News
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May 3, 2012
Hajim Design Day Students Featured on WHAM13 News and YNN
Engineering students, Silvia Perucchio (Mechanical Egineering) and Doug Clift (BME) spoke with WHAM 13 News about Hajim Design Day 2012 and the design project they are working on. Hajim Design Day 2012 was held on Thursday, May 3 and showcased engineering students Real-World solutions for the community. YNN also featured Hajim Design Day 2012 as the students got to show off their products during today's Design Day at the school.
Student teams at the University's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have been partnering with local companies and institutions over the past year to solve real-world engineering problems. The students demonstrated their results from 12-2 p.m. in the Munnerlyn Atrium of Robert B. Goergen Hall. To learn more about this event see the Hajim Design Day project images.
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April 17, 2012
URMC Leads International Consortium to Fight Deadly Bone Infections
Serious, drug-resistant staph infections are a growing problem in health care in the United States and across the globe. In a coordinated effort to stop these superbugs, investigators from the University of Rochester Medical Center have been selected to lead an ambitious, five-year project, with an emphasis on infections from complex orthopedic surgeries such as joint replacement, fracture repair, or trauma.
AOTrauma, part of the Switzerland-based AO Foundation, awarded $3 million to a team led by Stephen L. Kates, M.D., professor of Orthopaedics at URMC. The URMC has been studying ways to combat Methicillin–Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) for several years. Edward M. Schwarz, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the AOTrauma project, the Burton Professor of Orthopaedics, and director of the URMC Center for Musculoskeletal Research, is leading the development of a vaccine to prevent MRSA infections following bone and joint surgery.
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April 11, 2012
Autism Research Being Funded Through Novel Platform
Stephen McAleavey, Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Daniel Mruzek, Assistant Professor of the Department of Behavioral Pediatrics have recently submitted an Autism project for sponsorship on a new platform called Innovocracy. The University of Rochester recently signed up as an Innovocracy Launch Partner and the Autism project has already reached over 30% of its funding goal from individual donors within the first few days. The Innovocracy platform allows the aggregation of small donations to help propel innovative research in the support of proof-of-concept projects. Supporters include everyone from alumni, friends and family to the general public interested in autism research. This collaboration was initiated through an undergraduate Senior Design project, and subsequently received CTSI pilot funds for further development and early clinical evaluation.
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April 10, 2012
BME Students Receive Whitaker Fellowships
Two UR seniors in BME and an alumna who graduated last year have won prestigious Whitaker International Fellows awards. The program is managed by the Institute for International Education, the same organization that manages the Fulbright Fellowship awards. The goal of the program is to provide students who show potential for leadership in Biomedical Engineering the opportunity to obtain international experience either in education or research (or both) after they have completed their undergraduate degree.
Catherine Marando's (UR BME '12) award is to engage in research related to the study and treatment of glaucoma at Imperial College in London. Douglas Clift (UR BME '12) will be using his award to study musculoskeletal tissue engineering and biomaterials development at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Barcelona Spain. Kelli Summers (UR BME '11) will be going to Vienna Austria to study methods and mechanisms for developing molecular contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.
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April 9, 2012
John Nicosia and Laura Hobbs Awarded UR/Xerox Undergraduate Research Fellowships
BME undergraduate students John Nicosia and Laura Hobbs have been awarded UR/Xerox Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Both students will be working in the laboratory of Diane Dalecki, RCBU Director and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Research projects will focus on developing ultrasound technologies for cell and tissue engineering applications. The SEAS Xerox Fellowship Program is a highly competitive program that provides engineering students with research experience. The program begins during the summer preceding the senior year, and continues as an independent research course in the fall and spring semesters of the senior year.
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April 5, 2012
BME Undergraduate Michael Bux Awarded Prestigious Xerox Undergraduate Fellowship
Michael Bux, BME Junior in the laboratory of Danielle Benoit, Ph.D. was recently awarded a SEAS Xerox Undergraduate Fellowship. The SEAS Xerox Fellowship Program is a highly competitive program to provide engineering undergraduates with an opportunity to participate in a research experience in SEAS during the summer preceding their senior year. Additionally, students will receive independent study course credit for the continuation of their work during the fall and spring semesters of their senior year. Selection criteria include research interests, competitive academic performance, and intellectual ability and curiosity.
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April 2, 2012
Benoit Lab To Host 3rd Annual Alex's Lemonade Stand Fundraiser in June
The Benoit Lab one of their Alex's Lemonade Stand Fundraisers
Danielle Benoit, Ph.D. and her Therapeutic Biomaterials Lab, will once again give back by hosting their 3rd annual Alex's Lemonade Stand fundraiser for ALSF at the Rochester Public Market and the Brighton Farmers' Market June 9-10. Last year's fundraiser for cancer was a rousing success as the lab raised over $2000, and Dr. Benoit hopes to raise even more this year. The lab continues to urge friends, family, and colleagues to contribute in person and online to help support ALSF.
