2013 IEM News

The world’s strongest imaging magnet has arrived at the University of Minnesota after being delayed more than a year. The Siemens MAGNETOM 10.5T will aid in brain research as part of the University’s new addition to the Medical School’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR). A global shortage of helium delayed the arrival of the magnet, which uses the element for cooling. “Researchers will use the magnet primarily for brain activity and human body imaging,” said Kamil Ugurbil, CMRR director and IEM member, “Being able to image human brain function improves significantly with magnetic field.” The higher magnetic field will likely provide better imaging of the human body and extremities as well, he said, although they’re much trickier to work with in a high magnetic field. CMRR received an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and millions from the University for the magnet project. Read the full article through StarTribune, MPR News

The University of Minnesota’s Medical Devices Center, along with Boston Scientific, was recently honored with the Innovative Collaboration of the Year at the 2013 Tekne Awards. The Tekne Awards recognize Minnesota businesses, companies, innovations and people for technological breakthroughs that improve the lives and futures of people living in Minnesota and all over the world. Academic and industry partnerships fuel vital discoveries and spur economic growth – but their disparate approaches can impede effective collaboration. By forging a thoughtful, synergistic working relationship that combines the resources and industry know-how of Boston Scientific Corp. (BSC) with University of Minnesota researchers and University-based hospitals and clinics, these two entities are identifying unmet clinical needs in a variety of spaces. The University of Minnesota, a leader in research and discovery, teaching and learning, created the new Minnesota Innovation Partnerships (MN-IP) program to facilitate company-sponsored University research. By streamlining collaboration agreements, several projects have already been initiated between the U of M's Medical Devices Center and BSC's cardiovascular division. Both parties have gained access to facilities and resources that otherwise would not have been available.

Dr. Tay Netoff, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and IEM member recently received an NSF grant addressing the optimization of deep brain stimulation. Set-up as a collaboration between the University of Minnesota, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of West Virginia, this research will fund the development of optimal control algorithms to desynchronize oscillatory systems. The main interest is in developing optimal deep brain stimulation waveforms to desynchronize neurons for treatment of Parkinson's disease. This theory will be tested in brain slice experiments as well as in a more controlled experiment using photoactivatable chemical oscillators.

Professor of School of Public Health Division of Epidemiology & Community Health and IEM member Dr. David R. Jacobs served as co-author on a study that found brushing your teeth could prevent heart disease and stroke. Health Canal, a premier online Health News wire featured the study which was published by the Journal of the American Heart Association. According to a recent article posted in Health Canal, “The study shows for the first time that as gum health improves, progression of atherosclerosis slows to a clinically significant degree.”

In a recent article published in Nature early this month, recent trends and career opportunities in neuroimaging were discussed. Imaging modalities including functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor MRI, positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG), and optogenetic imaging are discussed, as well as computational challenges of handling “big data’ in neuroimaging. Multi-scale neuroimaging and interdisciplinary collaborations are considered important. Kamil Ugurbil, director of Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and IEM member, and Bin He, IEM director and director of Center for Neuroengineering, were quoted in Nature’s recent article. Dr. He’s work on dynamic brain mapping using EEG is also featured.

“Fact is, this is the world’s largest cord blood transplant program,” said Dr. Jeff McCullough, a U pathologist and specialist in transfusion medicine quoted in Star Tribune. “To not even be collecting here for potential transplants? We should be able to do better than that.” This November, the medical center ironed out plans for an umbilical cord blood donation program to save stem cell researchers money and make the donation process easier. Laboratory medicine and pathology professor Jeffrey McCullough said the proposed deal, which would link the University with Fairview Health Services’ Riverside clinic and the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank, would give the University more access to stem cells at no cost. He said the plans are exciting because the University currently has to buy these stem cells from a cord blood bank at a great expense. Umbilical cord blood is in demand because it contains stem cells used in a variety of medical procedures, including the treatment of cancer, McCullough said. He also said that researchers could look into making the cord blood stem cells into tissues that adult marrow stem cells cannot produce, like cartilage and heart muscles. The deal is expected to be finalized once official contracts are written by the blood bank and signed by Fairview’s attorneys.  Read the full article

