school of biological and health systems engineering annual ... · biological and health systems...

school of biological and health systems engineering

annualreport

biological and health systems engineering

IRA A. FULTON SCHOOLS OF

engineeringTranscending the traditional

Focusing on the student experience and student success

Inspiring future engineers

Pursuing use-inspired research

Attracting top faculty

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Our School’s two-year freshman retention rate at the university is 86 percent, the highest of any engineering program with more than 30 entering freshmen.

message from the director 1student organizations 4student scholars 9faculty honors 12graduates 16new faculty 18faculty 20research 24research laboratories 26clinical partnerships 30

degree programbiomedical engineering

Harrington Bioengineering programbiological design

fall 2013 enrollmenttotal 930 (+15%)undergraduate 77151% increase in freshman

(fall 2009–fall 2013) 42% of incoming class is female

graduate 159

2012 graduatesundergraduate 686graduate 120

2013 research fundingresearch expenditures $4.41M

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am happy to share with you news and updates about the School of Biological and Health SystemsEngineering at Arizona State University.

As biomedical engineering continues to be the fastest growing profession, our school is dedicated to providing the next generation of biomedical engineers with the skills necessary to become problem solvers, innovators and entrepreneurs.

The impact of the work of our faculty and students has been recognized in many ways this past year, ranging from honors and awards to prestigious publications and extramural funding. Yet, the ultimate metric is the difference our scholars are able to make in the quality of life and health throughout our community. To further this objective, we continue to engage the biomedical industry and clinical community in tackling challenging clinical problems, while leveraging our faculty’s interdisciplinary expertise and attracting talented students and faculty.

Please remember that this report focuses on our past year. If you want to stay up to date with our most recent achievements, please visit our website at sbhse.engineering.asu.edu, or drop by for a visit to experience first hand what makes our students and faculty unique.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Marco Santello, Ph.D.Director School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Harrington Endowed Chair and Professor

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our visionTo become a leading biomedical engineering program that effectively engineers novel solutions to improve human health and provides unique interdisciplinary training for the next generation of biomedical engineers.

Second ASU Rehabilitation Robotics WorkshopFebruary 28 and March 1, 2014

The main goals of the workshop are to discuss the state of the art in rehabilitation robotics and to identify the main challenges in this field.

Supported by Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust

Hosted by Arizona State University

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Improving the quality of life with the help of robotics

Robotics technology is becoming increasingly prevalent in healthcare and medical treatment. The potential for advances in this field was the focus of Arizona State University’s Piper Health Solutions Workshop on Rehabilitation Robotics, a workshop that brought together dozens of experts in the field for the first time in February 2013.

This workshop was hosted by the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and supported by a grant from Piper Health Solutions. “The use of robotic devices to complement traditional physical therapy is relatively recent,” says school director Marco Santello. “We felt that it was important to bring together experts from different disciplines to review progress and challenges in the field, and lay out opportunities for future research.”

The workshop covered a variety of current issues, including the advantages and disadvantages of using robotic devices to complement traditional physical therapy and discussions about how to adequately train the next generation of physical therapists in using technology in their work.

Notable visiting speakers included Henrik Christensen from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Neville Hogan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hogan discussed difficulties in robot-assisted technology for the lower extremity and reviewed the control of locomotive behavior.

Christensen discussed how robotics can provide the healthcare system with answers concerning the significant shift in demographics expected in the next few decades. For example, it is estimated that the number of required surgical operations will triple over the next 15 years, but we will not have three times as many surgeons.

Fourteen institutions were represented at the conference, and ASU students had the opportunity to network and present their own research through posters and oral presentations.

“The 2013 program received such positive feedback that we felt encouraged to offer a second workshop in 2014, despite the original plan to offer it every other year,” says Santello.

In an effort to raise awareness of the work being done at ASU in the field of rehabilitation robotics, the workshop was free and open to the public. Attendees learned where the field is going and, in particular, the potential impact it has on the quality of life of individuals affected by physical disabilities.

The 2014 workshop explored new ideas and perspectives with a different lineup of speakers and topics. Industry sponsors and demonstrations

“strengthen the impact of the workshop by showing how devices work and their application,” says Santello.

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Balancing act: Duong pursues research, community service

“One of the biggest challenges for me as a student has been learning to balance a schedule of everything that intrigues me,” says biomedical engineering senior Brittany Duong.

Her balancing act has consisted of four unique research opportunities, a second major in biological sciences, part-time work as an emergency room scribe at Chandler Regional Hospital, presiding over the ASU chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and serving as a Fulton Ambassador, all while applying to medical school and knocking items off her "academic bucket list".

As president of Engineers Without Borders, Duong oversaw a summer trip to Kenya in which she and five other students and two professionals worked with the community to repair a major dam that had not worked for 50 years. This year the team is partnering with a Kenyan university to build a hydraulics lab that will enable engineers working locally to learn how to maintain the dam in the future.

Duong, who has been a member of Engineers Without Borders since her freshman year, says, “It’s great knowing that I’m helping to change the world. EWB has taught me that it’s not the collection of knowledge that is important, but the application of it to real-world problems.”

Duong says she has "fallen in love with research," particularly research concerning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For her senior-year capstone design project, under the direction of assistant professor David Frakes, Duong is working with a partner on a computational model that predicts brain tumor growth based on an initial MRI image.

She has always wanted to go to medical school, but says she chose to study engineering because “it employs that same skill set needed to be a doctor - skills like analyzing data and thinking critically about a solution.”

Duong credits biomedical engineering studies and her undergraduate research opportunities for helping her to discover an interest in clinical radiology research. “SBHSE has changed the way I want to go to medical school,” she says.

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Making strides in synthetic biology research

Notable strides in the burgeoning field of synthetic biology are being made by students under the direction of assistant professor Karmella Haynes.

ASU’s 2012 team for the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM), won a gold medal and a Human Practices award at an iGEM regional competition. The team moved on as finalists in the iGEM world championship event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their project was a portable, low-cost biosensor system to detect pathogens in water supplies, specifically microbes that cause diarrhea.

