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UT Dallas bioengineering head to be inducted as Fellow of Royal Society

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Danzig

Public release date: 25-Apr-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: LaKisha Ladson lakisha.ladson@UTDallas.edu 972-883-4183 University of Texas at Dallas

Dr. Mathukumalli Vidyasagar, an internationally known expert in control and system theory, has been elected a Fellow of The Royal Society, the oldest continuously operating scientific society in the world.

Vidyasagar, head of the Department of Bioengineering at The University of Texas at Dallas, joins the ranks of the most distinguished international scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering and medicine.

Vidyasagar's selection recognizes his contributions to various aspects of control and system theory, robotics, statistical learning theory and computational biology. His citation reads: "He has combined probability theory, combinatorics, and artificial intelligence to produce a beautiful unified theory of statistical learning, and used it to solve NP-hard design problems."

Vidyasagar's pattern in life has been to master a subject area, write a book about it, and then move to a different research problem at the forefront of the field. Two of his books co-authored with Dr. Mark W. Spong, dean of UT Dallas' Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, are among the most popular textbooks on robot dynamics and control.

"Joining the Fellowship of the Royal Society is the proudest moment of my career. The joy and satisfaction this election brings is immeasurable."

Vidyasagar holds the Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science at UT Dallas and leads the bioengineering department in the Jonsson School. The department collaborates with other schools within the University, UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Texas at Arlington.

"Dr. Vidyasagar has made many fundamental contributions in several areas of engineering, including control theory, robotics, and learning theory, which have earned him numerous awards and an international reputation as an outstanding scientist," Spong said. "His latest work in the area of computational biology, in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, has the potential to greatly advance our knowledge of the causes of cancer and the effectiveness of new drugs for the treatment of cancer. Election to the Royal Society is a very high honor and brings distinction to him, the Jonsson School, and to UT Dallas."

A native of India, Vidyasagar attended the University of Wisconsin and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering by age 17. At 21, he completed his doctorate and by age 35, he was given an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers fellowship for "contributions to the stability analysis of linear and nonlinear distributed systems."

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UT Dallas bioengineering head to be inducted as Fellow of Royal Society

UT students get hands-on opportunity with da Vinci surgical robot

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Danzig

by JIM BERGAMO / KVUE News and Photojournalist MICHAEL MOORE

kvue.com

Posted on April 24, 2012 at 9:05 PM

Updated yesterday at 9:04 AM

AUSTIN -- The words surgery and bioengineering did not seem to fit together a few decades ago. On Tuesday, students at the University of Texas got a first-hand look at how the two are now the perfect fit in the field of surgical technology.

Back in the day the board game Operation was as close as any kid got to performing an operation. On Tuesday,UT pre-med studentsand those just preoccupied with curiosity, got under the hood and took da Vinci Surgical Robots for a test drive.

"To allow students to handle equipment that is for operating procedures is fantastic," said Elizabeth Coyne, a junior studying biology. "I could not pass that up."

Students took turns on the da Vinci, and then took turns asking questions from real surgeons who shared their expertise on robotic surgery.

"It enables visualization effects that I cannot traditionally achieve," said Reginald Baptiste, M.D., who is a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Students learned that da Vinci's minimally invasive surgery benefits patients because there's less pain, blood loss and fewer complications,not to mention shorter recovery times.

American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. Receives NYSE Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule …

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Danzig

NEWARK, N.J., April 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. (NYSE: AOB - News) (the "Company") today announced that the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") has notified the Company that it is not in compliance with NYSE rules due to the Company's failure to timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under NYSE rules, when a Company does not comply with annual report filing requirements, the NYSE allows a company an additional six months to file its annual report in order to regain compliance. In the case of the Company, the annual report would be due on or before October 29, 2012. If the Company fails to file its annual report within that time period, the NYSE may, in its sole discretion, allow the Company's securities to remain listed for up to an additional six months or may, in its sole discretion, commence suspension and delisting procedures.

As previously announced, during the performance of the annual audit of the Company's financial statements for the fiscal year 2011, the Company's auditors, Ernst & Young Hua Ming's (E&Y), noted certain inconsistencies. As a result, the Audit Committee has commenced an independent investigation into the matters identified by E&Y. Although the Company cannot know at this time how long the investigation will take, the Company will endeavor to file the Form 10-K as soon as possible upon the completion of the investigation.

About American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc.

