat for Humanity, Books for Africa as well as an ongoing project in Honduras to provide clean reliable water supplies to its people. Those interested in joining the GT Chapter of Engineers Without Borders can apply for membership at the start of each semester. All majors are welcome.
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Engineers without Borders
Villagers in Mungoa-goa working with members of EWB working towards a common goal. (Photo: Engineers Without Borders)
Continued from page 1
“Forty percent of
the village does not
have access to
water, a serious
problem that the
entirely student run
GT EWB has nearly
corrected.”
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Vertically Integrated Project
VIP STANDS FOR vertically integrated project. Co-founder of the VIP program, Edward J. Coyle, Ph.D., Arbutus Chair for the Integration of Research and Education, explains that the program came about through another program that Coyle along with two of his colleagues at Purdue University, Lee Jameson and Hank Deets, came up with in 1994 called the Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS). The big idea behind EPICS was having “large scaled vertically integrated teams” design projects that would benefit the local community. As successful as EPICS was, faculty member interest was not maintained because of a lack of publications, a strong motivation for professors. The Vertically Integrated Projects program was created as an
answer to that problem. How to keep faculty Interested? Coyle explained that keeping the faculty interested in what they are doing is the “key to sustainability.” One method of engaging faculty is to let them propose ideas for research and to have them manage and develop their own teams based on a core set of guidelines. Otherwise, VIP is a “mechanism that can be used for anything,” says Coyle. “VIP works everywhere.” It is something between “research and design.” The “E” in EPICS limited the program to just engineering whereas projects in VIP range from biomedical related projects to robotics projects—Coyle said during the interview that students in the program come from fifteen different disciplines.
What projects does this program consist of? As of right now, the program consists of twelve different projects. Coyle described a few of this variety of projects - “eStadium,” “eDemocracy” and three biomedically related projects entitled “I-Natural,” “Brain Beats” and “Cure Diabetes.” The most interesting aspect of each of these projects was their potential application. For example, eStadium, the first VIP project which o r i g i n a t e d a t P u r d u e , i s i n implementation to Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. Another biomedical project led by Professor Ayanna Howard and is called I-Natural. This project deals with “building interfaces to allow people to interact with machines in a more natural way.” Ultimately, this can be beneficial to people with disabilities who might increase their quality of life with the help of machines. The last project that we discussed during the interview is called Cure Diabetes led by Professor David Ku. Specifically, the goal is to prevent an immunologic reaction of the transplanted cells that produce insulin to help cure diabetes. These projects, which can also be counted for credit depending on the participant’s discipline, are a great way to excel in your abilities to research, take ownership on a topic, and develop your skills further. How are students involved in this project? As for his take on student involvement, Coyle says that “they’re really part of a small design firm.” This certainly emphasizes the importance of a student’s role to the progress of the project. In fact, students are responsible for designing, building prototypes and subsequently testing and conducting experiments with those prototypes. Fifteen undergraduate students plus graduate students and the advisor of the project make up a team. To get involved, a simple application can be found on the VIP website, vip.gatech.edu, which is then reviewed by Coyle. Once you are on a project, students generally stay with the topic for the coming semesters.
by Asra Rehan—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
Big Success for a Big Idea
Dr. Edward J. Coyle from the ECE department heads the Vertically Integrated Projects. (Source: Georgia Research Alliance )
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Student Spotlight
AS AN EXCELLING UNDERGRADUATE, Pradeep Anandapu is double majoring in biomedical engineering (BME) and aerospace engineering (AE) with a minor in math. This unusual combination of academic pursuits finds reason in Anandapu’s strong interest in neuroengineering after initially pursuing AE for a rotorcraft project. The math minor allows him to explore the “differential equations side of math.” Together, these majors and minor mesh to support Anadapu’s interest in computational neuroscience.
