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Work supported by the National Science Foundation
Cooperative Agreement No. PHY-0120999. |
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Greetings!
 CBST
has been very active lately preparing for and hosting its annual site
visit (June 2-3, 2010) and its annual retreat (July 12-14, 2010). This year's site visit focused on the sustainability planning for the
Center and securing commitments from the University's Leadership to
sustain the Center beyond its NSF funding cycle.
At the end of June 2010, I went on a trip to China, where I
visited the Tsinghua University Graduate Institute of Innovation at
Shenzhen, several biotech incubators, the Research Institute of Tsinghua
University at Shenzhen, the Virtual University Park at Shenzhen,
Mindray Corporation and a few startup companies. Tsinghua University,
the Research Institute of Tsinghua at Shenzhen, the Chinese Government,
private entrepreneurs and local investors all represent a very
successful and productive "innovation ecosystem" which I
admire and appreciate the opportunity to have visited firsthand. I
also attended the Asian Pacific Optical Sensors Conference in Guangzhou
where I presented an invited paper on the application of biophotonics
to rural medicine needs.
These were just a few CBST activities for the months of June and July, with additional ones described below. Our efforts towards the sustainability of the Center continue in earnest; I will keep you informed of new developments.
~Dennis Matthews, Ph.D. CBST Director |
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Raman Fingerprints of E. coli - Determination of Cellular Response to Antibiotics
Tobias Moritz, a graduate student working with Dr. James Chan at CBST, is involved in a project characterizing the Raman fingerprints of the metabolic states of individual /Escherichia coli/ (/E. coli/) cells to determine the spectral changes associated with cellular response to antibiotics. Current methods used to determine bacterial susceptibility or resistance to antibiotics, which is increasingly important for both treatment and infection control purposes, rely on observation of bacterial growth inhibition in the presence of antibiotics as detected by visual inspection or automated instruments. Despite advances in technology and workflow, these methods typically require 8-24 hours from time of bacterial isolation to completion of susceptibility testing and are limited by insensitivity to resistance that is incompletely expressed under test conditions. Interventions to reduce the time to report microbiological results have been associated with decreased patient mortality, reduced duration of ineffective antimicrobial therapy, reduced antibiotic use and healthcare costs. Dr. James Chans' laboratory */has developed a laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy (LTRS) method /**/[1, 2]/**/ that is sensitive enough to detect cellular response of bacteria within 4h of initial antibiotic exposure at a single cell level./* The instrument utilizes a 785 nm continuous wave diode laser that is used to optically trap bacterial cells and at the same time generate Raman spectra. The time-dependent intensity of several Raman peaks, specific to DNA and proteins, are used as spectroscopic markers of antibiotic exposure. The results suggest that Raman spectroscopic markers of cellular response may differ between antibiotics or drug classes.  References:
1. Moritz, T.J., et al., /Effect of Cefazolin Treatment on the Nonresonant Raman Signatures of the Metabolic State of Individual Escherichia coil Cells./ Analytical Chemistry. *82*(7): p. 2703-2710.
2. Moritz, T.J., et al., /Evaluation of Escherichia coli cell response to antibiotic treatment using laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy./ 2010. *in review*.Contact info:Tobias Moritz MS, PhD candidate Biophysics, UC Davis NSF Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology University of California, Davis 2700 Stockton Blvd., Suite 1400 Sacramento, CA 95817 Email: [email protected] |
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Meet the Researcher - Dr. James Chan