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front yard lemonade stand of cancer patient Alexandra
Alex
Scott (1996-2004). In 2000, 4-year-old Alex announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer. Since Alex held that first stand, the Foundation bearing her name has evolved into a national fundraising movement, complete with thousands of supporters across the country carrying on her legacy of hope. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please visit the Benoit Lab's ALSF Lemonade Stand. -
March 30, 2012
BME & ChE Students Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Two current BME and Chemical Engineering students and a BME alumna have received prestigious National Science Foundation Research Fellowships. BME graduate student, Jason Inzana (Awad Lab), Michael Baranello, a Chemical Engineering Ph.D. student in the Benoit Lab, and Molly Boutin, an alumnus of the Benoit lab (undergraduate research assistant), were among those who received the fellowships.
Selection for these awards is based on the students' outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as their potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the US science and engineering enterprise. The fellowship, which is part of a federally sponsored program, provides three years of graduate study support for students pursing doctoral degrees. The fellowship includes a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a $10,500 educational allowance to the institution, and international research opportunities.
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March 27, 2012
Dr. Diane Dalecki to Serve on AIUM Bioeffects Committee
Dr. Diane Dalecki (Director, RCBU) has been elected to serve as a member of the AIUM Bioeffects Committee. The official term of service begins at the completion of the 2012 Annual Convention in Phoenix, AZ and expires at the end of the 2015 Annual Convention. Dr. Dalecki has previously served as Chair and member of the AIUM Bioeffects Committee.
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March 14, 2012
Taking another Shot at RAGE to Tame Alzheimer's
Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., and Itender Singh, Ph.D.
Researchers have taken another crack at a promising approach to stopping Alzheimer’s disease that encountered a major hurdle last year. In research published this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, scientists have developed a compound that targets a molecular actor known as RAGE, which plays a central role in mucking up the brain tissue of people with the disease.
Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Southern California synthesized a compound that stops RAGE in mice – reversing amyloid deposits, restoring healthy blood flow in the brain, squelching inflammation, and making old, sick mice smarter. But the scientists caution that the work has a long way to go before it’s considered as a possible treatment in people.
In the latest work, Zlokovic and colleagues screened thousands of compounds for anti-RAGE activity and identified three that seemed promising. Then the team turned to chemists Benjamin Miller, Ph.D., and graduate student Nathan Ross. The pair analyzed the compounds’ molecular structures, then used that knowledge to create dozens of candidates likely to have activity against RAGE.
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March 13, 2012
Former Biophysics Chair and Senior Dean of Graduate Studies Dies
Paul L. LaCelle, M.D., a University of Rochester Medical Center faculty member for more than 40 years, a former department chair and former senior dean, died March 9. He was 82.
Dr. LaCelle, a 1959 graduate of the University's School of Medicine and Dentistry, joined the faculty in 1964 as an instructor of what was then the Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics. He was named a professor in 1974 and chaired what is now the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics from 1977 to 1996.
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February 27, 2012
Each Flick of a Digit Is a Job for All 5
You may think you're pretty familiar with your hands. You may think you know them like the back of your hand. But as the following exercises derived from the latest hand research will reveal, your pair of bioengineering sensations still hold quite a few surprises up their sleeve.
Our fingers can seem like restless Ariels, so fast and dexterous you'd think they had plans and options of their own. Yet as scientists who study the performance, circuitry and evolution of the human hand have lately determined, the appearance of digital independence is deeply deceptive.
Even when you think you're moving just one finger,
said Marc H. Schieber, a professor of neurology and neurobiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center,you're really controlling your entire hand.
The pianist playing Ravel or the typist clacking on Blogspot?People tend to think, they're hitting one key at a time, so they must be moving one finger at a time to hit that key,
Dr. Schieber said.But really, all the fingers are in motion all the time.
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February 15, 2012
Richard Waugh Honored as AAAS Fellow
Richard E. Waugh, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and James M. Farrar, professor of chemistry, have been elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.
The AAAS recognized Waugh for his
distinguished contributions to the study of cell and membrane mechanics and for leadership in biomedical engineering.
Waugh received a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Duke in 1977 and came to Rochester in 1980. His laboratory has historically been one of the leading facilities for investigating red blood cell mechanical properties and the stability of biological membranes. -
January 25, 2012
Marvin Doyley Article Featured in Physics in Medicine and Biology
Marvin Doyley (ECE and BME) was invited to write a topical review article by the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology (PMB). This article, titled Model-based elastography: A survey of approached to the inverse elasticity problem, was published online in January and was selected by PMB as their featured article. The review is also featured as Editor's Choice by Medical Physics Web.
The article reviews current approaches to elastography and documents efforts to develop elastography within the framework of solving an inverse problem, so that elastography may provide reliable estimates of mechanical properties of tissue. Dr. Doyley is a member of the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound (RCBU).
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January 3, 2012
Paper Published by BME Professor Top Peer-Reviewed Research Article for 2011
Mitochondria powering neurons are visible in red.
An article published by BME Research Assistant Professor Seth Perry,
Mitochondrial membrane potential probes and the proton gradient: a practical usage guide,
was BioTechniques top-accessed peer-reviewed paper for 2011. The distinction was determined by number of viewings on BioTechniques.com.Published last February, the paper provides an overview of the strengths and potential problems of the most commonly-used mitochondrial membrane dyes. Other authors of the paper include BME professor Edward Brown, as well as researchers from the URMC Department of Neurology, the Graduate Program in Toxicology, the Center for Neural Development and Disease, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.