American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving health through the development, manufacture and commercialization of a broad range of prescription and over the counter products.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. The economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact:

American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc.

Hong Zhu

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American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. Receives NYSE Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule ...

Bioengineering the bugs

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Danzig

Probiotics are an enormous field and even bigger market but and as interesting as they are an, arguably, more interesting biotic is starting to gain traction as more innovative researchers explore its possibilities. This is the field of designer probiotics.

The central idea is this, certain pathogenic bacteria (and I am speaking exclusively within the gut) use host sugars to facilitate binding or toxin targeting and by doing so cause disease. However, if we expressed these host sugars on something else, a harmless strain of Escherichia coli for example, we would create more sites for the attachment of pathogens and their weapons. This dilutes the effect these pathogenic bacteria can have on our insides and either prevents disease or certainly reduces the severity of it and the harmless E. coli,ladenwith pathogen and toxin, passes out of the body before they can cause any problems.

Additionally, there is little chance that the pathogens will evolve around this therapeutic strategy as doing so would comprimise their capacity to recognise the target receptor that has been copied and expressed on our harmless E. coli strain and therefore would reduce their capacity to cause disease as part of their lifecycle.

Then of course there is money. Currently, host sugars have been developed synthetically to be used in isolation to attempt prevention of pathogen binding but are not optimally successful as these sugar structures must survive the stomache and early gut before reaching the distal gut where much disease occurs. Making these sugars alone is not cheap but you know what is cheap, bacteria and broth. Vats of drug can be grown in labs much faster than the sugars can be synthesised making it a much more cost effective approach. Of course then there is also the problem of hostmetabolismof the synthesised sugars. By the time the distal gut is reached the gastro-intestinal system has done what it does best and broken much of the sugar down into its component parts rendering it ineffective as a therapeutic. The probiotic approach secures the expression of the host sugars deep into the distal gut as long as the bacteria survive, which they have been shown to do. Once they get there they grow and divide increasing the amount of drug in the system for free.

I am aware of three such bioengineered bugs capable of doing this work, one for Shiga toxigenic E. coli (STEC) infections, one for enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) infections and one for cholera. Together these three species account for a large proportion of the 2 million deaths that occur each year due to enteric infections, not including the significant morbidity that occurs at the hands of these species.

STEC produces, as you would expect, a shiga toxin which is a very powerful toxin that causes breakdown of cell membranes leading to haemorrhagic colitis (bleeding gut) and the significantly worse haemolytic uraemic syndrome where the patient develops haemolytic anaemia (not enough blood cells because they keep popping), thrombocytopenia (not enough platelets so your blood cant clot) and renal failure (kidneys shut down). Importantly, in this case at least, the shiga toxin is made in the gut before binding to a host sugar called GB3 which facilitates absorption into the body where it does its damage. When GB3 was expressed on a harmless E. coli strain and fed twice daily to STEC infected mice it was found to be 100% effective in preventing disease as the toxin was being soaked up before reaching the gut wall. For the cautious out there the use of dead GB3 expressing E. coli was also tested and found to be just as effective if the dosage was increased to three times daily. Dead bacteria do not mutate and are not technically genetically modified organismsany moreso this approach has long term promise to treat STEC infection in the future.

ETEC is behind travellersdiarrhoea but should not be underestimated. This bacteria is endemic in developingcountriesand is the major killer of young children in these areas. It kills by messing around with the way your body controls water loss in the gut. The toxin made by ETEC binds to the host sugar GM1 and then is internalised by the cell. The target cells are those that line the gut surface and are responsible for absorbing nutrients, ions and water. Once inside the cell the toxin modifies a biochemical pathway to ensure a protein called adenyl cyclase is constantly stimulated which in turn causes aninterruptionto ion movement resulting in ions moving out of the cell into the gut but not back in again. A general rule in gut physiology is where the ions go water will follow and so water flows straight of the body into the gut causing watery diarrhoea. This diarrhoea facilitates the spread of the ETEC into water supplies and then into new hosts as they consume the contaminated water. The production of a harmless E. coli strain capable of binding the ETEC toxin was performed and the result was a bacterial strain that could bind 5% of its own weight in toxin! There is the suggestion that the administration of this strain prophylactically to travellers from developed coutries before travel to the developing world may eliminate a good proportion of disease cases and the ease in growing high quantities of drug would make treating the developing world significantly easier and cheaper providing some additional hope in these areas.