 Dr. James Chan is a Staff Scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA, and Staff Researcher at the NSF Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST) at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. His research interests broadly encompass the development of label-free spectroscopic and microscopic techniques for biomedical, biosensing, and chemical sensing applications. Techniques of interest include vibrational spectroscopy (Raman, surface enhanced Raman, coherent anti-Stokes Raman, infrared) and second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy. Dr. Chan received his Ph.D. in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department at UC Davis in 2002, where he used a combination of confocal Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate the molecular level structural changes in glass induced by tightly focused ultrashort laser pulses. From 2003-2005, he held a postdoctoral appointment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where he applied Raman and CARS spectroscopy to biological and biomedical research. Since 2005, as a Staff Scientist at LLNL, where he has been involved with research developing and characterizing novel fiber-based chemical sensors based on vibrational spectroscopy (Raman, IR, SERS) for remote chemical sensing applications while continuing his biophotonics research at CBST. Research projects in Dr. Chan's lab include: - Single cell laser trapping Raman spectroscopy - Raman and IR based optical fiber sensors - SERS-based sensors - Nonlinear microscopy (SHG, CARS) Current CBST students mentored by Dr. Chan: - Rui Liu, Biomedical Engineering - Samir Awasthi, Biomedical Engineering - Tobias Moritz, Biophysics Graduate Group Selected List of Publications (from the past 3 years) 1. J.W. Chan, D.S. Taylor, T. Zwerdling, S.M. Lane, T. Huser, "Non-destructive identification of individual leukemia cells by laser trapping Raman spectroscopy," Analytical Chemistry, 80, 2180-2187 (2008)
2. B.S. Kim, C.I. Lee, J.E. Christensen, J.W. Chan, T.R Huser, A.F.Tarantal, "Evaluation of age-related differences in growth, differentiation, and Raman spectroscopic profiles of rhesus monkey mesenchymal stem cells," Stem Cells and Development, 17, 185-198 (2008)
3. W.F. Pearman, J.C. Carter, S.M. Angel, J.W. Chan, "Multi-pass capillary cell for enhanced Raman measurements of gases," Applied Spectroscopy, 62, 285-289 (2008)
4. A. Lau, L. Lee, J.W. Chan, "An integrated optofluidic platform for Raman-activated cell sorting," Lab on a Chip, 8, 1116-1120 (2008)
5. J.W. Chan, S. Fore, S. Wachsmann-Hogiu, T. Huser, "Raman spectroscopy and microscopy of individual cells and cellular components," Lasers and Photonics Review, 2, 325-349 (2008)
6. W.F. Pearman, J.C. Carter, S.M. Angel, J.W. Chan, "Quantitative measurements of CO2 and CH4 using a multi-pass capillary cell," Applied Optics, 47, 4627-4632 (2008)
7. J.W. Chan, D.S. Taylor, D.L Thompson, "The effect of cell fixation on the discrimination of normal and leukemia cells with laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy," Biopolymers, 91, 132-139 (2008)
8. S. Kim, N. Menegazzo, C. Young, J. Chan, C. Carter, B. Mizaikoff, "Mid-infrared trace gas analysis with single-pass FT-IR hollow waveguide gas sensors," Applied Spectroscopy, 63, 331-337 (2009)
9. J.W. Chan, D.K. Lieu, T. Huser, R.A. Li, "Label-free, non-invasive spectroscopic separation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and their cardiac derivatives," Analytical Chemistry, 81, 1324-1331 (2009)
10. J.W. Chan, D.K. Lieu, "Label-free biochemical characterization of stem cells using vibrational spectroscopy," J. Biophotonics, 2, 656-668 (2009)
11. J.W. Evans, R.J. Zawadzki, R. Liu, J.W. Chan, S.M. Lane, J.S. Werner "Optical coherence tomography and Raman spectroscopy of the ex-vivo retina," J Biophotonics, 2, 398-406 (2009)
12. T. J. Moritz, J.A. Brunberg, D.M. Krol, S. Wachsmann-Hogiu, S.M. Lane, J.W. Chan, "Characterisation of FXTAS related isolated intranuclear protein inclusions using laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy," J. Raman Spectroscopy, 41, 33-39 (2010)
13. T.J. Moritz, D.S. Taylor, C.R. Polage, D.M. Krol, S.M. Lane, J.W. Chan, "The effect of Cefazolin treatment on the non-resonant Raman signatures of the metabolic states of Escherichia Coli cells," Analytical Chemistry, 82, 2703-2710 (2010) Contact: James Chan, PhD Physics Division Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Ave, L-211 Livermore, CA 94550 Phone: 925-423-3565 Email: [email protected] |
| CBST Education Highlights | |
Interview With a Future Researcher