Drawing on the skills learnt from this expansive pursuit, he has started work in the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program and undergradu-ate research since Fall 2011. Anandapu currently works on the new Brain Beats project of the VIP Program under Robert Butera, Ph.D., Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
and Kurt Weisenfeld, Ph.D., Professor in the School of Physics. The Brain Beats project, as well as other projects in the VIP program, attacks problems in groups of approximately ten to thirteen students under advisement of a faculty member. Anadapu’s project deals with the investigation of how humans generate and interact with periodic rhythms. The study allows for a better understanding of the human inability to maintain rhythms such as clapping. The project involves human subject research studies dependent on an understanding of nonlinear dynamics and synchronization theory. The understanding of basic and complex synchrony will feed into a broader understanding of the mechanisms of synchroni-
zation. Anandapu shared that “group skills from Problem Based Learning from [the] BME curriculum and dynamic systems from [the] math curriculum” have facilitated his success in the program.
As a novel team-based approach to undergraduate research, the VIP program is open to all students who register under time slots specific to each VIP project. Working alongside other students, “the experience is more social than undergraduate research, an aspect that I find enjoyable,” said Anandapu regarding his work in the Brain Beats team. The program consists of an hour and a half common VIP lecture and an hour and a half team meeting time. While not as time-consuming as undergraduate research, additional work on projects grow as involvement in the project grows from semester to semester. The following VIP
projects other than Brain Beats have a basis in BME: Medical Devices for Treatment of Diabetes, Computational Structural Biology (CSB) and the I-Natural.
Along with his endeavors in the VIP program, Anandapu does undergradu-ate research for the AE department under Wassim M. Haddad, Ph.D., Professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering. While working on this project, he explores his neuroscience and neuroengineering interests in his study of neural network pathways to better understand the state of consciousness to unconsciousness during anesthesia administration. “I have always been an engineer,” commented Anandapu on his future plans. With plans on working in the Research and Development field, he hopes to get in touch with companies such as Medtronic or those in the Memphis area following graduation. “While it is difficult to get a job in the BME field,” remarked Anandapu, “it is developing, and with work, there are plenty of opportunities to be found.”
by Harish Srinimukesh—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
Pradeep Anandapu is double majoring in biomedical engineering (BME) and aerospace engineering
(AE) with a minor in math. (Photo: Pradeep Anandapu)
Pradeep Anandapu, VIP Student Researcher
“Working alongside other students, ‘the experience is more social than undergraduate research, an aspect that I find enjoyable.’”
How does this benefit the student? Additionally, BME students have a slight advantage in this research environment. He said, “because [Biomedical Engineers use] problem-
based learning, they kind of hit the ground running.” Coyle has noticed that the BME students are able to take ownership of their projects whereas other students will wait to be told what
to do. At the end of the day, VIP puts the reins in the hands of students and the only boundary to success is the students themselves.
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HESITANT ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO as a biomedical engineer? Want to learn all the aspects of what it is like to work for a giant biomedical company in just two years? The Bard Medical Climbers (BMC) program at C. R. Bard, Inc., a global manufacturing company which specializes in medical devices, offers a two-year rotation program that touches on many aspects of a career in the biomedical engineering field. Recent BME graduate Beatrice Wan has been a Bard Medical Climbers engineer for the past six months at the Bard Medical Division in Covington, Georgia.
The BMC program disperses new graduate engineers into six-month rotations under four different categories—quality engineering, research and design, operations, and a choice of marketing or regulatory affairs. Wan, who is nearing the end of her first rotation, performs risk assessment on devices currently in development. As this is a component of quality engineering that focuses on the users’ safety, her work is dedicated to the interests of those who rely on the everyday usage of the medical devices manufactured by C. R. Bard, Inc. In addition, she also participates in internal audits. For the remaining few weeks of her first rotation, she will work with engineers in supply auditing, testing parts from supplier companies for defects and confirming the parts’ quality in relation to what the design of each Bard product necessitates.
As much as she enjoys her work in her quality engineering rotation, Wan is enthusiastic about transitioning to each of the other categories. For the upcoming research and design rotation, she looks forward to designing prototypes utilizing
computer software like SolidWorks®. Wan expects this particular job to be akin to what she learned to do in BMED 2300 during her undergraduate years at Georgia Tech. Following the completion of research and design, she will have to make yet another adjustment to working abroad at the Bard Medical Division in Nogales, Mexico, where she will acquire operational management skills. Building a medical device in the workshop in the basement of Whitaker is one small achievement; however, overseeing a manufacturing line that cranks out thousands of devices entails painstaking supervision and the ingenuity to implement constant improvements to raise the efficiency of the manufacturing line.