Since the competition, the group has expanded its work into several spinoff projects. Some students competed in the ASU Innovation Challenge, others received fellowships and FURI grants to continue working in specific areas related to the team’s overall project.

"Participating in the iGEM competitions has given the students an advantage in pursuing their careers. It’s a gateway into professional-level science,” says Haynes.

More recently, Haynes took bioengineering doctoral students Behzad Damadzedah and Rene Davis to the University of California, Berkeley for a semiannual retreat of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC), supported by the National Science Foundation. Damadzedah presented his research related to the study of the behavior of synthetic proteins in bone cancer cells, an extension of Haynes’ postdoctoral work at Harvard. Davis presented her research focusing on engineering new ways to get bacteria to communicate. Using a process known as quorum sensing, Davis is designing microbes that react with a specific behavior in response to a stimulus.

The work helped Davis win an Achievement Reward for College Scientists Fellowship from the ARCS Foundation that provided $7,000 to support her research, which she can also use to travel to more conferences to present her discoveries.


First Grand Challenge Scholars Program graduate

In May 2013, Pankti Shah received a bachelor’s degree that made her not only a biomedical engineering graduate, but also the first student to graduate from the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) Grand Challenge Scholars Program at Arizona State University.

The Grand Challenge Scholars Program is Fulton Engineering’s Scholar Academy, a unique, application-based program for highly qualified engineering students at ASU. The program is centered on the NAE’s list of “Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century.”

Shah focused on the challenge to “engineer better medicines” with a focus on medical devices. She performed research in Jeff La Belle’s lab that focused on improving a tear-glucose testing device for diabetics that provides an alternative to the invasiveness of other devices.

As a member of the Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) team, 33 Buckets, Shah also helped to research and develop a water filtration system that simply and affordably reduces levels of arsenic and the subsequent risk of cancer in underdeveloped areas. This project took her team to Bangladesh where they met with the local community as they studied potential growth opportunities for their filtration system.

33 Buckets was one of five finalists in the Dell Social Innovation Challenge finals and they received a $5,000 runner-up award, computers and a camera for their achievements in the competition. 33 Buckets was also a two-time finalist in the ASU Innovation Challenge and won two P3 competitions through EPICS totaling close to $3,500 dollars in funding.

All of these opportunities came together to “introduce me to all the different facets of an engineering education,” says Shah, who also managed to graduate as a Moeur Scholar with a cumulative 4.0 GPA.

Shah is currently working on a master’s degree in Bioengineering Innovation and Design at Johns Hopkins University. The program emphasizes national and global health innovation, something that Shah is passionate about as a result of the Grand Challenge Scholars Program and her numerous engineering experiences at ASU.

Make solar energy economical

Provide energy from fusion

Develop carbon sequestration methods

Manage the nitrogen cycle

Provide access to clean water

Restore and improve urban infrastructure

Advance health informatics

Engineer better medicines

Reverse-engineer the brain

Prevent nuclear terror

Secure cyberspace

Enhance virtual reality

Advance personalized learning

Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

The Fulton Grand Challenge Scholars Program combines innovative curriculum and cutting-

edge research experiences into an intellectual fusion that spans academic disciplines and includes entrepreneurial, global and service

learning opportunities.

The program’s goal is to prepare tomorrow’s engineering leaders to solve the grand

challenges facing society during the next century. Through completion of the five components of the program, students will have the opportunity to engage in

research relating to their selected grand challenge, explore

interdisciplinary coursework, gain an international

perspective, engage in entrepreneurship, and give

back to the community through service learning.

The fourteen Grand Challenges for Engineeringidentified by the National Academy of Engineering

Fulton Engineers raising funds to send medical clinic to Kenya

G3Box, a startup company formed by ASU EPICS students, raised funds to send a mobile medical clinic to Kenya to provide women in the region with a sanitary place to give birth and obtain medical treatment.

Over the past two years, G3Box has been working to develop and create a system for delivering quality healthcare to communities that currently lack access to care, equipment and space. Their innovative solution repurposes unused shipping containers into portable medical clinics—adding ventilation, insulation, power, potable water and waste removal.

With a maternal mortality rate of 530 women per 100,000 live births, Kenya is the initial deployment target for G3Box. The group says that not only will the lives of mothers’ and newborns’ be saved, but the clinics will be staffed by local physicians and nurses providing jobs for the community.

The group has had strong support toward its goal of raising $17,650 through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, including a significant boost from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Axosoft.

With the support of DPR Construction and SmithGroupJJR, G3Box is ready to send the maternity clinic to Kenya where it will be placed,

operated and maintained by partners of the International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC). Funds raised will be used to ship and install the clinic.

“Ultimately, the goal is to save and sustain lives in developing countries. Getting the word out about this campaign and garnering this incredible community support is just the beginning,” says Susanna Young (B.S. ’11 and M.S. ’12), CEO and co-founder of G3Box.

G3Box has been named College Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 by Entrepreneur magazine, runner up Coolest College Startups of 2012 by Inc. magazine and has twice received funding and mentoring support through the ASU Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.

Young’s partners include Clay Tyler (B.S. ’11 and M.S. ’12), Billy Walters (B.S. ’12) and Gabrielle Palermo, a recent graduate in biomedical engineering and a Fulton Engineering Outstanding Graduate.

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Research internship boosts engineering student’s medical career hopes

Juan Laitano became the first recipient of the Flinn Scholar Summer Internship award, which enabled him to spend the summer collaborating with researchers at the Arizona Center on Aging and the Interdisciplinary Consortium on Advanced Motion Performance (iCAMP) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

The Flinn Foundation supports the advancement of biosciences in Arizona, in part through the Flinn Scholars Program, to help students prepare for careers in health professions.

Laitano wants to specialize in the emerging area of precision medicine. “Instead of medicine applied generally, it is medicine tailored to each patient’s specific characteristics,” he explains.

Laitano received his bachelor's degree in May 2013 and is currently pursuing his master’s degree also in biomedical engineering.

DNA work earns award in research competition

Dillon Mir’s DNA research project won a first-place award in the preliminary round in the engineering,

math, computer science, physics and astronomy section of the undergraduate awards in the recent Sigma Xi Showcase.