Daniel Saltzman, M.D., an IEM Member, led a team of researchers who working on the University’s Project Stealth have altered salmonella so it no longer causes food-related illness, but rather, delivers cancer drugs interleukin-2 (IL-2) and other proteins like IL-15 to tumor cells. Once there, they work to stimulate the patient’s immune system to destroy cancer cells. Saltzman is quoted in Health Talk, the University of Minnesota’s health news blog. The key, Saltzman says, was the discovery that salmonella naturally flocks to tumor cells. Knowing this, researchers can use the bacteria to their advantage, attacking tumors in a new way. “It’s a completely nontoxic way of treating cancer that involves boosting the immune system and changing the microenvironment of tumors, rendering them nonresistant to various therapies,” Saltzman said. To raise awareness about the project, Saltzman took a non-conventional route, seeking funding from philanthropic donors and organizations rather than the traditional government or University grant funding. He hopes a new advertising campaign, provided free of charge by a local advertising agency, will help raise awareness and push Project Stealth to a point where large funding groups and the NIH will take notice. Read in the StarTribune

David Wood, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and IEM Member, received the Scientist Development Grant from the American Heart Association in Self-assembled 3D vascularized tissues. He is working to address a fundamental problem in tissue engineering, which is the ability to engineer an in vitro vascular network that can supply nutrients and oxygen to cells within artificial tissues to maintain viability and function. The goal is to self-assemble a vascularized tissue construct from cell-laden micro-scale hydrogels, using only macroscopic parameters to control the self-assembly process in a highly scalable fashion. The anticipated result will be a method for producing vascularized tissue constructs in vitro that will match the efficiency of vasculature in vivo and which is scalable to arbitrarily large tissues. This method promises to greatly expand the range of applications for artificial tissues, including transplantable constructs, physiologically relevant disease models, and in vitro pharmacokinetic platforms to develop new therapeutics. Dr. Wood is a recipient of IEM Exploratory Grant in the past year.

The new Medical Devices Center (MDC) that opened this past spring in the Mayo Memorial Building at the University of Minnesota is the hot spot in Minnesota for medical device innovation. U faculty, staff, and the MDC Innovation Fellows Program are working to “recreate the magic” that physician C. Walter Lillehei and engineer Earl Bakken’s established in the creation of the smallest implantable pacemaker with new devices and the help of a wider expanse of resources. The MDC, a 8,000-square foot space with labs, workshops, state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and conference rooms is a place to connect engineers and scientists, clinical physicians, and surgeons for the creation of something new that can improve patients’ lives. With 50 patents, over 100 innovation disclosures, and 3 startup companies, MDC is located in the prime location in the midst of a city with 500 or 600 companies that support the medical device industry. With the increasing number of calls and visits from people local and international who are discovering the center, Dr. Art Erdman, a professor of mechanical engineering, IEM member, and director of the center, envisions the international interest in the center mushrooming, “we have tremendous support from the industry and lots and lots of contributions of equipment and supplies.” The magic that happened over 50 years ago is well on its way of recreation at the Medical Devices Center.

Daniel Keefe, Computer Science and Engineering faculty and Arthur Erdman, Mechanical Engineering faculty, Director of the Medical Devices Center and IEM member, have been awarded a grant of $725,000 related to Big Data and the future of modeling and simulation plus virtual prototyping as a core tool for medical device new product development. The proposed research will significantly advance the ability to develop new medical devices via virtual prototyping. In addition this work will help the medical device industry not only better meet the emerging health care needs, but do so by being able to deal with massive data sets (anatomical and other) and complex analytical simulations to optimize the design process and the resulting medical devices.

To examine new cost-effective approaches for diagnosing and treating meningitis, researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine have received a $3.2 million grant. Dr. David R. Boulware, IEM member, Medical School’s associate director of Global Health Programs in International Medicine, and grant leader stated the belief that, “a more efficient system of diagnosis and new inexpensive medications can improve lives while saving health resources that could be deployed in other ways.” Interviewed by Health Talk, the health news resource published by the University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center Office of Communication, Dr. Boulware explained that the ultimate goal they strive to reach is the improvement of outcomes of the diagnosis and treatment of meningitis while lowering the cost of care. “By taking new approaches to common problems the University of Minnesota hopes to make a meaningful impact and generate real change.”

