Center for Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Research Symposium:
Featuring Oral Presentations by Biomedical Engineering Honors Candidates
Opening Remarks by Professor Larry Larson Dean, School of Engineering
Wednesday April 25, 2011 - 3:00 - 4:50PM
Barus & Holley Building Room 190
(Refreshments served)

Full Announcement Attached below

Huajin Gao - Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Engineering Elected to the National Academy of Engineering:
National Academy of Engineering Elects 66 Members and 10 Foreign Associates

WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 66 new members and 10 foreign associates, announced NAE President Charles M. Vest today.  This brings the total U.S. membership to 2,254 and the number of foreign associates to 206.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

A list of the newly elected members and foreign associates follows, with their primary affiliations at the time of election and a brief statement of their principal engineering accomplishments.
Full Article 

Dr. Eric Darling Receives a Rising Star Award at the BMES-SPRBM Conference:
 The BMES=SPRBM Conference on Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering in San Juan, Puerto Rico recognized Dr. Eric Darling of Brown University's Division of Biology and Medicine with one of their "Rising Star" Awards.

Darling Lab Article selected for Nanotechnology's Highlights 2011 Compilation:
The Darling Lab article "Force Scanning: A Rapid, High-resolution Approach for Spatial Mechanical Property Mapping" was selected for Nanotechnology's Highlights 2011 Compilation which includes articles that received an excellent response for the the nanotechnology community and were highly commended by the journal board. The full article can be accessed here. 

Dr. Eric Darling awarded a Brown University Salomon Award:
Dr. Darling was awarded a Brown University Salomon Award to investigate how molecular beacons can be used for lineage-specific stem cell enrichment. The Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards were established to support excellence in scholarly work by providing funding for selected faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit.

Brown University Biomedical Engineering Program Receives Full Six-Year Accreditation:

After a complete review, the undergraduate program in Biomedical Engineering at Brown University has received ABET accreditation through September 30, 2017.  “This is the best possible result,” said Larry Larson, Dean of the School of Engineering, “and represents a major accomplishment for the Center for Biomedical Engineering, the School of Engineering and the Division of Biology and Medicine.” “A well deserved recognition of excellence” said Edward Wing, Dean of the Warren Alpert Medical School, “and an acknowledgement that Biomedical Engineering brings together faculty from Engineering, BioMed and our affiliated hospitals for an outstanding curriculum”.

“As an Ivy League university competing for today’s brightest students and faculty, Brown biomedical engineering offers an opportunity for scholarship in a burgeoning multidisciplinary context where the synthesis of life sciences and engineering creates new knowledge and real solutions for modern medical care,” said Professor Anubhav

Tripathi, Co- Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering.    The BME

program at Brown graduates more than 70% students with “honors”

recognition (GPA above 3.4 plus a research thesis).

The review was led by Professors Anubhav Tripathi and Jeffrey Morgan, co-directors of the Center for Biomedical Engineering, with assistance from faculty, staff and students who worked on the preparation of the materials for the review. The external ABET evaluation team examined all aspects of the curricula, student outcomes and feedback from alumni and students, and determined that the Brown biomedical engineering program met the standards for a full six-year accreditation, the longest possible result.

Karen Haberstroh named Director of Undergraduate Programs for School of Engineering:
 

Professor Karen Haberstroh has been named the director of undergraduate programs at the School of Engineering at Brown University for the 2011-12 academic year.

“As a former undergraduate engineer at Brown and a professor who has excelled at teaching the introductory Engin 3 course to first semester freshmen, Karen is well-suited to this important role,” said Larry Larson, Dean of the School of Engineering.
Full article 

Thomas Webster receives Patent for "Nanofibers as a Neural Biomaterial":

Dr. Thomas Webster, associate professor at the Brown University School of Engineering, has received a patent for "Nanofibers as a Neural Biomaterial," U.S. Patent Number: 7,993,412. Professor Webster has now been awarded 11 full patents plus four provisional patents in his 11 years in academics (five years at Brown and six years at Purdue).
Full article
 

Tissue engineers use new system to measure biomaterials, structures:

As cells assemble into a doughnut shape and ascend a hydrogel cone, they do work and thereby reveal the total power involved in forming a three-dimensional structure. That measure not only could help tissue engineers understand their living building materials better, but could also add insight to the understanding of natural tissue formation.
Full article can be read by clicking here.
 

From a Time Magazine online article "The Top 10 Everything of 2010" on the list of Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs :

 9. Artificial Ovary

In more good news for those struggling with infertility, scientists reported success in creating an artificial ovary that could one day nurture immature human eggs outside the body. Researchers led by a team at Brown University managed to coax three primary ovary cells donated by patients into a 3-D structure resembling an ovary. In the lab, the cell types interacted with one another and functioned for all intents and purposes like a real ovary, even successfully maturing an human egg from its earliest stages in the follicle to a fully developed form.

Most immediately, the structure could help IVF technicians improve success rates. Currently when women donate eggs for a cycle of IVF, they provide a range of both mature and immature eggs; the less developed ones are less likely to be fertilized to become embryos. But by allowing technicians to mature these eggs in the lab, researchers might be able to help each IVF cycle become more efficient in leading to a pregnancy and eventual life birth. In addition, the artificial ovary could help women with ovarian disease, who are unable to produce mature eggs, take advantage of IVF to have children of their own. 

The whole article can be found by clicking here.