Announcements

Vivian's presentation "Generation of dynamically-perfused functional vascular network system within hydrogel using 3D bio-printing technology" has been named a top presentation of the tissue engineering track of the 2013 BMES Annual Meeting. The 2013 BMES Annual Meeting was held one September 25-28, 2013, in Seattle, Washington. The main program at BMES consisted of nineteen tracks, tissue engineering being one of them.

David Corr has been named an associate editor for the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. This is the official journal of the Bioengineering Division of ASME. The journal web site can be found here: http://journaltool.asme.org/Content/Masthead2.cfm

Undergraduate students at Rensselaer have been extremely successful with their applications for Society of Women Engineer's scholarships. A total of 18 Rensselaer students received SWE scholarships, six of these students are enrolled in BME.

Deepak Vashishth has been appointed to the editorial board of the journal Bone. This journal is one of the top journals in this area and is highly respected. Deepak Vashishth is a bone and tissue engineering expert with substantial contributions to this field since joining Rensselaer in 1999. Additionally, he is serving as the director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS). Bone is an interdisciplinary forum for the rapid publication of original articles and reviews on basic, translational, and clinical aspects of bone and mineral metabolism.

Dr. David Corr has been invited to present at the workshop BIO-PRINTING - 3D Printing of Living Cells. About the summit: 3D printing/additive technology is exploding beyond the bounds of industrial applications. Building on the realization that a cell is roughly the same size as a drop of ink, dozens of university biomedical researchers and labs are now applying the grid-based, layer-by-layer “additive” method using adapted printer cartridge heads.

Dr. Doug Schumer joined the Biomedical Engineering Department as a professor of practice. Doug received his PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and he has held numerous positions in industry over the last 35 years.

Approximately half of our undergraduate and essentially all of our graduate students participate in research. One important aspect of research is to be able to present results to an audience of experts, such as those found at national/international conferences. An additional benefit of presenting research results is that it hones communication skills which we deem essential for our students. Unfortunately, obtaining funds to send students to conferences is getting harder to come by nowadays due to budget limitations of most federal and state agencies.

Leo Wan, an assistant professor in the Department, has been name of a 2013 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts. As part of the award, Wan will receive $240,000 in unrestricted funds over four years to develop multiscale devices for measuring the chirality of cells and to understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms. Cell chirality is critical for the development of organisms of consistent left-right asymmetry, or handedness.