Temesgen (Tem) Woldeyesus (left) pictured with his mentor, Dr. Lorenzo Berti, from UC Davis.  | Temesgen (Tem) Woldeyesus is an ET-CURE student at CBST. The ET-CURE undergraduate program is a collaboration between the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities at the National Cancer Institute, the Education team at the NSF-funded Center for Biophotonics, and the UC Davis Cancer Center. Tem is a Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior Major and is currently in his third year at UC Davis. Did you have a mentor or a person who sparked and supported you in your choice to pursue science research? My interest in science research arose in the summer before college after a presentation on Biomedical research by Dean Ken Burtis. The presentation revealed to me how instrumental science research is towards people's well being. My mentor towards the end of high school was my Physiology teacher Sara Ehrman. She is a UC Davis alumna in the field of Neurobiology. Her passion towards neuroscience really aided in grabbing my interest in the neurosciences and led me to study it at UC Davis. Currently, my mentor is Dr. Lorenzo Berti. Lorenzo has played a significant role in advancing my goal of becoming a scientist. Lorenzo is very patient and has great passion for teaching others. With all of the experiments and results received, Lorenzo takes the time out of his busy schedule to guide me through the interpretation. Lorenzo continues to give me the thinking tools and mentoring skills that I will need to be a great scientist and mentor for students. What are you working on now with ET-CURE and what are your plans after the ET-CURE program? My research in the ET-CURE program is currently on the development of a novel drug delivery system using nanoparticles and nanotechnology. After the ET-CURE program, I plan to continue working on my research in hopes of attaining an M.D./PhD. |
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Teacher Research Academies @ CBST
Teacher Research Academy Participants at CBST  | Summer 2010 is a busy
time for teacher professional development at CBST. Dedicated middle and high school science teachers take
time from their summer vacation to attend the Biophotonics Level 1 and Level 2 Teacher
Research Academies (TRA). In addition, a group of CBST teacher partners will
spend time writing up biophotonics curriculum in an online environment for
broad dissemination to other educators. During Biophotonics Teacher
Research Academy Level 1 (June
23-25), teachers learned about biophotonics and its applications through hands-on
activities investigating light and light/matter interactions, using low cost materials and inexpensive technologies. Lab tours and presentations from CBST scientists, post docs,
and graduate students help teachers understand how the concepts investigated in
the activities lead to innovations pioneered through biophotonics. The fun
continued in Level 2 (June 28-July 2), as teachers explored biophotonics further by
focusing on the eye and light (pardon the pun!), using Image J to measure
digital microscope images, and identifying properties of olive oils based on their
fluorescence. Level 2 culminates with dedicated time for teachers to develop biophotonics
lessons from all they have learned to energize their curriculum and motivate
their students to learn the basic concepts underlying biophotonics. These
lessons then become a part of the shared CBST biophotonics teacher resources
network.
Several of our former TRA participants also work as
curriculum writers at CBST this summer during the months of July and August. A
group of teachers from River City High School, led by Don Stauffer and supported
by Intel funds CBST obtained, plan to develop biophotonics lessons using
technologies also funded through an Intel grant. The lessons will provide
opportunities for their students to learn standards-based biophotonics concepts
by collecting and analyzing data using sensors and hand-held (or laptop-based)
spectrophotometers. In addition, CBST supports curriculum development by
five other accomplished TRA teachers: · Vlastimil Krbecek (Sacramento) will be writing
up the biophotonics lessons he worked on with CBST and teaches in his
biotechnology courses at Hiram Johnson High School; · Pat Bohman (Sacramento) will be working on
lessons developed, with assistance from CBST's Marco Molinaro, for the
bioimaging course at Health Professions High School; · Susan Bertram (Rancho Cordova) will contribute
lessons that incorporate biophotonics into the 7th grade eye and
light unit she teaches at Mitchell Middle School; · Sean Tamarisk (Oakland) has worked for several
years with CBST researcher Susan Spiller (Mills College) and will share
biophotonics lessons they developed for his Anatomy & Physiology courses at
Oakland School for The Arts; and · Retter St. John (Sacramento), an experienced biology
teacher from Kennedy High School, will refine lessons begun at TRA 2009 that
she piloted in her biology classes during the 2009-2010 school year. We welcome all of these
teachers to CBST this summer. We look forward to expanding our biophotonics
teacher network and adding exciting lessons to our biophotonics teacher
resources!