For the final phase of the BMC program, Wan expects to work in either marketing or regulatory affairs. While marketing promotes the sale of the company’s products, regulatory affairs is a type of management that deals with FDA regulations to ensure the safety of the users. For example, the FDA mandates biocompatibility tests for devices that enter human bodies. Thus, an engineer in regulatory affairs picks a sample of the company’s products and proposes the tests necessary to comply with FDA standards. More importantly, the rigorous paperwork of 510(k), a requirement for FDA’s approval of a medical device, is a large component of regulatory affairs, which can take up to several months.
While each rotation means a new working environment, Wan is capable of acclimating quickly to each setting, surrounded by a multitude of directors, managers, and
Alumni Spotlight
by Jaemin Sung—Undergraduate Student in the Coulter Department
Beatrice Wan, Rotational Engineer
Building a medical device in the
workshop in the basement of
Whitaker is one small achievement;
however, overseeing a manufacturing
line that cranks out thousands of
devices entails painstaking supervision
and the ingenuity to implement
constant improvements to raise the
efficiency of the manufacturing line.
BME graduate Beatrice Wan works for the Bard Medical Climbers program at C. R. Bard, Inc. (Photo: Arthur Lo)
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associates. In fact, during her interviews, she noticed that her interviewers wanted someone who is fantastic at collaborating with others. Fortunately, she has had a lot of practice thanks to the collaborative BMED courses which engaged her in many group projects. With that experience, she is able to work “in a workplace where people have different priorities and different types of personalities.”
After acclimating to her work environment, Wan has begun to seek out a mentor amongst her co-workers. While she has a manager to whom she reports on a regular basis, she is eager to have someone who can answer her questions and evaluate her progress promptly. Wan applied as a BMC engineer because she was interested in building medical devices, but vaguely knew what specific position would most appeal to her interests. In this respect, a mentor, who watches her work closely, could lend her insight about what position she would excel in, and it could gear her motivation toward that specific position within the company.
Wan recommends the Bard Medical Climbers program to those who are open-minded about various options in an engineering career. She thinks that “the type of people who would be a good fit [for the program] are those who could see themselves doing something different [every six months] for two years and really want to learn and understand the whole business [in the biomedical industry].” Six months into the program, Wan remains undecided about her exact career path; nevertheless, she is confident that she will find one that is worth devoting her career to amongst the four rotations .
February
1-2 Virtual Career Fair Looking for a Job, Internship, or Co-op? Register at www.gatech.careereco.net
1 GaP Seminar Series Candace Fleischer (Payne Lab) and Risa Lin (Butera Lab) 12pm – IBB, Room 1128
2 Bioengineering Seminar Series Regulation of Rho GTPase Activity by Adhesion Molecules, Mechanotransduction and other Factors Keith Burridge, PhD - University of North Carolina 11am – IBB, Room 1128
3 AMSA Conference – Regular Registration Over 50 medical schools and professional health programs will be attending www.amsa.gatech.com/conference
9 Bioengineering Seminar Series Can Experimental Fluid Mechanics Still Play a Role in Cardiovascular Device Design in this Computational-Centric Age Keefe Manning, PhD, Pennsylvania State University 11am – IBB, Room 1128
14 Nano@Tech Seminar Series Gleb Yushin, PhD, Georgia Tech 12pm – Marcus Nanotechnology Building
17 IBB Seminar Series A Woman is Not a Small Man Leslie Anne Leinwand, PhD - University of Colorado at Boulder 11am – IBB, Room 1128
18 AMSA 6th Annual Pre-Health Conference (Registration Deadline: Feb 6) Interact with representatives from graduate schools, learn about the admissions process and explore the various careers in the health care industry. 9:30am – GT Global Learning Center
21 Stem Cell Engineering Center Seminar Series Michael Kallos, PhD - University of Calgary 11am – IBB, Room 1128
22 GaP Seminar Series Peter Kottke (Fedorov lab) and William Guerrant (Oyelere Lab) 12pm – IBB, Room 1128
26-27 20th Annual Suddath Symposium Prions and Protein Misfolding IBB
28 BME Young Innovators Mapping out the innate immune system in single cells, host-virus interactions, and building the world’s first whole-cell model Markus Covert, Stanford University