Finally, cholera. Vibrio cholera is endemic to Asia and causes epidemics all over the world. Usually as a result of eating undercooked fish the pathogen enters the system, colonises the small intestine and releaases its toxin which works in the same way as the ETEC toxin. If no treatment is made available, as is the case for many where cholera is endemic, the chance of death rockets up to 50%. Treatment here is tricky as antibiotics can actually make the disease worse as toxin leeches from the dying pathogens and overwhelms the patient so most are treated with fluid therapy, keep drinking salty water (made using sachets of important salts which can be added to sterilised water) until you get better, or not. A GM1 expressing E. coli was developed and shown to be very effective in preventing disease. Mice given V. cholera infections were treated with the harmless GM1 expressing strain 1 or 4 hours post infection and 12/12 survived compared to 1/12 for the post 1 hour treatment, 8/12 compared to 2/12 for the post 4 hour treatment. In this case it was found that the GM1 producing strain could remain stable when freeze dried and so could be made, stored, then added to the oral rehydration salts as part of the current therapeutic strategy which would keep costs significantly down.

This is but the start. Similar approaches could be applied to Clostridium difficile, Helicobacter pylori and Schistosoma mansonii infections as this novel approach is developed.

So thats it. The problem of antibiotic resistance is solved right? We just dont use antibiotics and instead use these cleverly designed genetically modified organisms that cant be evolved aroundwithoutthe pathogenreducingits ability to infect at all. We produceenormousquantities cheaply in vats where the drug grows itself on $10 worth ofingredientsand then treat the whole world.

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Bioengineering the bugs

The Hertz Foundation Nears Half-Century Milestone; Selects 50th Cadre of Hertz Fellows; Quarter Million Dollar Support …

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Danzig

LIVERMORE, Calif., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation today announced its 2012 Hertz Fellows. From over 600 applicants, 15 were selected to receive the Hertz Fellowship, considered to be the nation's most generous support for graduate education in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences. The Hertz Fellowship is valued at more than $250,000 per student, with support lasting up to five years. Fellows have the freedom to innovate in their doctoral studies without university or research restrictions.

"We are pleased to announce this year's selection," stated Dr. Jay Davis, Hertz Foundation President, "and we make this announcement with equal amounts of excitement and resolve. We are committed to increasing the number of Fellows we can support each year. This, our 50th cadre of Fellows, was picked from such an outstanding field of applicants that we could easily have chosen thirty, had resources been available to us. We are approaching philanthropists in education in a recapitalization initiative that will eventually allow us to support a larger fraction of our country's top one percent in these disciplines."

For nearly a half century, the Hertz Foundation has fostered the scientific and engineering strength of the nation by finding the best and brightest from those disciplines. During the past decade, there has been a major shift of the candidates towards those who apply physical and computational tools to the problems of biomedicine and health. Significantly, another shift of the Hertz Foundation has been to support the Hertz Fellows to build the Hertz Fellows Community for all ages to gather together, inspire one another and collaborate for innovation that further augments the powerful contribution they bring to society.

"We invest in young people who will solve our most daunting problems," stated Dr. Davis. "These men and women show extraordinary promise. They join the community of leaders who produce advances in science, medicine, technology, business, academia and government. Scientists and engineers are only 4% of the U.S. workforce but they account for up to 85% of the GDP. The top 1% is responsible for 90% of important discoveries. We believe their creativity and risk-taking bring forth innovation for the technical and economic security of our nation."

Hertz Fellows pursue their own ideas with complete financial independence and under the guidance of some of the country's finest professors and mentors. Fellows are chosen for their intellect, their ingenuity and their potential to bring meaningful improvement to society. The highly competitive selection process includes a comprehensive written application, four references, and two rounds of technical interviews by recognized leaders in applied science and engineering.

"The Hertz Foundation nurtures these remarkable scientists and engineers as they develop and explore their genius," continued Dr. Davis. "We help genius find itself."

Visit: http://www.hertzfoundation.org

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation 2012 Hertz Fellows

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Turning kitchen gadgets (and more) into low-cost lab equipment

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Danzig

Replacing the Osterizer as standard lab equipment

By Kate Rix

Lina Nilsson, Tekla Labs founder. KAP STANN PHOTO

Imagine a research laboratory relying on little more than old phonographs and kitchen blenders. This is what Lina Nilsson, a post-doctoral researcher in the bioengineering lab of professor Daniel Fletcher, saw in Bolivian labs, inspiring her to develop alternatives to expensive laboratory equipment.