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| CBST Knowledge Transfer Highlights | |
UC Davis Partnerships for Innovation Kickoff Event - July 8, 2010
Congresswoman Doris Matsui with the PFI PI and Co-PIs  | The UC Davis Health System hosted the kickoff event of the Partnerships for Innovation program, which will provide an important framework for hands-on education of students, faculty and researchers in the strategies required to convert research discoveries to useful, marketable products, under its proposed Medical Technology Commercialization Clinic. Over 120 students, faculty, researchers, entrepreneurs, and members of the local business community attended the event. Claire Pomeroy, Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences, Dean of the School of Medicine and CEO of the UC Davis Health System, leads the demonstration project as principal investigator. The co-investigators are: Dennis Matthews (CBST Director), Arnold Burger (Professor of Physics at Fisk University), and Warren Smith (Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at California State University, Sacramento). The Medical Technology Commercialization Clinic partnership will create live and virtual forums for science and engineering faculty and students from UC Davis, Fisk University (Nashville, TN), Sacramento State University and Los Rios Community College District to interact with university medical researchers, MBA students and experienced entrepreneurs. Together, they will form multidisciplinary teams that will identify the best strategy to move selected technologies closer to market. Speakers at the kickoff event included Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Fisk University researcher Michael Groza, Arna Ionescu of Proteus Biomedical and formerly of IDEO, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering Cristina Davis, NSF program director Josephine Yuen, and Drs. Richard Kravitz, John Bishop, Jan Nolta and Vijay Khatri. For more information about this program, visit www.pfi.ucdavis.edu. |
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CBST Annual Retreat
The 2010 CBST Annual Retreat occurred at Squaw Valley Resort in beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA, July 12-14, 2010. CBST students, faculty, interns, educators, scientists, and other affiliates, spent over 2 days of interesting oral and poster presentations, exhibits, panel discussions, and a tissue optics tutorial from Dr. Steven Jacques. Like every year, the retreat offered great opportunities for all CBST participants to meet and discuss about biophotonics issues near and dear to their hearts, but also to connect outside the classrooms and laboratories.
We look forward to seeing you all at the next retreat, in July 2011.
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Biophotonics4Life Worldwide Consortium Launches Webinar
The Biophotonics4Life (BP4L) Worldwide Consortium Co-Chairs Brian Wilson, PhD, from University of Toronto, and Juergen Popp, PhD, from Photonics4Life Network of Excellence in Europe, presented at the first webinar organized by the consortium, and hosted by CBST and its Director, Dr. Dennis Matthews. A recording of the webinar is available at http://www.biophotonicsworld.org/events/148-bp-l-webinar for all members of the BiophotonicsWorld.org website. To join the site, contact a current member and ask for an invitation. The Biophotonics4Life Worldwide Consortium
(BP4L) connects nodes of biophotonics researchers, educators,
organizations, companies, and other enthusiasts to better harness global
talent and resources and focus them on the most important end-user needs. The BP4L Node Leaders represent their regions/nodes
at Consortium meetings and vice-versa, they represent the Consortium
at a local/node level. For a list of the current Node Leaders, go to: http://www.biophotonicsworld.org/contact The next BP4L webinar is scheduled for September 13, 2010, 9:00 am PST. Stay tuned for more information. |
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I/UCRC Meeting
Together with the Boston University Photonics Center, CBST applied
for funding from the NSF to develop an Industry/University Cooperative
Research Center (I/UCRC) called the Center for Biophotonic Sensors and
Systems. I/UCRCs are research programs that involve one or two
universities, and are supported jointly by the NSF and a consortia of
industry partners, who all commit financial support for the Center. The
industry partners form an Advisory Board (IAB) to the Center that
selects research projects to fund out of the pooled NSF/Industry
support. There are currently about 70 active I/UCRCs funded by the NSF
and industry partners. The advantages
of the I/UCRC program are that whatever money companies put in is
leveraged by the support of other members, and further leveraged by the
NSF support. I/UCRCs also directly involve and facilitate industry
input into the direction of the basic research happening at the member
universities. They also provide a good opportunity for companies to
engage with grad students and post docs at the bi-annual meetings that
are required of the I/UCRCs. CBST and Boston University will organize the first I/UCRC meeting on August 12-13, at BU Photonics Center in Boston, MA. Additional information on the meeting can be found at the BU Photonics Center web site .