Mir’s project focused on DNA amplification, the process of taking a small sample of DNA and multiplying it to an amount large enough for medical testing. He was mentored on the project by professor Antonio Garcia.

The DNA amplification process involves the use of several chemicals and enzymes and the heating of a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tube that contains the DNA mixture to a specific temperature. There are currently devices on the market that achieve DNA amplification in a similar way, but Mir says these devices are expensive and bulky.

“The goal of my research is to create a smaller, cost-effective method of doing DNA amplification that is portable and inexpensive enough to be taken into the field for quick on-site testing and for use in developing countries where they cannot afford expensive machinery,” he says.

Mir belongs to Sigma Xi, which is an international, multidisciplinary scientific research society with about 60,000 members in more than 100 countries. Sigma Xi has more than 500 chapters throughout colleges, universities, industrial research centers and government laboratories around the world.st

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ASU engineering students win major graduate fellowships

Teagan Adamson will be pursuing her goal to aid the battle against cancer with support from two of the most prominent organizations dedicated to advancing the careers of young researchers.

Adamson has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship as well as a Whitaker Fellowship. She plans to use the funding to do research at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBS) at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

With support from the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative, Adamson helped advance research for the development of a new electrochemical diabetes monitoring meter, a technology that could be developed for use in detecting other diseases.

In 2012, she was the lead author of an article based on her undergraduate research that was published in the research journal Analyst. The report became the basis for the master’s thesis she completed later that year.

In Taiwan, Adamson is interested in pursuing advances in personalized medicine, specifically cancer therapeutics.

“I am going to use the unique antibodies developed in the IBS lab as a platform to engineer new bi-functional molecules. This biomedical advancement would reduce the effects of normal tissues being exposed to the anticancer medicines, which as we know have bad side effects,” she says. With further research, the antibodies could be tailored to individual types of cancer cells.

Nathan Gaw has won a graduate fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, The Engineering Honor Society. He will use it to complete work for a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at ASU.

He will do research focusing on upper-limb cognitive neuroscience under Marco Santello. His goal is to create a control model of the upper-limb neuromuscular system for use in education and in programming prosthetics that better emulate human motion.

As a student in ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, he assisted in research in the Neural Control of Movement Laboratory, the ASU-Mayo Clinic Radiology Informatics Laboratory and the Spinal Biomechanics Laboratory at the Barrow Neurological Institute.

He recently won a first-place award from the Phoenix section of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers for the best student research paper and presentation, plus the second-place award in the Southwest Region stage of the competition.

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Virtual artificial heart implantation project earns tech competition award

Doctoral student Justin Ryan won a first-place award in the Cardiovascular Applications category of the Mimics Innovation Awards competition by developing a new application for virtual anatomical reconstruction technology.

The application would benefit people in need of heart transplants while waiting for donors in cases in which “an artificial heart can bridge the time gap between complete heart failure and transplantation,” Ryan says.

Current artificial heart devices are designed for adults, but recent cases have demonstrated their successful use in children. Using the latest in anatomical reconstruction software, and with aid from physicians, Ryan was able to virtually implant the adult artificial heart device into a structural model of a teenage patient.

The project stems from his work as part of the research team led by assistant professor David Frakes. The team is developing individualized, highly detailed 3-D physical models of hearts to guide planning for cardiovascular surgery. Depicting the implantation virtually gives surgeons a precise guide for performing actual heart transplants. Ryan has helped set up a process to produce custom-made heart models using 3-D printing technology at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Engineers Week award goes to Frear

Recent graduate, Darcy Frear won the Outstanding Engineering Student award during the Greater Phoenix Area 2013 Engineers Week awards ceremony on Feb. 21, 2013.

Frear carried a 3.9 grade point average, was involved in research during all four years as an undergraduate and worked as an intern with a major international engineering company. She also served as an officer of the ASU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and as president of the Biomedical Engineering Society ASU chapter.

Frear was also a unanimous choice among the eight ASU students selected in 2012 for the inaugural year of the Fulton Schools of Engineering Dean’s Exemplar program.

She was also a volunteer for C.U.R.E., an organization that provides medical equipment to third-world countries.

“Darcy is a great example of a student who takes full advantage of these opportunities, building a record that should make her one of the top students in the U.S. starting graduate school in fall 2013,” says Dean Paul Johnson.

Frear is now working towards a doctoral degree in speech and hearing bioscience in a joint program offered by MIT and Harvard University.


NSF grant funds project to expand mathematical framework for engineered gene networks

Xiao Wang, an assistant professor, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to use a combination of mathematical, engineering and biological techniques to develop mathematical methods to expand the analysis of gene networks from two dimensions into higher dimensionalities.

Novel systematic understanding of cell differentiation and reprogramming derives from the study of synthetic multistable gene networks. Synthetic multistable systems provide unique opportunities to study the core mechanisms of cell pluripotency and differentiation because highly connected small transcription networks regulating cell differentiation have topological similarities with the synthetic gene networks under consideration in Wang’s project.

Constructing and analyzing small multistable gene network deepens our understanding of multistability, which can arise from similar topologies in stem cell gene regulations. Additionally, mathematical theories and tools to study high dimensional nonlinear dynamics and stochasticity in the context of gene networks are developed.

Wang’s goal is to expand the theoretical efforts to study cellular multistable systems and fill the gap between technological progress and available analytical tools to facilitate future biotechnological development.

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Hartwell named inaugural fellow of cancer research association

Leland “Lee” Hartwell is one of two ASU faculty members among an elite group of scientists selected into the first class of Fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

“Our Board of Directors made the decision to establish the AACR Academy as a mechanism for recognizing scientists whose contributions to the cancer field have had an extraordinary impact. Membership in the Fellows of the AACR Academy will be the most prestigious honor bestowed by the American Association for Cancer Research,” said Margaret Foti, chief executive officer of the AACR.

ASU was among just a select handful of universities and worldwide institutions to have more than one scientist recognized and selected as an AACR Fellow.