Director of the Biopreservation Core Resource (BioCoR), U of M Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and IEM Member Allison Hubel, was awarded the Scholar Award by The National Blood Foundation (NBF) in recognition of her pivotal scientific research and continued commitment toward the NBF and its mission. Established in 1983 the National Blood Foundation (NBF) works to advance transfusion and cellular therapies worldwide in order to optimize patient and donor care and safety. NBF has a history of supporting research and education that advances transfusion medicine and cellular therapies by funding scientific research that benefits patients and donors. For information on BioCoR

Frank Thibodeau of Artiman Ventures, a Palo Alto venture capital firm, is on a mission. For the past four years, Thibodeau has been tenaciously pursuing ways to improve the quality of a certain class of composite materials, the reinforced plastics used to make a broad variety of high performance products in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and sports equipment industries. Think spaceships, race cars, boat hulls, and tennis rackets. Thibodeau, who is well versed in the science and economics of composite materials, wanted explore new techniques for making stronger, more versatile composites that are less costly to produce than the current models. Armed with some promising initial data from research at the University of Hawaii, Thibodeau sought out the right expertise to test these theories. He found that talent in an interdisciplinary research team in the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering. Thibodeau funded a two-year research project at the U of M led by Dr. Chris Macosko, a chemical engineering professor and polymer expert, and Dr. Andreas Stein, a chemistry professor with expertise in nanocomposites and materials chemistry.

The National Institutes of Health recognized Dr. Demetris Yannopoulos, Associate Professor of Cardiology, and Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Minnesota Physicians Heart (Minnesota Heart Clinic), with a Transformative Research Award for his work in injury protection in the administration of CPR. Naming only ten Transformative Research Award this year, Yannopoulos represents the only scientist in Minnesota to receive an award. "This research shines a beacon of hope for the thousands of people that suffer from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA),” said Yannopoulos, "More than 90 percent of Americans (295,000 Americans) who have a SCA die within minutes. Working with through the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium at the U of M, we are developing systems by coordinating education, training and the application of high-tech treatments among the general public, first responders, emergency medical services (EMS) and hospitals to mitigate injury and save lives for those having cardiac arrest." Member of the Lillehei Heart Institute and IEM, Dr. Yannopoulous and his team will receive $5.4 million in total costs over five years. For additional information

The Annual Institute for Engineering in Medicine Conference and Retreat took place this year on September 23rd at the McNamara Alumni Center on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities Campus. Featuring keynote talks from world recognized leaders in medical and engineering research, this year’s conference attracted a sold out crowd of over 350 participants from the community, including students from a few local high schools looking to learn more about medical and biological engineering research. Following plenary talks, there were five breakout sessions where faculty groups and other interested parties engaged in strategic discussions on how to further enhance research collaboration between engineering and biomedicine, and between the University and industry. Wrapping up the evening was a highly competitive poster session, featuring work of 115 University of Minnesota faculty, research centers, and students. Students involved in the session were judged by a panel of UMN faculty on the quality of their presentations. Posters were divided into one of IEM’s five research themes – Cardiovascular Engineering, Cellular and Mollecular Bioengineering, Medical and Biological Imaging, Medical Devices, and Neuroengineering. The top students in each session received a certificate and $100 award for their work. The Institute for Engineering in Medicine would like to thank all of you who were able to join us at this year’s conference and retreat. Due to the success of the program, we will be hosting our next conference and retreat Monday, September 22, 2014.

Dr. Tranquillo, member of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine, and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota works tirelessly in his lab with a team of researchers on creating arteries and heart valves manufactured from human tissue. Processes developed in his lab, which Dr. Tranquillo has been refining over the last 20 years, addresses many of the major issues with current replacement valves. For example, patients currently require multiple follow-up visits to control their body's responce to the tissue. Valves available today also do not have long-term use, as they only last about 10-15 years before they wear out. Also, with current market solutions, children are particularly vulnerable to valve replacement procedures — current valves do not grow as they get older, requireing multiple invasive surgeries to help them moderate their conditions. Recently highlighted in an article in the Star Tribune, Dr. Tranquillo spoke about the impact his work has for the public stating, “From one person’s donation of skin you could probably have enough cells to treat thousands of patients.” Through recent advances in his lab, he and his team are at the critical point of a medical breakthrough. They are nearing a process where engineered valves will actually regenerate tissue, instead of leaving a surgical scar. Read the full article

