BME NEWS
OCTOBER 15, 2017
SBU Chapter of AEMB Awarded 2 National awards
The SBU Chapter of AEMB was awarded the "Best Community Service" and "Outstanding Chapter Advisor" Awards at the recent Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society. Congratulations on the amazing work from the SBU Chapter.
October 14, 2017
TV Winner at the Annual BMES Conference
Congratulations to Nathan Ankomah-Mensah from the University of Rhode Island for winning our TV at the Annual BMES Conference.
OCTOBER 1, 2017
New Leadership Roles in Biomedical Engineering
On October 1, Dr. Clinton T. Rubin, Distinguished Professor and Founding Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Biotechnology, rejoined the faculty to focus on research endeavors and the promotion of biotechnology and multiple levels. Dr. Stefan Judex, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, has been named as the interim chair. We want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Rubin for all of his effort in forming the "BME Universe" at Stony Brook University and congratulate Dr. Judex on his new role for the BME department. More information about the new leadership roles can be found here.
August 25, 2017
Vihita Patel, BME Graduate Student, Publishes Findings in Obesity
Vihita is the first author on a publication that used an adult murine model of high fat diet induced obesity. This manuscript shows that obesity leads to adipose tissue dysfunction (increased visceral adiposity, adipocyte hypertrophy, chronic inflammation in adipose tissue, and reduced mesenchymal stem cell population in the adipose tissue) and consequently impaired glucose metabolism (increased glucose intolerance and insulin resistance). Subjecting these obese mice to a very low magnitude and high frequency mechanical stimulation (LMMS) for 6 weeks mitigates obesity-induced adipose tissue dysfunction and impaired glucose metabolism. However, LMMS is more effective when it is delivered in two bouts of 15 minutes per day separated by a 5 hour rest period, rather than one bout of 30 minutes per day. This study provides an insight into how exercise could be beneficial in obesity, emphasizing that with aging, the scheduling of the physical activity is at least as important, if not more, than the activity itself. It also demonstrates that LMMS, as a surrogate to exercise, can serve as a non-invasive and non-pharmacological treatment for obesity without requiring strenuous physical exertion. The entire article can be found here.
AUGUST 23, 2017
3 BME Faculty are Awarded Seed Funding for Cancer Research
2 teams partially composed of BME faculty members, Eric Brouzes, David A. Rubenstein and Helmut Strey are awarded funding for novel cancer research projects. This funding comes as part of the exciting Engineering Driven Medicine colloboration of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Medicine.
August 7, 2017
Nicholas Van Nest, BME Senior, Presents His Summer Research at Washington State University
Nicholas Van Nest presents his summer research conducted with the Center for Bioplastics and Biocomposites at the Washington State University Summer Research Symposium. His research involved the development of a bio-based synthesis pathway for a polymer adhesive, as an alternative to fossil fuel feedstocks. Congratulations.
August 7, 2017
Cerebrovascular adaptations to cocaine-induced transient ischemic attacks in the rodent brain" is published in JCI insight
Occurrence of transient ischemic attacks (TIA) and cerebral strokes is a recognized risk associated with cocaine abuse. Our research, for the first time, bridges the clinical observed cocaine induced transient ischemic attack (TIA) with the cerebral vascular disorder (e.g. vasoconstriction) by using cutting-edge optical imaging technology, ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence Doppler tomography developed in our lab. In this study, we reported longitudinal imaging to reveal the process of repeated cocaine induced vasoconstriction, TIA and hemiparalysis, and vasoadaptation including vascular redistribution and neoangiogenesis to partially ameliorate the symptom of TIA and brain damage.
July 26, 2017
Henry Towery, Class of '17, Motivated to Make a Difference
Henry Towery, Biomedical Engineering Alumni of the Class of 2017, is Motivated to making a difference in clincical research.
JUNE 15, 2017
Michael Salerno, BME Graduate Student, Awarded the Chateaubriand Fellow
Congratulations to Michael Salerno, who has been named as a 2017-2018 Chateaubriand Fellow. He will be supported to study PET imaging in France for 9 months.
JUNE 9, 2017
Andrew Kumpfbeck, a BME major (Class of 2018), named URECA Researcher of the Month
Congratulations to Andrew for being named as the URECA researcher of the month. He is currently working with Dr. Prives (Pharmacological Sciences) and Dr. Frame (BME).
