photo credit: UC Davis Graduate School of Management

From left: Dr. Leigh Griffiths, Jeni Lee, Gina MacBarb, Maelene Wong

ViVita Technologies, a startup founded by Veterinary Medicine Professor and Athanasiou Lab collaborator Leigh Griffiths and BME Ph.D. students Regina MacBarb, Jeni Lee, and Maelene Wong, won the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition. Big Bang! is the annual UC Davis Business Plan Competition organized by MBA students of the Graduate School of Management. The goal of the contest is to promote entrepreneurship at UC Davis and the region supported by the University. The winner receives funds to invest in their business.

ViVita Technologies plans to circumvent the major flaws in current animal-derived heart valve replacements by implementing a new approach to tissue preparation. They have developed a patent-pending process that removes the major components of the material responsible for stimulating the recipients’ immune response while preserving the tissue’s structural integrity and functional properties. Following application of this process, recipient cells are able to repopulate the material, thus creating living replacement tissues capable of integration and growth. ViVita’s tissue preparation process, therefore, creates tissue replacements that last the lifetime of our patients. Learn more about ViVita here: http://istart.org/startup-idea/business/vivita-technologies-inc/12444

ViVita is one of the resident companies of the Engineering Translational Technology Center (ETTC), the technology incubator at the College of Engineering at UC Davis.

ViVita Technologies, Inc. (founded by Dr. Leigh Griffiths and BME graduate students Maelene Wong, Jeni Lee, and Gina MacBarb)

AmberCycle Industries (including BME Assistant Professor Marc Facciotti and UC Davis undergraduate students)

Please come show your support at the
Big Bang! Final Awards Ceremony
Thursday, May 16, 2013 from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM

UC Davis Conference Center

The 2013 Engineering Design Showcase will take place 2:00-4:30PM on June 6, 2013 in the Pavilion at the UC Davis ARC. Admission is free.The Engineering Design Showcase is the culminating experience for graduating seniors. A senior design experience is required for all students in an engineering major. Teams complete a capstone project in which they design and prototype a product, device, or software system.

This event will bring together project teams from all departments for an opportunity to share student designs with the public. Also attending the event will be invited guests from industry partners and donors. These guests will serve as reviewers who will provide feedback to student teams on their exhibits and project demonstrations.

For a little preview of what you’ll be seeing, here’s a video of a biomedical engineering team talking about the biomimetic prosthetic eye they designed: http://youtu.be/IeLcKwHYkcM

John Boone, Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis

A paper published by UC Davis Biomedical Engineering and Radiology professor John Boone, his BME Ph.D. students Lin Chen and Anita Nosratieh, and colleagues Craig Abbey (UCSB) and Karen Lindfors (UCDMC) has received the Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Award. The award honors the best paper published that year in the journal, Medical Physics, and includes a cash prize. The award will be presented by the President of the AAPM (American Association of Physicists in Medicine), the organization that produces Medical Physics, during an award ceremony in Indianapolis on August 5, 2013.

The paper, Anatomical complexity in breast parenchyma and its implications for optimal breast imaging strategies, showed that breast CT imaging yields a smaller amount of distortion due to normal tissue than mammography or tomosynthesis. Normal breast tissue, such as glands, can get in the way of detecting cancerous lesions. High levels of this anatomical noise make any imaging method less reliable at revealing cancerous tissue. Dr. Boone’s lab used all three imaging modalities on 23 volunteers who had been referred to the UC Davis Medical Center for imaging because of suspicious findings on routine breast exams.

They found that anatomical noise in breast imaging is only reduced when the thickness of the individual cross-sectional planes (known as “slices”) that are reconstructed to produce a whole image are less than 7mm thick. Significant reduction in noise only occurs when slice thickness is less than 1mm. Because of its intrinsically thin slices, breast CT had the least anatomical noise. The authors conclude that breast CT might be a better way to detect mass lesions than mammography or tomosynthesis.

Gina MacBarb

UC Davis Biomedical Engineering graduate student Gina MacBarb is one of 66 doctoral students nationwide selected to receive a $15,000 2013-2014 Scholar Award from P.E.O. International. P.E.O. is a philanthropic educational organization that provides financial aid for the education of women.