The new Medical Devices Center (MDC) that opened this past spring in the Mayo Memorial Building at the University of Minnesota is the hot spot in Minnesota for medical device innovation. U faculty, staff, and the MDC Innovation Fellows Program are working to “recreate the magic” that physician C. Walter Lillehei and engineer Earl Bakken’s established in the creation of the smallest implantable pacemaker, but with new devices and the help of a wider expanse of resources. The MDC, a 8,000-square foot space with labs, workshops, state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and conference rooms is a place to connect engineers and scientists, clinical physicians, and surgeons for the creation of something new that can improve patients’ lives. With 50 patents, over 100 innovation disclosures, and 3 startup companies, MDC is located in the prime location in the midst of a city with 500 or 600 companies that support the medical device industry. With the increasing number of calls and visits from people local and international who are discovering the center, Dr. Art Erdman, a professor of mechanical engineering , IEM member, and director of the center, when envisioning international interest in the center mushrooming states, “We have tremendous support from the industry and lots and lots of contributions of equipment and supplies.” The magic that happened over 50 years ago is well on its way of recreation. 

With the return of Michael J. Fox to television this fall, issues relating to Parkinson’s disease are being brought into the public eye. Publically announcing his own diagnosis with the disease in 1998, Fox’s new show will speak about some of the issues relating to his life with the neurological disorder. In order to enhance the dialog, NBC reached out to University of Minnesota researcher, and IEM member, Dr. Paul Tuite, who spoke alongside one of his patients Jackie Hunt Christensen, about the condition.

The NSF Workshop on Mapping and Engineering the Brain was successfully held August 13-14, 2013 in Arlington, VA, with co-sponsorship from the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Engineering in Medicine. About 30 invited scholars from various academic institutions participated in the 2-day workshop, together with about 35 government officials from NSF, NIH, DARPA, and other agencies. The Workshop had 12 featured scientific presentations by leaders in brain mapping and neurotechnologies, and highly interactive discussions throughout the 2-day meeting. A number of grand challenges have been identified, and will be summarized in the Workshop Report. Dr. Philip Rubin, Principal Assistant Director for Science of Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, delivered the keynote talk. IEM director Dr. Bin He chaired the Workshop. See below for more information. 

Dr. Paul Iaizzo, IEM member and Medtronic Professor of Visible Heart Research, recently spoke to WCCO news about the importance of whole body donations and how these donations will help train and educate future doctors. Heart research is made possible greatly due to the generous gifts of individuals whose hearts and bodies have been donated for research purposes. Their final act of generosity will enhance understanding of the inner workings of the human heart and contribute to lifesaving advances in cardiac medicine. Read the full story

Mo Li, Ph.D., McKnight Land-Grant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and IEM Member, was featured on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities website for his research in the field of quantum physics. Dr. Li’s research combines nanoscale optical and mechanical devices on integrated semiconductor chips (ICs). Dr. Li’s research team develops nanodevices that explore the interaction between light and forces in the regime of classical physics and quantum physics where light acts as individual photons. They employ state-of-the-art nanofabrication to make optical ICs, in which novel optical devices are connected with optical wires, namely waveguides, for high-speed optical communication within or between chips, for optical computation and for biochemical sensing. Dr. Li and his team also strive to use these optical devices to reveal novel quantum effects and perform measurements with resolution limited only by principles of fundamental physics. The goal of the McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Program is to advance the careers of new assistant professors at a crucial point in their professional lives. The designation of McKnight Land-Grant Professor is held by recipients for a two-year period. Read additional information on Dr. Li’s lab and research 

Have you ever wondered why human beings do the things we do? Or why our actions are often at odds with our stated intentions? These questions are the subject of a new book by A. David Redish, Ph.D., IEM member and professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. In his book, The Mind Within the Brain: How We Make Decisions and How Those Decisions Go Wrong, Dr. Redish explores the complexity of how we make decisions and how our brain processes information. 