JUNE 9, 2017
Eric Brouzes, BME Assistant Professor, Discusses A Recent Publication in Lab on A Chip
Recently, technologies based on droplet microfluidics have enabled the development
of novel platforms to facilitate single-cell analysis, paving the way towards a better
understanding of the role of tissue heterogeneity in the development of diseases such
as cancer. Platforms relying on droplets microfluidics operate at very high-throughput
and are unable to reliably deposit one individual cell per droplet. Both aspects hinder
the development of droplet-based devices for processing samples of limited availability
such as needle biopsies or isolated CTCs.
In this Lab on a Chip communication, we introduce an innovative strategy for the preparation
of precious samples for single-cell analysis. Individual cells from the sample are
captured using hydrodynamic traps before introducing an oil phase which sequentially
surrounds the cell-occupied chambers. This results in the generation of numerous droplets,
each containing a single cell. The encapsulated cells can then be retrieved from the
platform for analysis using established droplet-based technologies. Our device efficiently
encapsulates hundreds of individual cells into droplets while exhibiting no sample
loss, effectively laying the foundations for the single-cell analysis of rare samples
via droplet microfluidics.
MAY 4, 2017
Dr. Clinton Rubin, BME Distinguished Professor and Chair, and Director of Center for Biotechnology, Talks on Improving SBIR and STTR Programs
Dr. Clinton Rubin talks NIH-REACH program as catalyst for tech & econ dev at joint congressional hearing. Start video at 2:53 to hear Dr. Rubin's remarks.
APRIL 10, 2017
Dr. Danny Bluestein, BME Professor, Awarded a New Grant
Congratulations to Danny Bluestein who has received a Phase 1 STTR grant entitled "A novel polymeric valve for transcatheter aorta valve replacement. This is a 2 year grant for a total of $225,000.
APRIL 10, 2017
Dr. Gabor Balazsi, BME Associate Professor, Awarded NIH Grant
Congratulations to Dr. Balazsi and his team for being awarded a 5 year NIH grant entitled "Dynamics and Evolution of Synthetic and Natural Gene Regulatory Networks."
APRIL 4, 2017
Gabor Balazsi, BME Associate Professor, Named as a Discovery Prize Finalist
Stony Brook has earned its stellar reputation as a prestigious research institution
because of its many breakthrough discoveries — such as developing the technology for
the MRI — made during the past several decades. In a time of dwindling federal funding,
it is crucial that we continue to support fundamental research and encourage our greatest
minds to pursue the big ideas that transform lives and make an impact around the world.
With this in mind, we established the Discovery Prize in 2013 with a generous donation
from the Stony Brook Foundation Board of Trustees. The Prize is awarded to an early-career
Stony Brook faculty member in the STEM disciplines whose pioneering project embraces
risk and innovation and embodies the potential of discovery-driven research — the
catalysts for scientific advances.
APRIL 3, 2017
Dr. Qin on Capitol Hill; Advocating for NIH Research Funding
As a delegate for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Dr. Qin went to Washington for a Research Capitol Hill Days. Their goal is to encourage Congress and Senate to pass NIH FY 2017 bill ($34.1B) and FY 2018 bill ($36.1B). This is a critical year. The whole team represents total of 24 orthopaedic related societies. The small group includes an orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Gary Brock, a Victoria Secret supermodel, Martha Hunt, as a patient advocate, and Dr. Qin as a researcher. They visited both NY and TX Congress and Senate Offices, including Chuck Schumer, Lee Zeldin, John Cornyn, Kristen Gillibrand, Nita Lowey, and John Culberson. It was a very busy and productive day, but absolutely worthwhile. Their voices were heard loudly. Their impression is that to keep and/or increase NIH budget, it must be supported in bipartisan at least for these two States. Both Senators and Congressman/Congresswoman are willing to fight for NIH.
JANUARY 23, 2017
Stony Brook Ranked #7 for percent of students from the bottom fifth of the income distribution who end up in the top three-fifths
Stony Brook was recently ranked by the New York Times as one of America's Great Working-Class colleges.
OCTOBER 25, 2016
Shu Jia, BME Assistant Professor, Awarded 2 Prestigious Awards
The National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has funded two projects focused on the development of new super-resolution light microscope for both imaging of cells, tissues and organ systems and specifically will try to develop an understanding of the brain. Congratulations to Shu and his research team!