Hartwell also won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his pioneering work on genes that control cell growth and division, and their links to cancer.

From 1997-2009, Hartwell served as president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, focusing on the integration of basic, applied and clinical efforts of interdisciplinary cancer research. In 1998, he won the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for his innovative and pioneering work.

In 2009, Hartwell was recruited to ASU as the Virginia G. Piper Chair of Personalized Medicine, and chief scientist at the Center for Sustainable Health at ASU’s Biodesign Institute. He continues his focus on molecular diagnostics and the establishment of a Global Biosignatures Network.

“[Dr. Hartwell has] made indelible contributions to changing our worldview of cancer research and the development of new paradigms and the way we think about the progression, treatment, and ultimately, prevention of cancer.” –ASU President Michael Crow

David Frakes, 2013 ASU Faculty Excellence Award-Defining Edge Research and Creative Work

David Frakes’ groundbreaking software platform, the EndoVascular Interventional Suite (EVIS), promises to radically enhance the personalized management of cerebral aneurysms. Utilizing advanced medical device models and personalized clinical data to simulate the deployment of endovascular devices, and applying state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics to model outcomes, EVIS will introduce a new endovascular treatment paradigm where quantitative engineering interacts seamlessly with personalized treatment design.

Jeff La Belle, top 5 percent teaching award

Assistant professor Jeff La Belle received a top 5 percent teaching award thanks to positive student feedback. The award process began with nominations by students and further review by a faculty committee, which then made a recommendation to the Fulton Engineering Dean’s Office.

La Belle is known for getting dozens of undergraduate students involved in medical device research each semester in his lab.

Each year the Fulton Schools of Engineering recognizes excellence in instruction through selection of faculty to its annual Top 5% Teachers list. Quality and innovative instruction is one of the top priorities of the Fulton Schools of Engineering. This award is just one of the ways the Fulton Schools recognize excellence in instruction.


Ph.D. GraduatesSindhu AnandAdaptive neural interface for autonomous recording of neural activityAdvisor: Jitendran Muthuswamy

Haithem BabikerThe effects of endovascular treatment parameters on cerebral aneurysm hemodynamicsAdvisor: David Frakes

Thomas Frederick Boltz IICoronary artery plaque assessment with fast switched dual energy x-ray computed tomography angiographyAdvisor: David Frakes

Alison J. ConovaloffThe effects of deep brain stimulation amplitude on motor performance in parkinson's diseaseAdvisor: James Abbas

Qiushi FuDexterous manipulation: sensorimotor learning and controlAdvisor: Marco Santello

Cynthia Overstreet Intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex: encoding of functionally-relevant tactile stimuli and localizing neuronal recruitment Advisor: Stephen Helms Tillery

Celeste Rachelle FralickA statistical clinical decision support tool for determining thresholds in remote monitoring using predictive analyticsAdvisor: Jitendran Muthuswamy

Morgan Boresi GiersMRI visualization and mathematical modeling of local drug deliveryAdvisor: Michael Caplan

Didem YamakCharacterization of coronary atherosclerotic plaques by dual energy computed tomographyAdvisor: Metin Akay

Christine Marie ZwartAnalytical control grid registration for efficient application of optical flowAdvisor: David Frakes

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Masters Graduates

Graduates

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Rosalind Sadleir, assistant professorExpertise: Neuro imaging and neural activity detection, dynamic physiological monitoring, computational modeling

Sadleir joined ASU as an assistant professor in July 2013 after serving as a research assistant professor at the University of Florida. Her decision to come to ASU was influenced by “the synergies and potential collaborations” she saw with the faculty here, she says. “There is expertise in neuroscience, instrumentation modeling and MRI, all of the things that I am happiest doing,” says Sadleir. Sadleir brings to these future collaborations an extensive background in neural engineering, computational modeling, neuroimaging, physics and electrical engineering. One of Sadleir’s primary research interests is modeling and measuring the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), something that she describes as an “old technique having a promising revival.” tCDS entails passing very-low-level electrical currents through specific areas of the brain. This research could potentially be useful in the rehabilitation of patients suffering from neurological and psychological disorders. In addition, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command has funded Sadleir to investigate the way blood accumulates in the head, primarily of premature infants, as well as in the abdomen during internal bleeding caused by a blunt trauma. “Many premature infants suffer from intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) bleeding in the brain in the first few days of life and the condition can be fatal,” she says. Sadleir’s research aims to find an early method for detection of IVH.

She is also working towards the development of a technique called fMREIT — functional magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography — focused on directly locating and characterizing brain activity.

Sadleir holds a B.Sc. in physics with honors from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. in physics, electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Western Australia.

Mehdi Nikkhah, assistant professorExpertise: Cardiovascular tissue engineering, BioMEMS, cancer detection and metastasis, cell biomechanics

Prior to joining ASU as an assistant professor, Mehdi Nikkhah was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School where he was working on the development of vascularized cardiac tissues to aid in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and disorders.

Now at ASU, he is interested in establishing a unique and interdisciplinary research and educational program that will address some of the key challenges in global health and biomedical engineering. He plans to leverage the expertise gained at Harvard and during his doctorate studies to develop highly innovative microscale platforms for breast cancer research and cardiovascular tissue engineering.Nikkhah has published more than 25 journal articles and 30 peer-reviewed conference papers, and wrote a master’s thesis that resulted in a U.S. patent entitled “Exoskeletal Device for Rehabilitation.”

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This patent was granted for Nikkhah’s creation of an innovative device that fits the lower extremities of patients requiring rehabilitation due to neuromuscular injuries, such as hip, knee or ankle replacement surgery. This device can be used in different stages of rehabilitation such as sitting, standing and walking, while reducing the weight and power requirements of earlier designs.

Nikkhah holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Villanova University, an M.S. in biomedical engineering and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, Iran.