Due to their commitment to provide the highest quality care for their patients’, physicians and IEM members Dr. Daniel Saltzman, Dr. Paul Tuite, Dr. Douglas Yee, and Dr. Bevan Yueh have been selected to join the University of Minnesota Medical Center’s Top Doctor list of 2013. Each doctor was nominated by physicians and registered nurses who also practice at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, as part of University of Minnesota Physicians. Daniel Saltzman, M.D., Ph.D. is a pediatric surgeon at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview and Amplatz Children’s Hospital with specialties in pediatric surgery and trauma services. His clinical interests include: neonatal, pediatric general and minimally invasive surgery, laparoscopy in children, and surgical robotics. Dr. Saltzman holds an Associate Professor position in the department of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Paul Tuite, M.D., is a neurologist at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. His clinical interests include: movement disorders, Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, tremor, multiple system atrophy, corticobasal degeneration, chorea, myoclonus, medication induced movement disorders, and dystonia. Dr. Tuite currently holds an Associate Professorship in the Department of Neurology at the University of Minnesota. Douglas Yee, M.D., holds the John H. Kersey Chair in Cancer Research and directs the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Yee’s clinical interest is breast cancer. Dr. Yee is Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota. Bevan Yueh, M.D., is the Senior Examiner of the American Board of Otolaryngology and is on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders. Dr. Yueh’s clinical interests include head and neck, salivary gland, and thyroid tumors.

Dr. Alena Talkachova, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and IEM Member, recently received a CAREER award from NSF for her research on “The effect of feedback on cardiac dynamics”. This project studies the natural phenomenon of electrical restitution in hearts, which is characterized by a shortening of the action potential duration of a heart as the heart rate increases. For the past several decades, mathematical modeling of electrical restitution received a lot of attention; however the current theory of electrical restitution was developed for periodic stimulation only. However, in the heart, the heart rate is never periodic, thus leading to the presence of the heart rate variability (HRV), which is modulated by many physiological factors, including the influence of circadian rhythms, temperature regulations, changes in cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activity, respiratory rhythms, etc. The main goals of the proposed research are to extend the concept of electrical restitution to the case of non-periodic physiological stimulation by including HRV, and to develop a new algorithm for pacemakers that provide antiarrhythmic effect to the heart by stabilizing cardiac rhythms.

Robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction. In fact, at the University of Minnesota Center for Distributed Robotics, Dr. Papanikolopoulos and his graduate students are changing the way S.W.A.T. teams and military do reconnaissance. Dr. Papanikolopoulos’ Scout robots can perform reconnaissance in risky military, hostage, or rescue situations. Scout is a robot that is capable of navigating and transmitting images by remote control. This robot is not just a camera on wheels; it has been engineered to withstand the impact of being thrown into all sorts of environments and distances. Scout can remain intact whether thrown up a few stories of a building or even dropped from an airplane. Today there are thousands of Scout robots employed worldwide. It is being used in war-torn countries overseas and also stateside by members of S.W.A.T. teams. This robot has saved lives and illustrates what can be accomplished with research that has a goal and a vision and a team of extremely capable students. 

Everything our bodies do depends on interactions that happen on a nanoscale, the realm of atoms and small molecules. Today, medicine is catching up. At the University of Minnesota, nanomedicine researchers are pushing forward with projects like new drug-delivery technologies and better screening of potential drugs. In cancer biology, IEM Members Dr. John C. Bischof and Dr. Michael Garwood are out to deliver nanoparticles of iron oxide to tumors and kill them with heat while sparing healthy tissue. At the University of Minnesota’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Garwood has developed SWIFT, a new technology that can measure, in the range of more than 1 milligram of iron per gram of tumor tissue, how many of the nanoparticles have been absorbed by a tumor.

Dr. Bin He, IEM director and professor of biomedical engineering, and his team made a major advancement in brain-computer interface (BCI) research, which demonstrates, for the first time, the ability for human subjects to use their thoughts to steer a flying robot around a gym, making it turn, rise, dip, and even sail through a ring. The technology is completely noninvasive and uses brain waves (EEG) to detect and decode the “intention” of human subjects. The work was published in the Journal of Neural Engineering on June 5, 2013, and supported in part by grants from NSF, NIH and ONR, and in part by the Institute for Engineering in Medicine. The noninvasive BCI technology is aimed at helping disabled patients to interact with the world, and may lead to a new generation of prostheses, assistive devices, and devices helping patients with neurodegenerative diseases or mental disorders. The work was featured in Nature, BBC,  New York Times, Scientific American, US News, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, among others. View video on the mind controlled flying robot.