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Traumatic Brain Injury Workshop - July 9, 2010
In
collaboration with our partners at Tahoe Forest Hospital, LLNL and
UCDHS, CBST held a workshop on unmet needs in Traumatic Brain Injury on
July 9, 2010 in Truckee, CA videoconferenced together with UCDMC at the
Oak Park facility. This was one in a series of workshops that the Tahoe
Institute for Rural Health Research is hosting to discuss rural
healthcare needs and potential technology-based solutions. This
workshop built upon the previously successful format of physicians and
first-responders discussing the medical needs, bioscientists describing
the underlying scientific understanding of the disease as well as
engineers and medical device designers brainstorming about possible
solutions. Physician participants from UC Davis at this event were
Michael Rogawski, Daniel Nishijima, Kia Shahlaie; as well as TBI
researchers Bruce Lyeth, and Gene Gurkoff. CBST participants were
Steve Lane and Dennis Matthews. Nolan Harrison, the Chair of the
retired NFL players association medical committee also participated to
advocate for the players' position on this issue. "We
believe that the members of the Tahoe Institute have the means to make
changes in the diagnosis and management of TBI patients. Also, Truckee
and surrounding mountain communities have to deal with the aftermath of
TBI constantly, so they are truly looking for new methods that can lead
to better outcomes." Dennis Matthews said. "Clearly the NFL players
would also like to see some new thinking here also."
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The Agilent Technologies Foundation Presented Dr. Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu with a Research Award
 The Agilent Technologies
Foundation awarded a gift to the University of California, Davis in the amount
of $40,000 (USD) to support Dr. Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu for his proposal,
"DMD-based spectrometer for time-gated Raman spectroscopy". The Agilent Technologies Foundation funds university research and science education around the world. CBST looks
forward to working with Agilent Technologies in this endeavor. |
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CBST Partners at Fisk University Received an R&D 100 Award
Partners from LLNL, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc, together with Fisk University received an R&D 100 Award for growing and optimizing Strontium Iodide crystals that are cheaper and more accurate than crystals currently in use. These crystals may have medical applications in the accelerated detection of cancer and improved diagnosis of osteoporosis.
Fisk University is the only minority-serving institution to ever receive the prestigious award, and this is their third R&D 100 Award. Congratulations to Dr. Arnold Burger and his team!
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Publications
- 2010: den Hartigh Laura J; Connolly-Rohrbach Jaime E; Fore Samantha; Huser Thomas R; Rutledge John C : Fatty acids from very low-density lipoprotein lipolysis products induce lipid droplet accumulation in human monocytes. Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) 2010;184(7):3927-36. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
- 2010: McNerney Gregory P; Hübner Wolfgang; Chen Benjamin K; Huser Thomas: Manipulating CD4+ T cells by optical tweezers for the initiation of cell-cell transfer of HIV-1. Journal of biophotonics 2010;3(4):216-23. NSF Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology, University of California-Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
- 2010: Weeks Tyler; Schie Iwan W; Wachsmann-Hogiu Sebastian; Huser Thomas: Signal generation and Raman-resonant imaging by non-degenerate four-wave mixing under tight focusing conditions. Journal of biophotonics 2010;3(3):169-75. NSF Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
- Werner, John S
; Zawadzki, Robert J
2010: Park Susanna S; Truong Steven
N; Zawadzki Robert J; Alam Suhail; Choi Stacey S; Telander David G;
Werner John S; Morse Lawrence S: High-resolution
fourier-domain optical coherence tomography of choroidal neovascular
membranes associated with age-related macular degeneration.
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science 2010;51(8):4200-6. Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, Davis Medical Center, University of California, Sacramento, California.
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SARTA's Leadership Series, Med Tech Track:
An Overview of Device Clinical Trials
July 28, 2010
8:30 am - 11:30 am
Sponsored by: Drexel University Center for Graduate Studies
Registration, breakfast and networking from 8:30-9:00 a.m.
Location: Drexel University, One Capitol Mall, Suite 260, Sacramento, CA 95814
Cost: General Admission: $40; SARTA Members: $25
Price includes free parking for 4 hours at the One Capitol Mall Valet
Garage on 2nd Street (valued at $8) and a continental breakfast.
For member discount code, please email [email protected]
To read more, please click on http://www.sarta.org/go/sarta/news-events/events/sartas-leadership-series-med-tech-track-july-2010/ |
| Grants and Funding Opportunities | |
Grants of Interest & UCD Limited Submissions
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| Thank You - Please Pass Along |
We'll be sending out our CBST Newsletters once/month. Please send your comments and suggestions to [email protected]. We look forward to staying in touch and welcome news/highlights from your organization for inclusion in future newsletters.
Please forward our CBST Newsletter along by CLICKING on the FORWARD EMAIL hyperlink at the bottom of this newsletter. |
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Sincerely,
Director of New Ventures / UC Discovery Fellow
NSF Center for Biophotonics Science & Technology (CBST)
2700 Stockton Blvd., Suite 1400, Sacramento, CA 95817
TEL (916)734-0785; FAX (916)703-5012
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