Bradley Greger, associate professorExpertise: Vision restoration, neural prostheses, epilepsy

Bradley Greger joined ASU as an associate professor in July 2013 from the University of Utah where he was serving as the principal investigator at the Neural Engineering Laboratory. He brings an extensive background in neuroscience and neural engineering. Bradley is interested in the way the brain processes and responds to external stimuli such as visual patterns and speech. At ASU, Greger will continue his attempt to answer some of these extensive questions and to advance work in neural engineering through his partnership with the Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the Barrow Neurological Institute. The primary focus of these collaborations will center on neuro-prosthetic research aimed towards developing ways to restore sensory and motor functions in patients, as well as aiding in the study and treatment of epilepsy.

Ultimately, his work seeks to use technological advances to help people that are suffering from damage or disease to the nervous system. This could include restoring sight to the profoundly blind through direction stimulation of the visual centers of the brain, or restoring movement to those suffering from paralysis or an amputation by directly reading out movement commands from the nervous system.

Greger holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis, a B.S. in biology and a B.A. in philosophy, both from Washington State University. He also had a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology prior to his appointment at the University of Utah.

James A. Levine, professorExpertise: Obesity initiative research

James A. Levine, professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic and a world-renowned leader in obesity research and child advocacy, has been named co-director of the Mayo Clinic/Arizona State University Obesity Solutions Initiative.

Levine has been appointed a tenured professor in ASU’s School of the Science of Health Care Delivery in the College of Health Solutions, as well as in the School of Life Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Biological and Health Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Robert Mittman, professor of practiceExpertise: Biomedical strategy and knowledge development, complex adaptive systems

Director, Biomedical Strategy and Knowledge Engineering; Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University. Professor, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Casey Ankeny, LecturerExpertise: Cardiovascular research, bioreactors, microRNAs, shear, endothelial cell mechanobiology/pathology, student-centered engineering education research

Jerry Coursen, LecturerExpertise: Neuroscience, healthcare systems

Marco SantelloDirector and professorExpertise: Motor control, neurophysiology, biomechanics

James AbbasAssociate professorExpertise: Functional neuromuscular stimulation systems

Casey AnkenyLecturerExpertise: Cardiovascular research, bioreactors, microRNAs, shear, endothelial cell mechanobiology/pathology, student-centered engineering education research

David FrakesAssistant professorExpertise: Vascular flow imaging and fluid dynamics, suppression of optical turbulence distortion in video

Jerry CoursenLecturerExpertise: Neuroscience, healthcare systems

Michael CaplanAssociate professorExpertise: Rational design of bioactive materials, reverse engineering the basement membrane, multivalent drug-targeting constructs

Antonio GarciaProfessorExpertise: Medical diagnostic devices, nanotechnology surface science

Leland HartwellProfessor, Nobel LaureateExpertise: Identify biomarkers to enable personalized, presymptomatic diagnoses, develop tools for providing the intelligence needed for better patient outcomes

Bradley GregerAssociate professorExpertise: Vision restoration, neural prostheses, epilepsy

Christopher BuneoAssociate professorExpertise: Motor control, neurophysiology, neural prosthetics

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Karmella HaynesAssistant professorExpertise: Synthetic biology, molecular genetics, controlling cell development, chromatin

Jiping HeProfessorExpertise: Neural interface technologies for neural prosthetics, rehabilitation robotics for stroke or spinal cord injury

Stephen Helms TilleryAssociate professorExpertise: Cortical neurophysiology, neural control of movement, neural prosthetics

Jeffrey KleimAssociate professorUndergraduate Program ChairExpertise: Neural plasticity, stroke, Parkinson’s disease

Jeff La BelleAssistant professorExpertise: Label-free, noninvasive sensing, point-of-care technologies

Vikram KodibagkarAssistant professorExpertise: Cellular and molecular imaging, Magnetic resonance (MR) physics andtechnique development, MR oximetry, MRI of Cancer and Traumatic Brain Injury

Jit MuthuswamyAssociate professorExpertise: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for neural communication multifunctional neural prosthesis using MEMS

Mehdi NikkhahAssistant professorExpertise: Cardiovascular tissue engineering, BioMEMS, cancer detection and metastisis, cell biomechanics

Stephen MassiaAssociate professorExpertise: Cell-material interactions

James A. LevineProfessorExpertise: Obesity initiative research

Troy McDanielResearch assistant professorExpertise: Haptics, ubiquitous computing, human-centered computing, assistive/rehabilitation technology

Robert MittmanProfessor of practiceExpertise: Biomedical strategy and knowledge development, complex adaptive systems

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25 annual report

Sarah StabenfeldtAssistant professorExpertise: Neural cellular engineering

Bruce ToweProfessorExpertise: Biomedical imaging and instrumentation

Brent VernonAssociate professorExpertise: Biomaterials drug delivery, tissue engineering

Xiao WangAssistant professorExpertise: Synthetic and systems biology

emeritus faculty

Eric GuilbeauEmeritusExpertise: Thermoelectric detection of biological events, microfluidics, transport phenomena, heat transfer, modeling and simulation of biological systems, biosensors

Leon IasemidisEmeritusExpertise: Advanced digital signal processing and global optimization techniques. Dynamics and control of spatio-temporal chaotic transitions in spatially coupled systems. Mathematical analysis and modeling of brain electrical and magnetic activity

James SweeneyEmeritusExpertise: expertise: bioelectricity, biosensors, neural stimulations, cardiac pacing and defibrillation and computational modeling of bioengineering problems

Rosalind SadleirAssistant professorExpertise: Neuro imaging and neural activity detection, dynamic physiological monitoring, computational modeling

Mark SpanoResearch professorExpertise: Nonlinear dynamics of biological systems, dynamics of epilepsy, portable medical device development

Vincent PizziconiAssociate professorExpertise: Bioresponsive and biomimetic materials, biointerfaces, medical device design and development


New monitoring device will help protect workers in hazardous conditions

Assistant professor Jeff La Belle’s Biosensor Lab is leading research behind the development of a health and environmental monitoring device designed for emergency first-responders and people who work in places with hazardous substances and materials.

In collaboration with InXsol, a Phoenix-based e-learning and simulation development company, La Belle is working on the product called ExposureTrack.

Using technology similar to a smart phone, the device will provide information about workers’ level of exposure to materials that could pose health and safety risks.

