December 2015

Abstracts now being accepted for Frontiers in Medical Devices Conference

Abstracts are now being accepted for the 2016 BMES/FDA Frontiers in Medical Devices Conference ''Innovations in Modeling and Simulation: Patient-Centered Healthcare.''

Abstracts are due January 15, 2016.

The conference will take place May 23-25, 2016 in College Park, MD, just outside Washington, DC.

To view this year's tracks and to submit an abstract, please visit: http://bmes.org/meddevicesabstracts.

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CMBE and ABioM Joint Conference

Pre-registration Deadline: TODAY
Tuesday, December 22, 2015

CLICK HERE to register.

The 2016 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) and Advanced Biomanufacturing (ABioM) Joint Conference will take place January 6 - 10, 2016 in New Orleans.

The theme is "Biomanufacturing of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine."

Join us in New Orleans as world-renowed keynote and invited speakers present their latest research with emphasis on recent cutting-edge findings.

Topics of Discussions include:
- Mechanobiology of Regenerative Medicine
- Micro- and Macro-scale Technologies for Building Tissues     - Enabling Stem Cell Technologies
- Engineered Tissues as Models of Disease
- Short talks selected from an outstanding pool of student/fellow abstracts
- Rising Star podium sessions from exceptional junior principal investigators
- Poster presentations with international CMBE and ABioM research represented from around the world

BMES 2015 Annual Meeting Recorded Sessions

As a member benefit, you can listen to select annual meeting sessions on demand. Archived sessions include:
- Research in BME and Grant Writing
- How to Find a Job in Industry
- BME Careers in Industry, Government, & Academia
- Outstanding Chapter Best Practices
- Outreach & Mentoring Best Practices
- Undergraduate Design Competition, and more.

To access the recorded sessions, log on to the BMES website at www.bmes.org. Once logged on, visit 2015 Annual Meeting Recordings to see the video recordings.

UC Davis chapter to host Make-a-thon Jan 16-17

UC Davis will host the T.E.A.M. Make-a-thon on January 16-17, 2016.

The Make-a-thon is a medical device prototyping competition that is similar to the traditional computer coding and software based hack-a-thon.

Sixteen teams of 5 undergraduate engineering students compete to design and prototype the best device to solve a real medical problem over a weekend. They are provided with a student copy of Inventor as well as access to the UC Davis Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine (TEAM) prototyping facility.

With these resources, students are able to design their device on CAD software and create their prototype by using 3D printers, laser cutters, etc. to create a working medical device.

Industry professionals are invited to give guidance to the teams and various awards are given out to the competitors.

San Jose State to host Biomedical Device Conference March 30

The San Jose State University BMES Student Chapter is hosting their 7th Annual Bay Area Biomedical Device Conference which will be held on March 30th, 2016 in the Student Union Ballroom at San Jose State University.

The conference is a forum for the latest developments in Biomedical Device technology, and an opportunity to hear presentations from the nation's leaders in biomedical engineering.

The conference is organized entirely by a group of Biomedical Engineering Society (SJSU BMES) students - both undergraduates and graduate students.

This is an excellent opportunity for professionals to network with each other and to potentially recruit future employees from among the students. The full day event will feature speakers from academia and industry who will be presenting current developments in their respective areas of expertise. SJSU BMES cordially invites all students, professionals, and interested parties to attend.

The conference program is available online, and will be updated periodically with speaker, and sponsor profiles. Bay Area Biomedical Device Conference Website: www.biomedconference.org .

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email info@biomedconference.org.

BMES member Scott Vu and team develop biophysical model and launch company

In 2012, BMES member Scott Vu launched a venture to pursue a patent for a biophysical model he developed.

Vu created RiboScan, a web-based tool based on the model he started developing as an undergraduate, according to an NC State article.

A patent was submitted on Vu's technology before he completed his Ph.D., and he has incorporated his company. The company, RiboWiz, is now seeking industry partners to commercialize the technology.