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
Amna Haider, BME Junior, Featured on PSEG LI Investing in the Future of Stem
Congratulations to Amna for her research work this summer, funded by PSEG LI, to look into the role of cocaine on bone mechanical/physical properties. Amna is currently working on the direction of Drs Ete Chan and Clint Rubin. Bruce Coluccio, a BME Sophomore, and Robert Bruce, a Physics Major, also work with Drs Chan and Rubin over the summer in this project. Congratulations to all for their important work.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016>
Assistant Professor, Shu Jia, has been named as a DARPA Young Faculty Awardee
The awarded project entitled: "Wavefront-Engineered, High-Speed Super-Resolution Microscopy
for Nanometer-Scale, Live-Tissue Imaging" is at the forefront of super resolution
microscopy.
The advancement of our understanding of biology has been greatly reliant on observations
of cells. Light microscopy, especially fluorescence microscopy, has evolved to observe
smaller specimens with greater resolution. The spatial resolution of a microscope
is defined as the smallest distance in an image in which two distinct points can be
distinguished. Because of the diffraction of light, resolution had previously been
thought to have a theoretical limit from what is called Abbe's diffraction limit of
light (~200-300 nanometers). Recent emergence of super-resolution imaging techniques
has surpassed this limit, allowing visualization of cellular and sub-cellular structures
with ~10-20 nanomater resolution at the near-molecular-scale. This advance provides
thriving opportunities for exploring the complex structure, dynamics and function
of biological molecules. Due to the significant impact of these new techniques, the
2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the development of super-resolution fluorescence
microscopy.
The research in the Jia Laboratory aims to enhance this resolving power across unexplored
regimes in space and time to attain a better understanding of the molecular basis
for the functions of tissues and organisms. To achieve the goal, the group investigates
the physical and engineering principles underlying single-molecule imaging in complex
biological materials, and utilizes these principles to develop new biophotonic methods
for super-resolution microscopy. These methods include optical physics, optical wavefront
engineering, single-molecule biophysics, adaptive optics, phase microscopy, large-data
processing, advanced instrumentation, nano-fabrication, etc.
One super-resolution imaging method currently under investigation is called stochastic
optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), which relies on imaging of single molecules
to reconstruct fluorescence images with sub-diffraction-limit resolution. In biological
systems, how these single-molecule mechanisms are integrated over larger scales is
critical for understanding physiological functions and disease initiation of complex
biological systems. There remains a great demand in an enabling technology to extract
such single-molecule information and dynamics across large volumes of specimen with
ultra-high spatiotemporal resolution.
The DARPA award will support the lab's development of a new super-resolution microscopy
system for in vivo investigations of cell, tissue and organ functions. The research
will base on the lab's expertise in a technique called point spread function engineering,
which can modify how light is propagated within an imaging system to achieve better
imaging capability. By exploring and implementing a new type of optical non-diffracting
waveforms, the light within a microscope can propagate in a dramatically different
way from normal light. One typical feature is that it will not spread out as much
as described by the usual diffraction effect of light. This allows people to image
further deeper into biological samples. In addition, it also provides better 3D resolution
and is more robust to scattering effect in biological tissues.
First trained as an applied physicist and electrical engineer and later into a bioimaging
expert, Dr. Jia is passionate about advancing imaging technology with new physical
concepts and engineering design. The highly interdisciplinary team consists of experts
from physics, computer science, engineering, and biology. In collaboration with researchers
both within the Department of Biomedical Engineering and elsewhere, the lab expects
their new technologies would provide new insights and solutions to challenges in biological
and ultimately clinical research.
AUGUST 16, 2016
James Scheuermann wins First Place
Congratulations to BME Ph.D. Candidate, James Scheuermann who won first place in the John R. Cameron Young Investigators Competition held by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
AUGUST 1, 2016
Ete Chan wins SUNY Funding to Develop a Virtual Lab
Ete Chan, Assistant Professor, has received funding which will explore and develop the creation of virtual labs for Biomedical Engineering students. She is the leader of a group of biomedical engineering faculty and students and computer science faculty and students that will implement this project. Congratulations.
JULY 22, 2016
ASEE TV Highlights CEAS Research and Educational Mission
Dr. Ete Chan and BME Junior Amna Haider were featured on the ASEE Highlights of CEAS Research and Education. Congratulations.