The venture has recently been awarded Phase 1 funding through the Small Business Innovation Research program of the National Institute of Environmental Heath Sciences.

According to an InXsol news release, ExposureTrack will provide “data fusion and visualizations of an exposure activity stream transcript, which includes environmental and health surveillance data.”

In the second phase of the product’s development, La Belle and the company will complete the design and begin manufacturing of the portable, wearable device, and then launch commercialization efforts.

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27 annual report

Biomedical research revealing secrets of cell behavior

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at ASU, with a partner at Imperial College London, report on taking steps toward better comprehension of the fundamentals of “cell fate determination” in the prominent research journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Cell fate determination relates to the mechanisms by which a cell “decides” in what direction it will go in moving through transitional phases into a final state.

Using mathematical modeling and synthetic biology techniques the team is manufacturing artificial gene networks (a collection of DNA segments in a cell that interact with each other) and introducing them into cells in the laboratory.

Once the mechanisms determining the fate of cells are better understood, “we could make gene networks or devices that do what we want them to do,” such as create cells that produce medicinal drugs or that kill diseased cells, or create cells that act as sensors to detect environmental hazards, says assistant professor Xiao Wang, the senior author of the PNAS paper.

Within deeper knowledge of the workings of such processes lays the key to more effectively engineering cells and gene networks.

“Our research could be built upon to look at more complicated gene networks and more complex cellular behavior,” paving the way for expanding the capabilities of bioengineering to protect and maintain human health, Wang says.


BioActive Materials Laboratory Director: Michael CaplanCaplan’s lab applies engineering mathematics to understand and engineer solutions for problems related to biomaterials and drug delivery. One ongoing study, in collaboration with Dr. Alex McLaren at Banner Hospital, seeks to understand and control where antimicrobials mixed into bone cement go when the cement is placed in an orthopaedic wound to fight infection. Another study seeks to understand and control endothelial response to the material used to construct medical devices (such as stents or vascular grafts) and other aspects of the cells’ microenvironment. A third study seeks to develop multivalent (more than one binding site) molecular probes for biosensing or drug targeting applications.

Image Processing Applications Laboratory Director: David FrakesThe Image Processing Applications Laboratory (IPALab) addresses current and important image processing problems in a variety of different fields. Ongoing research at IPAL includes projects that are biomedical, industrial and military in nature. The ultimate goal is to improve human quality of life through the development and use of advanced image processing technologies.

Center for Adaptive Neural Systems Director: James AbbasThe Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (ANS) seeks to design and develop technology to offset the effects of spinal cord injury, orthopedic injury, Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy. Driven by the needs of potential users, the engineers and scientists at ANS utilize a wide variety of interdisciplinary research techniques and technologies to aid individuals whose lifestyles may be significantly affected or impaired by traumatic injury or neurological disease.

Visuomotor Learning Director: Christopher BuneoThe Visuomotor Learning laboratory seeks to understand how the brain combines different forms of sensory and motor information to help plan, execute and adapt movements (“sensorimotor integration”). Of particular interest is how uncertainty associated with movement planning and execution leads to variability in motor performance. The long-term goals of the lab are to improve and enhance human motor performance through the development of brain-centered training protocols and assistive technologies that interface directly with the nervous system.

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29 annual report

Personalized Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory Director: Antonio GarciaThe Personalized Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (PMDL) uses global technology to develop highly sensitive, yet low-cost and robust diagnostic devices using nanotechnology. Special emphasis is given to tailor devices that can make public health systems in emerging nations more effective for infectious disease prevention. Recent advances have been featured in Spanish, English and Portuguese media outlets and are of interest to several Latin American countries.

Haynes Synthetic Biology Laboratory Director: Karmella HaynesThe Haynes Synthetic Biology laboratory uses synthetic systems and quantitative biology to engineer useful gene and protein-based biological devices and deepen our understanding of molecular cell biology. The ultimate goal of the laboratory is to accelerate the pace of therapeutic technologies through modular design.

The Sensorimotor Research GroupDirector: Stephen Helms TilleryHelms Tillery’s group analyzes sensorimotor learning and representations in the nervous system and neural mechanisms which enable the brain to carry out fine motor skills. By duplicating that process, the goal is to advance the ability to create more lifelike prosthetics that respond to brain signals.

Kleim Laboratory Director: Jeffrey Kleim The Kleim lab studies how neural plasticity supports learning in the intact brain and “relearning” in the damaged or diseased brain. Research is directed at developing therapies that optimize plasticity in order to enhance recovery after stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

La Belle Laboratory Director: Jeff La BelleLa Belle’s laboratory is developing point-of-care medical technologies that enable more accurate detection, monitoring and management of disease. Work is use-inspired, and the goal is to help make rapid advances in healthcare with innovations that can be brought to market today.

Massia Laboratory Director: Stephen MassiaThe Massia laboratory focuses primarily on cell material interactions. The principles of cell biology, biochemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry are utilized to better understand the interaction of cells with synthetic materials, and to exploit this knowledge to enhance the compatibility of these materials with tissues that contact them. Current projects include developing nanofabrication methods to construct biomimetic scaffolds for tissue regeneration and replacement.


Neural Microsystems Laboratory Director: Jitendran MuthuswamyThe primary focus of the Neural Microsystems laboratory is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity that will naturally enable development of ways to achieve greater functional recovery through neuronal repair and plasticity, specifically (a) the molecular interactions between the neurons and extra-cellular matrix/substrate, and (b) the role of specific intracellular proteins in the development of spontaneous electrical activity and subsequent synaptic function in single neurons. Using in vitro primary neuronal culture models and in vivo rodent models and innovative microtechnologies developed in our lab, the goal is to understand the mechanisms of structural and functional plasticity.

Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems Director: Vincent PizziconiThe BioICAS laboratory seeks to understand the biodesign heuristics of integrative bionanosystems that can lead to the design and development of bioinspired advanced diagnostic and therapeutic components, devices and systems.