29 GaP Seminar Series Ankur Singh (McDevitt lab) and McKenzie Smith (Styczynski lab) 12pm – IBB, Room 1128
grants Type 1 Diabetes Research Grants Iacocca Family Foundation—Support for innovative and promising diabetes research programs and projects that will lead to a cure for type 1 diabetes February 1, 2012 Engineering Information Foundation Grants Supports developmental projects, instructional projects, and training programs that fit EiF’s fields of interest. February 28, 2012
internships NASA Undergraduate and Graduate Level Internships Over 200 internships are available. Apply for up to 15 opportunities with a single application. intern.nasa.gov March 1, 2012 NSF Paid Summer Research Experiences Over 600 undergraduate programs available www.pathwaystoscience.org/undergrads.asp
Biotech Review: Outside the Quad compiled by Shalv Madhani and Gopi Patel — Undergraduate Students in the Coulter Department
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MedGadget Ultrasound system for treatment of Ischemic stroke receives CE mark approval by Jan Sinnige The company Cerevast Therapeutics received CE approval for Clotbust ER, a SonoLysis system capable of treating ischemic strokes in emergency settings. In combination with intravenous thrombolytic therapy, this non invasive device delivers ultrasonic energy to blocked blood vessels in the brain to clear blockages. The ultrasound beam produces acoustic streaming which carries energy through fluid. At low pressures inside the brain it causes a stirring motion to expose more fibrin sites to plasmin, thus, enhancing clot lysis. With intelligent integrated software, the need for an ultrasound specialist to operate this device is not required.
Qualified Suppliers to the Medical Device Industry Stanmore Implants Launches First Personalized Knee-Replacement System Conventional knee replacement surgery uses bone-saws and ‘metal-jigs’ to prepare the bone for surgery. Stanmore Implants Worldwide (Stanmore) provides technology for personalized unicondylar knee replacements. The implant design is based on patient CT scan data and only one part of the worn knee is replaced, preserving the healthy tissue. The robotic bone preparation combined with a patient specific design increases longevity of the implant and avoids revision of the surgical procedure. Surgeons can now plan procedures in advance and are not bound by standard sizes provided by hospitals and device manufacturers.
Medical Electronics Design Tech Startup Scanadu's Vision for the Future of Mobile Healthcare by Brian Buntz Star Trek’s Starfleet used the Medical Tricorder, a hand-held device used for diagnosing diseases and providing bodily information about the patient. Scanadu, a Silicon Valley startup is now building the Medical Tricorder and is in pursuit of a ten million prize through a competition hosted by the X-prize foundation. They envision a handheld device targeted for parents to diagnose childrens’ vitals. Their device will be non-invasive, non-contact and non-sampling. The company released a concept video in which a sensor is used to grab an image of a child’s rash. The image is then compared to a database of known infections, diagnosing the condition instantly. The caretaker is then advised on further steps in seeking treatment.
Medical Device And Diagnostic Industry Experts Pick What's Hot in Medical Device Technology: The 1000 dollar genome by Brian Buntz LIFE TECHNOLOGIES RELEASED The Ion Torrent technology in 2011, a cost-effective microchip capable of sequencing the entire human genome. The microchip opens up several doors in discovery and personalized drug delivery by increasing affordability and speed of sequencing. The chip works on principles of basic chemistry and powerful semiconductor technology. Ultimately, this microchip will simplify and improve healthcare.
MedGadget FDA clears Smith & Nephew’s Single-use Negative Pressure Wound Therapy system by Shiv Gaglani Negative pressure in the past years has become an effective treatment for deep wounds by tightly sealing wounds and removing fluid buildup. A London based medical device company, Smith & Nephew gained FDA approval on PICO, a single use negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) system. This new medical device is capable of treating chronic, traumatic wounds, partial thickness burns, ulcers, grafts and surgical incisions. Using PICO is as simple as dressing a wound with a silicone layer that helps to reduce pain associated with redressing a wound.
Above: The model of PICO, approved by FDA, a single-use negative pressure
would therapy system.
Above: Utilizing a silicon layer, innovative dressing of PICO offers numerous benefits to