On June 4, 2013 the University of Minnesota’s Medical Devices Center (MDC) opened its new 8,000 sqft state-of-the-art medical devices laboratory. The new Medical Devices Center, in the heart of the University’s Academic Health Center, will foster even greater collaboration between the University’s College of Science and Engineering, and Academic Health Center units in Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing and Veterinary Medicine. State-of-the-art equipment and labs are used for designing and testing medical devices. Facilities include a 3D Virtual Design Lab, Imaging Lab, Anatomy and Physiology Lab, Mechanical and Electronic Fabrication Labs, Wet Lab, Brainstorming Rooms, and more. The Medical Devices Center is part of the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Engineering and Medicine (IEM) established in July 2007. IEM is an initiative jointly sponsored by the University’s College of Science and Engineering and Academic Health Center. The IEM fosters a wide range of high level, goal-oriented interdisciplinary research, uniting faculty in health sciences and various engineering, science and mathematics departments. Read additional information about the Medical Devices Center

The position paper “Recommendations for Nanomedicine Human Subjects Research Oversight: An Evolutionary Approach for an Emerging Field” is featured in the winter 2012 issue of The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Based on a grant about the ethics of human Nanomedicine research, this paper highlights issues in the field of Nanomedicine as it quickly evolves toward complex, active and interactive formulations. Nanomedicine HSR provides an occasion to think systematically about appropriate oversight, especially early in the evolution of a technology, when hazard and risk information may remain incomplete. The paper presents the consensus recommendations of a multidisciplinary, NIH-funded project group, to ensure a science-based and ethically informed approach to HSR issues in nanomedicine, and to integrate HSR analysis with analysis of occupational, bystander, and environmental concerns. Multiple members from IEM, Drs. Stephen Campbell, Arthur Erdman, Jeffrey McCullough, and Ronald A. Siegel participated in the project alongside additional collaborators from the University of Minnesota’s Law School, Medical School, and College of Science and Engineering, as well as representatives from several other institutions. Read the full article

To better understand and illustrate the differences between human hearts, healthy and diseased, the University of Minnesota’s Visible Heart® Lab exhibits a live heart that exists for a few hours at a time. Currently at the lab, visitors are able to view the heart through a series of 3D imagery. Observation and research done in this lab by physicians and medical engineers is vital to the future of improved cardiac care. The Visible Heart® lab is a premiere place to perform translational systems physiology research which ranges from cellular and tissue studies to organ and whole body investigations. The Visible Heart® lab embodies a creative atmosphere which is energized by some of the best and brightest students at the University.

Catering to a sold-out crowd, the 2013 Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium, organized by the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, took place April 11, 2013 at the Commons Hotel immediately following the annual Design of Medical Devices Conference. This year’s program featured plenary presentations by leaders in academia, industry, and government, including representatives from the University of Minnesota, Harvard University, Medtronic, Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. Having to struggle through an unusual April blizzard, the symposium attracted over 250 participants from various academic institutions and industries, including most of the active researchers in neuromodulation at the University of Minnesota. As part of the program, the symposium included a highly interactive poster session highlighting work by both established researchers in Neuromodulation and the next generation of up and coming students. Awards were also provided to top performing students through a competitive judging process. At the end of the program, the following student presenters were selected for poster awards—1st place, Benjamin Teplitzky; 2nd place, Nessa Johnson; 3rd places, Jessica Cassidy and Cory Gloechner. The Institute for Engineering in Medicine would like to congratulate the winners of the Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium poster competition, as well as thank all participants for a successful symposium. The 2014 Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium will be held April 10-11, 2014 , immediately following the Design of Medical Devices Conference. 

A position paper on the grand challenges in interfacing engineering with life sciences and medicine, supported in part by IEM, was published as a featured article in March issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. Despite tremendous efforts to develop the knowledge and ability that are essential to addressing biomedical problems using engineering methodologies, successfully integrating engineering into the life sciences and health care remains a grand challenge. Dr. Bin He, IEM director, is the leading author of this position paper together with 17 other authors from academia, government and industry.  Read the IEEE grand challenges article

Will Durfee cautions that his inventions pale in comparison to the fictional technology that transforms genius Tony Stark into superhero Iron Man. But Durfee does acknowledge the wide range of possibilities for robots that work in cooperation with humans to make them stronger, and he is developing wearable robots that augment human motion. Although he doesn't anticipate his inventions will enable humans to punch through concrete walls, he hopes robotics can someday make us all more powerful.