Neural Control of Movement Laboratory Director: Marco SantelloWork at the Neural Control of Movement laboratory focuses on the hand as a model to investigate the mechanisms underlying sensorimotor integration responsible for motor learning and control. The questions addressed by Santello’s laboratory include the role of vision and tactile input for learning and controlling dextrerous manipulation, neural mechanisms underlying the synergistic control of multiple hand muscles, and the effects of neurological disorders and neuropathies on neural control of the hand. This research has potential for improving the efficacy of rehabilitation of hand function following surgery as well as neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke, dystonia and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Laboratory for Applied Nonlinear Dynamics Director: Mark SpanoThe Applied Nonliner Dynamics laboratory’s primary research focus is nonlinear dynamics of complex systems. The research seeks to use nonlinear dynamical techniques to understand epilepsy and to develop techniques for prediction and intervention. Projects include development of iPad and iPhone programs integrated with biomedical instrumentation for the collection and processing of medical data and integration of the iPad/iPhone platforms into medical data acquisition and record keeping.

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Stabenfeldt LaboratoryDirector: Sarah Stabenfeldt Each year in the United States over one million individuals will experience a traumatic or ischemic-related brain injury, with 350,000 persons sustaining a severe to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and an additional 800,000 people suffering from stroke. While the inherent regenerative potential of nervous tissue has been realized, the hurdles and barriers formed by scar and inhibitory molecules limit endogenous regeneration and repair. In evaluating current clinical therapies, there is an obvious need for improving diagnostic imaging and in turn targeted delivery of therapeutics to injured or ischemic tissue. This laboratory specifically focuses on (1) engineering novel targeted diagnostic and therapeutic (“theranostic”) biomaterials for neural injury/disease and (2) identifying endogenous neural stem cell homing mechanisms after injury and incorporating such biosignals into tissue-engineered matrices.

Bioengineering Instrumentation LaboratoryDirector: Bruce ToweThe Bioengineering Instrumentation Laboratory (BIL) applies principles of engineering and physics to the design of new types of medical electronic, ultrasonic and optical instrumentation. A special emphasis is placed on developing bionic neuroprostheses, needed in both the study of the human brain and the development of devices, which allow direct man-machine connections.

Biomaterials Laboratory Director: Brent VernonThe Biomaterials laboratory uses principles of polymer science and chemistry to design and develop in situ gelling materials for drug delivery, tissue engineering and tissue contraction.

Xiao Wang Laboratory Director: Xiao WangWang’s laboratory seeks to understand and exploit the effects of nonlinear dynamics and stochasticity in engineered gene networks in microbes, and extrapolate this knowledge to the understanding of cell differentiation and development in higher organisms. The focus is on synthetic multistable gene networks, systems biology on small network motifs with feedbacks, the role of noise in cell differentiation and development and molecular evolution.


ASU, Phoenix Children’s Hospital expand biomedical research partnership

Research to seek a cure for malignant brain tumors and more precise diagnoses of acute brain injuries will be the focus of collaborations between ASU biomedical engineers and clinician-scientists at the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

The projects are being funded by two $30,000 awards from a seed grant program recently established by Barrow at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering.

The program’s goal is to promote interdisciplinary collaborations between ASU biomedical engineers and clinical faculty at Phoenix Children’s Hospital that will target high-priority medical challenges, including but not limited to biomarker discovery and validation for nervous system disorders, development of medical devices and the comparative effectiveness of treatments for neurological and musculoskeletal disorders.

“We already have successful connections with Phoenix Children’s Hospital. But with the level of expertise of our biomedical engineering faculty at ASU and the hospital’s clinicians and scientists, we thought we had the potential to accomplish more,” says Marco Santello.cl

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Those wanting to accomplish more include Professor Sarah Stabenfeldt and Jonathan Lifshitz, director of the Barrow at Phoenix Children’s Hospital Translational Neurotrauma Research Program who are using the award to explore the complex network of biomolecules – called the extracellular matrix – that support the structure of the nervous system and its integration with the body’s vascular system.

In cases of injury such as traumatic brain injury, the extracurricular matrix could be disturbed and impair neurological function. Their project will uncover the extent of changes the extracellular matrix undergoes after acute brain injury.

Professor Vikram Kodibagkar and Ratan Bhardwaj, pediatric neurosurgeon at Barrow at Phoenix Children’s Hospital will explore a possible cure for malignant brain tumors based on fundamental processes involved in the body’s own immune system.

They plan to develop a personalized vaccine capable of finding and killing malignant cells while leaving normal brain cells unharmed.

Kodibagkar and Bhardwaj will also employ a highly specialized MRI technique, Diffusion Tensor Tractography, to visualize changes in white-matter tracts in the vicinity of tumors as this therapy method is employed.


Mayo Clinic collaboration focuses on cerebral aneurysm treatments

Assistant professor David Frakes is part of a research collaboration that has earned a $100,000 grant from a group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and medical device manufacturers to pursue advances in the treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Frakes is teaming with physician Brian Chong in Mayo Clinic’s Division of Neuroradiology on the project “EndoVantage Interventional Suite (EVIS) for personalized clinical management of cerebral aneurysms.” Frakes’ work on EVIS addresses current gaps in treatment planning, selection and optimization for cerebral aneurysms. Current technology allows physicians to examine only images of an aneurysm and its geometric features. Using EVIS, plans can be catered to the specific conditions of a patient’s cerebral aneurysm.

“Each patient is different,” Frakes says. “We want to be able to take a number of different devices, simulate treatment with all of them and choose the best one.” The goal is to produce a prototype that can be used in the clinic and continually tested and evaluated to optimize cerebral aneurysm treatment.

ASU-Mayo research project targets carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis

ASU professor Marco Santello and Mark Ross, professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic Arizona, were recently awarded a grant of $93,000 from Mayo’s Center for Regenerative Medicine to advance their effort to quantify the effects of carpal tunnel release surgery on patients’ recovery of sensorimotor hand function.

Findings by Santello and Ross to date have shown that carpal tunnel syndrome affects a variety of complex and subtle aspects of sensorimotor function. In the new project they will

use a novel application of grasp testing they have developed to closely measure recovery of the function following surgery.