Creating individual proteins is important to biotech companies because proteins are used across a broad range of industrial applications, according to the article.

For example, proteins can be used in wastewater treatment, laundry detergent, winemaking, and to develop drugs for treating diseases like diabetes and cancer.

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Tom Webster discusses Norovirus incident at Chipotle with several media outlets

BMES fellow Thomas Webster was interviewed by several media outlets regarding the norovirus incident at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Brighton, MA.

According to the Boston Public Health Commission, There are currently 136 known cases from people who ate at Chipotle. The restaurant remains temporarily closed while Inspectional Services Department and BPHC continue investigations.

In interviews with several media outlets, Webster said combating norovirus is difficult.

In video that appeared on the Today Show, he said, ''You have to do a lot more than cleaning solutions. You need things like ultra violet light, you need high temperature.''

Webster also said no medicine exists to treat norovirus, but his lab at Northeastern University is working on treatments.

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Duke researchers aim to improve use of electric pulses to reduce pain

Technology being developed at Duke University could vastly improve the use of electric pulse to deliver pain relief.

Devices that periodically stimulate the spinal cord with a small electric pulse to achieve pain relief have been around for more than 40 years, according to a Duke article.

But the implantable devices don't work for everyone, and when they do work, only about 60 percent of patients experience a halving of pain.

BMES member Warren Grill, a professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology, and Nandan Lad, a neurosurgeon, are working together to improve the technology.

The key is to reprogram the devices to deliver pulses in a new way.

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New method improves on Alzheimer's disease clinical trials

A new method for measuring the progression of Alzheimer's disease could improve the efficiency of clinical trials for Alzheimer's patients and could be critical in finding a treatment for the disease, according to a University of Texas at Austin article.

BMES member Nishant Verma co-authored a paper explaining the research, according to the article.

The new method of measurement should improve the efficiency of clinical trials for Alzheimer's patients and could be critical in finding a treatment for the disease.

There are no current treatments for Alzheimer's Disease, though more than 400 treatments were studied in clinical trials over the past decade. The clinical trials were unable to demonstrate conclusive evidence of slowing disease progression, so the failure rate of Alzheimer's clinical trials is the highest of any disease, according to the article.

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Yale researchers study how cells interact

Rather than studying the individual components of a cell, researchers at Yale University are examining the behavior of huge cell networks. The research could lead to better understandings to the progression of cancer, diabetes and other diseases.

BMES member Andre Levchenko, the John C. Malone Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Systems Biology Institute is leading the research, according to a university article.

''Cells are exquisitely sensitive to a variety of different cues, chemical cues and mechanical ones,'' Levchenko said in the article. ''In fact that's the key to their survival, or to their proper function. If you think about what we call disease, that's the inability of cells to mount the response to cues that would be adequate. For example, instead of dying or staying put, cells may start dividing; that's in response to their own state, but also to certain cues they see in the environment. It's misinterpretation of these cues that may lead to cancer, for example.''

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BME departments invited to participate in USA Science and Engineering Festival

All BME departments and programs are invited to join BMES at The USA SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FESTIVAL April 15-17, 2016, in Washington, DC.

The event will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

For more information visit: http://www.usasciencefestival.org/ .

This is a great opportunity for student chapters to interact with the world on a grand scale. If your chapter students are developing lessons in a box or other types of hands on lessons this is a great opportunity to test them. This every other year festival is the largest celebration of science and engineering in North America and draws a minimum of 375,000 visitors. The average number of visitors to a booth is over 22,000.

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Be a featured BMES spotlight member

All BMES members are encouraged to sign up for the BMES featured member spotlight! This is a great opportunity to get to know your fellow members - and for them to get to know you! All member levels are welcome and encouraged to submit their information here.

BMES membership - profile updates

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Login to the website at www.bmes.org with your username and password (contact BMES Membership at membership@bmes.org if you can't remember those), your profile page with instantly pop-up so you can update all your information at once.

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