An engineered TMJ disc. Photo credit: Gina MacBarb

As part of the Athanasiou Musculoskeletal Bioengineering Laboratory, Gina is pursuing a project that uses the Lab’s self-assembly process to tissue engineer a biomimetic temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc clinical product to repair and/or replace discs damaged by injury or disease. Thus far, Gina has optimized a bioactive treatment regimen that increases the functional properties of the engineered tissue closer to those of native tissue. She has recently generated shape-specific constructs that capture the anatomical geometry of the native TMJ disc, and is pursuing the use of mechanical stimulation in combination with the bioactive agents to produce a tissue displaying the spectrum of mechanical properties recapitulative of native TMJ discs.

In addition to research and academics, Gina participates in educational outreach events with the Biomedical Engineering Student Association (BESA). Through BESA, Gina has established a mentorship program for undergraduate students to receive advice and guidance from BME graduate students in successfully navigating through college.

Gina’s long-term career goal is to drive the creation of critical life-saving technologies and help revolutionize regenerative medicine solutions. In line with this goal, she has recently co-founded a university-based startup, ViVita Technologies Inc., which is focused on generating a novel heart valve replacement that will last a patient’s lifetime.

]]> http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/articles/2013/05/06/p-e-o-scholar-award-winner-tissue-engineers-better-tmj-discs/feed/ 0 http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/articles/2013/05/01/call-for-nominations-for-the-bme-undergraduate-leadership-award/ http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/articles/2013/05/01/call-for-nominations-for-the-bme-undergraduate-leadership-award/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 18:30:44 +0000 Holly Ober http://www.bme.ucdavis.edu/?p=7067 This Award honors students who have displayed outstanding commitment to the BME Department by participating extensively in activities to promote and improve the BME program. Examples of leadership and contribution include leading or organizing BME department or student activities, extensive service in promoting the Department at campus events, and development of innovative programs to improve the educational mission of the Department. This is only a partial list of examples and other leadership roles and contributions are possible. Nominees must be graduating seniors.

Nominations are open to STUDENTS, STAFF and FACULTY. To nominate, submit a formal letter outlining how the candidate’s leadership has contributed to BME by May 8th to Rosalind Christian, rchristian@ucdavis.edu. Please provide specific examples and anecdotes.

This is a prestigious award, and if you feel you know a deserving candidate be sure to do them the honor of a nomination.

Molly Townsend, a biomedical engineering graduate student working with Prof. Nesrin Sarigul-Klijn, has received a 3-year NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support her Ph.D. research. Molly’s project, “Long Duration Spaceflight Spine Fracture Location,” will investigate the effects of prolonged microgravity on the spine biomechanics and injury.

The cancellation of the Space Transportation System has enabled NASA to focus on leaving low Earth orbit. However, the human body is not yet compatible with long mission durations. When an individual is exposed to microgravity, bone mineral density in the spine will degenerate 12 times faster than that of a postmenopausal woman, resulting in a decrease in bone strength and an increased risk of bone fracture. With NASA looking to explore the Martian surface, the long microgravity and radiation exposure time coupled with the performance of mission tasks under Martian gravity will result in an increased probability of fracture. Therefore, an effective computational model of the spine exposed to microgravity is necessary to describe the fracture loading mechanics.

Molly’s project will utilize a model capable of accurately simulating spinal motion and stress distribution to predict the location and severity of vertebral compression fractures. Realistic loading conditions from common mission activities (ex. jumping from a height on two feet, lifting a heavy load, etc.) will be predicted and applied to the spinal model. The results will be compared to widely-accepted bone fracture predictive methods in order to determine the location and severity of vertebral compression fractures. Results will assist NASA mission engineers in planning mission activities that will preserve the health of the astronauts.

Christal Wintersmith, Biomedical Engineering’s Graduate Student Affairs Officer, is the recipient of this year’s Graduate Student Association Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students. The award will be presented at the Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Symposium award ceremony and dinner on Friday, April 5^th.

Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group Chair Kent Leach says, “Christal is an invaluable strength of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group and go-to resource for our students and faculty alike. She always offers timely information, a kind ear, and a supportive voice, serving as a strong advocate for students to facilitate their academic goals.”

Christal organizes graduate student recruitment and orientation, helps plan the Alumni Seminar Series, helps students to find labs and teaching assistantships or with last minute paperwork, and guides the Biomedical Engineering Student Association (BESA) activities. She often gives up time on weekends or evenings to attend recruitment, retreats, or other social activities in order to get to know the graduate students better.

“I’m always amazed that Christal doesn’t have a secretary or helper, because as long as I’ve been at UC Davis these events have always run smoothly, growing in size and popularity year after year, with Christal in charge of everything from space reservation to decoration to food and beverage purchasing to faculty scheduling. She is the lifeblood of the department in many ways and there is no way the BME grad group would function as efficiently without her,” says graduate student Matt Soicher.

In addition, she has helped countless students as they transition to moving to Davis, navigate the graduate program, and look for job opportunities. Her door is always open, and she welcomes all questions and requests no matter how large or small.

Kristen Lipscomb, who will present the award, says “Christal helps to ensure that the needs of graduate students are heard by the department, and changes are made when necessary. I always know Christal is available whether I have an immediate concern regarding my degree, or just want to talk about what is going on this weekend.”

Christal says, “I am deeply honored to have been nominated and completely ecstatic to have been selected to receive the 2013 Award for Excellence in Service to Graduate Students. Working with graduate students at UC Davis and particularly the students of BME has been a joy. Our Biomedical Engineering Student Association is the most broadly active student group of any I have worked with and their involvement not only makes my job easier, but gives us the opportunity to do so much more to support the student body. Thank you all for your many words of appreciation. You are the reason I am here.”

A 3D printed replica of a living dog’s skull, made in the TEAM Prototyping Facility in the Biomedical Engineering Department at UC Davis.

The UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Department’s TEAM Design, Prototyping, and Fabrication Laboratory has been making 3D printed replicas of dogs’ skulls to help veterinarians at the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital plan surgeries.  The models are based on CT scans and allow the surgeons to better assess the patient’s damage, and to measure the best surgical routes for avoiding the brain, eyes, and other critical areas.  This makes surgeries safer by reducing the amount of time the patient is anaesthetized.

“It’s one thing to study a CT image on screen – we learn a tremendous amount about a patient that way,” says Dr. Frank Verstraete, Chief of Dentistry and Oral Surgery. “But to be able to hold a replica of that same image in your hand and see exactly what your patient’s skull looks like takes the experience to a completely different level. The advantages of that are tenfold compared to a screen image.”

Using the replicas, Dr. Verstraete and Dr. Boaz Arzi have been able to measure and size the plates used in the cutting-edge jawbone regrowth trials they have been doing in collaboration with Biomedical Engineering.

To make the replicas, the surgeons convert CT scan data from the patient into a digital model called a 3-Dimensional Point Cloud file (commonly referred to an STL file) and send it to the TEAM Prototyping Facility. The data is often imperfect, and requires modification before printing.  Files will often have a lot of noise, or improperly created features.

“To give you an example, when we print dog skulls, the jaw is often rendered as one piece with the skull. Due to the current limitations of scanning equipment, the tiny gap between the mandible and skull is not recognized.  Thus, before printing I need to go into the model, and extract each individual component (in this example, the mandible and skull).  If the doctor needed a cross-section of the item to be printed, I would also add a partition line between the parts,” explains Steven Lucero, TEAM Manager.

The repaired model is then loaded into the printer’s proprietary software, where it is sliced up into layers 16 microns thick. These layers are then deposited from bottom up, until a completed model is left on the build tray.  After a bit of cleaning, the skull is complete and ready for pickup.  A skull print can take anywhere from 2 to 16 hours.

“One of the things I appreciate the most about the replicas is that it helps us to better explain the situation to our clients,” says VMTH oral surgeon Dr. Boaz Arzi. “If I bring this skull to the waiting room and let the clients see the exact damage to their pet, they understand the procedure better. I have gotten many positive responses from clients who are excited that this technology exists, and that they are better able to understand the treatment plan for their pet.”