For people living with type-1 diabetes, the task of monitoring blood glucose levels and administering insulin is always at the forefront of their minds. It’s something they must do multiple times a day, every day. But University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic scientists are working together to build an artificial pancreas that would eliminate this burden. As part of this work, the University’s Steven Koester, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and member of the Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM), is designing a more accurate and reliable continuous glucose sensor that would make the artificial pancreas a better treatment option.

Drs. Paul Iaizzo, Richard Bianco, A.J. Hill, and James St. Louis co-edited a new textbook through Springer Publications, which was released in March 2013, “Heart Valves: From Design to Clinical Implantation”. This book was written as a tool for researchers to learn the most advanced science behind cardiac valve anatomy, models for testing and research methods, clinical trials, and clinical needs and applications. Read additional information about this release

Keshab K Parhi, Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and IEM member, has been selected to receive the University of Minnesota Award for Outstanding Contributions to Post baccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education for 2012-2013. Recipients are chosen for excellence in instruction; involvement in students’ research, scholarship, and professional development; development of instructional programs; and advising and mentoring of students. All recipients become members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Parhi is recognized for creating new courses on VLSI signal processing at the University of Minnesota, for his graduate-level text book "VLSI Digital Signal Processing Systems" (Wiley, 1999), for mentoring 37 graduated PhD students, 8 current PhD students, over 50 MSEE graduated projects/thesis students, and over 15 pre-doctoral and post-doctoral visitors. He also served as Director of the Graduate Studies of the Electrical Engineering program during 2008-2011.

Multiple patents were approved on March 5, 2013 for a fastener deployment system and method by UMN researchers Ryan Buesseler, David Horn, and Arthur Erdman, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Medical Devices Center (MDC). This device will be used in nasal septal surgery, helping surgeons place fasteners into a patient post-surgery. This patent is in part due to IEM funding through its "What If?" program. 

In January 2013, the Medical Devices Center Innovation Fellows Program Director Saurav Paul and Fellows Alumni Ben Arcand, were named Minnesota’s Top Inventors through the Twin Cities Business Magazine. Saurav and Ben are listed under St. Jude Medical and Boston Scientific Inc. respectively. Visit the complete list of Minnesota’s 500 leading innovators

The Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM) is pleased to announce the recipients of our 2013 seed grant program. This year IEM was able to support 10 projects from a variety of backgrounds, in partial through additional support from the CTSI Office of Discovery and Translation for co-funding some of the exploratory projects. While we were not able to fund all of the programs we would have liked, we are able through our Group and Exploratory grant programs to target some of the many clinical problems that affect everyday life. We also wish to take this opportunity to thank all submitting investigators who have applied for IEM seed grants, and all reviewers and panel members for their great efforts in reviewing the proposals.

Dr. Jianping Wang, IEM member and Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty, and his team received a $28 million, five year grant to lead a new national research center focused on developing the next generation of microelectronics. The new Center for Spintronic Materials, Interfaces, and Novel Architectures (C-SPIN) at the University of Minnesota will bring together top researchers from across the nation to develop technologies for spin-based computing and memory systems. Unlike today's computers, which function on the basis of electrical charges moving across wires, the emerging spin-based computing systems will process and store information through spin, a fundamental property of electrons. The research will have an impact beyond the world of computer science and engineering resulting in advances in nanotechnology, materials science, physics, chemistry, circuit design, and biomedicine. Visit the C-Spin website

Research generated between David Odde, IEM member and Biomedical Engineering faculty, and Carl Flink, head of the Department of Theater arts, was recently highlighted in Science Magazine's November 2012 issue in an article titled "Cellular Chaos on the Dance Floor." By dressing performers in inflatable 'sumo suits' and presenting them with rules of movement to approximate randomness, Odde and Flink can quickly test hypotheses explaining molecular movement within cells. One of the key benefits to approaching research in this manner is that instead of having to set forth programmers to generate simulations which can take a lot of time, with a few simple instructions dancers can perform the same simulations, with similar results.