It is hoped the grasp tests can be used to help provide a way to more precisely measure functional recovery and enable early detection if a patient is not recovering as expected, the researchers say.

Beyond that advance, Santello and Ross intend to use the grasp tests to provide quick, simple, noninvasive and inexpensive quantification of patients’ progress in recovery from pre-operative nerve injury after carpal tunnel release surgery.

Global engagement: biomedical engineering in Vietnam

In March 2013 school director, Marco Santello, attended the first Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) conference hosted at Can Tho University, Vietnam.

The objective of the conference was to provide leaders in government, industry and academia an opportunity to discuss and collaborate on improving engineering education throughout Southeast Asia by building sustainable higher education systems, methods to assess performance of engineering education programs and innovation instructional methods.

Santello gave a presentation about SBHSE and discussed opportunities for collaborations involving student and faculty exchange programs.

The HEEAP conference paved the way for Santello’s second visit to Vietnam in the summer when he met with government representatives and faculty to discuss educational and research collaborations involving ASU and Vietnamese institutions such as International University - Vietnam National Universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The long-term plan is for SBHSE to help establish a network of biomedical device design centers at several academic institutions in Vietnam supported by public and private partnerships.


* Mayo collaborator

Partnerships with Mayo

Mayo Arizona Effects of carpal tunnel syndrome on hand function (Santello, Ross*)

Prevention of overuse musculoskeletal injuries in endoscopists (Santello, Fleischer*)

Controlled release systems for gastroparesis and functional dyspepsia (Vernon, DiBaise*, Crowell*)

The influence of injury severity on endogenous regeneration after TBI (Stabenfeldt, Dodick*)

Systems biology of stem cell gene regulatory networks for individualized medicine (Wang, Li*)

Noninvasive/invasive stress and trauma monitoring (La Belle, Stepanek*, Cook*)

Cardiovascular disease biosensor (La Belle, Steidley*)

Tear glucose monitoring (La Belle, Patel*, Cook*) Multiplexed diabetes monitoring (La Belle, Cook*)

Improving mobility in Parkinson’s disease through dance (Krishnamurthi, Murphey, Driver-Dunckley*)

Design of 3-D nano-scaffolds for engineered soft tissue repair (Pizziconi, Massia, Cornella*, Yi*)

Planning endovascular interventions for cerebral aneurysms (Frakes, Chong*)

New techniques for arterial imaging with computed tomography (Frakes, Pavlicek*)

Image processing for modeling brain tumor progression (Frakes, Hu*)

Clinical trial data acquisition and processing through iPad (Spano, Borad*)

Mayo Rochester, Minn. Design and Implementation of a Soft Synergy-Based Artificial Hand for Prosthetic applications (Santello, Bicchi, Terzic*, Andrews*)

Appointment of Mayo Clinic faculty to adjunct positions

Three clinical partners from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, have been appointed as adjunct faculty. Dr. Carmen Terzic, M.D., is Chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Rehabilitation Medicine Research Center. Dr. Joseph Grande, M.D., is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the Medical School. Dr. Jeremy Friese, M.D., is Medical Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine. Drs. Terzic, Grande, and Friese are actively involved in several research and educational projects with SBHSE faculty.

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37 annual report

Formation of the Advisory Board

The career paths that our students aim for can be divided into three main categories: industry, graduate school and medical school. That’s why we have put together a school advisory board with professionals and representatives from all of these career paths, chosen based on their knowledge, leadership and experience in industry, academia and the medical community.

Our advisory board’s goals are to identify key educational and research priorities for students, to help forge partnerships with industry that bring bioengineering technologies to the market, and to connect our students with industry and clinical partners for internships and job placement.

In May 2013, the director and faculty presented an overview of the school, along with its vision, initiatives and long-term plans to the newly formed advisory board, and are now working with the board in implementing strategic initiatives.

Keith Lindor, M.D.Executive Vice ProvostArizona State University,Health Solutions

Joseph Grande, M.D.Associate Dean Academic Affairs,Medical SchoolMayo Clinic Rochester, MN

Jeremy Friese, M.D.Associate Chair of FinanceMayo Clinic

MedicalSchool

Deb DahlSenior DrectorClinical Innovation,Banner Health

Maziar Farzam*PresidentInhance Digital

MaryAnn GuerraCEOBioAccel

Nicholas LeonardiDirector Premier Semiconductor Services

Lisa Mesias*Principal Quality Engineer Medtronic

David ThomasPrincipal Regulatory Affairs SpecialistMerit Medical Systems, Inc.

Rio Vetter*Director of Research and DevelopmentNeuroNexus, Inc.

Michael VoneshTechnology LeaderW.L. Gore

Industry

* ASU Alum

Jack LinehanConsulting ProfessorStanford University

Molly ShoichetTier 1 CanadaResearch ChairUniversity of Toronto

John WatsonDirector and Profesor of BioengineeringUniversity of California, San Diego

GraduateSchool


Undergraduate research through FURI

Students in FURI’s research program develop an idea under the mentorship of an engineering faculty member, then apply for funding. Once accepted, they perform research, attend workshops, prepare research summaries and participate in the research symposium. Many FURI participants have gone on to apply their unique experience to work in industry, as well as graduate studies in engineering, medicine, law and other disciplines. SBHSE students in FURI

26 Spring '13

19 Fall '13

Lisa Irimata, FURI Abstract

The Effects of Brainstem Noradrenergic Lesions of Cranial Motor FunctionCranial motor impairments associated with Parkinson Disease can be attributed to the depletion of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the locus coeruleus. A comprehensive animal model mimicking behavioral impairments is critical in advancing motor functionality treatments. A behavioral assay to measure cranial motor function in rats, including tests of tongue extension and chewing frequency was developed. The first task measures tongue extension required to receive a water reward. The second task measures the frequency and amplitude of acoustic signals generated by the animal eating. These tasks aid in assessing damage to the locus coeruleus and consequent effects on cranial motor function.

P.O. Box 879709Tempe, AZ 85287-9709

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu

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