After a year in Asia and South America visiting labs that lacked the basics, Nilsson and a team of engineering colleagues brainstormed about how to develop low-cost, accessible tools that could produce research-grade results. They created protocols for making do-it-yourself laboratory equipment, along with detailed how-to blueprints available for free online.

The team evolved into Tekla Labs, a cooperative of ten partners from Berkeley Engineering and UCSF. Their idea won first place for social entrepreneurship in the 2010-11 Big Ideas @ Berkeley contest.

A lot of basic equipment is really expensive, but it doesnt have to be, says Nilsson. She adds that while many charitable organizations make contributions to labs in developing countries, most donated equipment consists of larger and more costly machines.

A sample rotator designed and built by Berkeley student Anthony Fernando for Tekla Labs. LINA NILSSON PHOTO

Each semester, Tekla Labs researchers help individual students build equipment. They also team up with Engineering World Health on a DeCal (student-run) course that tasks undergraduate students with designing inexpensive product prototypes. In one case, a student was sent to Radio Shack for supplies to build a magnetic stirrer; she returned with a light-switch circuit box, which ended up serving quite nicely as housing for the stirrer.

Where the outlet would have plugged in we placed the speed dial, Nilsson says. The core requirement is that the parts must be cheap and easy to find. My lab has four magnetic stirrers and they cost $250 and up. We built one for $30 that runs off a battery.

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Turning kitchen gadgets (and more) into low-cost lab equipment

This Week in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Danzig

Researchers led by Jinfeng Liu from the State Key Lab of Seedling Bioengineering in Yinchuan, China, describe in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics their method to determine gene copy number. First, the researchers amplified a target and a control gene using PCR, which were quantified before being mixed at different molar ratios. Then, using real-time PCR, the researchers measured the quantification cycle value of the mixture. "A standard curve was constructed to correlate the differences between the Cq values and the logarithmic ratios of the target gene to the internal control gene," the researchers say, adding that "this method was validated by a set of internal control genes and a foreign gene in transgenic alfalfa, demonstrating the utility of this method in the determination of gene copy number for various applications."

Also in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Manchester Cancer Research Centre's John Radford and his colleagues report that archival FFPE samples are useful for a number of microarray experiments, including molecular classification projects. Radford and his team compared fresh-frozen archival diffuse large B-cell lymphoma biopsy samples for use in such experiments. "Enrichment for NF-B genes was appropriately seen in ABC-DLBCL FFPE tissues," the researchers report. "The top discriminatory genes expressed in FFPE separated cases with high statistical significance and contained novel biology with potential therapeutic insights, warranting further investigation."

Originally posted here:
This Week in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics

Graduate school programs at UC San Diego, two other major San Diego universities, fared well in U.S. News & World …

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Danzig

City News Service

UC San Diegos biomedical/bioengineering program ranked fourth nationally behind Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech and Duke. The engineering school overall was 14th.

Other high rankings for the La Jolla university included behavioral neuroscience and cognitive psychology, third; plasma physics, fifth; neuroscience/neurobiology, seventh; political science, seventh; AIDS research, eighth; and drug and alcohol abuse, eighth.

Its an honor to have the stellar academic quality of our graduate programs recognized each year by U.S. News, said Kim Barrett, dean of graduate studies at UC San Diego. Our world-class faculty continue to generate cutting-edge research and innovative programs that help create todays scholars and tomorrows leaders.

The magazine annually ranks professional school programs based on expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a schools faculty, research and students.

The data come from surveys of administrators at more than 1,200 programs and nearly 15,000 academics and professionals, conducted last fall and early this year.

Other scores for UCSD programs included fine arts, 13th; computer sciences, 14th; economics, 14th; and earth sciences, 17th.

San Diego State University ranked ninth in rehabilitation counseling, 25th in speech-language pathology, 26th in clinical psychology, 27th in audiology, and 30th in public health.

The University of San Diegos part-time law school ranked 13th nationally. Its nursing program was 50th.

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Graduate school programs at UC San Diego, two other major San Diego universities, fared well in U.S. News & World ...

American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. Announces Delay in Filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2011

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Danzig

NEWARK,N.J., March 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. (NYSE: AOB - News) (the "Company"), today announced that its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, which was due on March 15, 2012, will not be timely filed. During the performance of Ernst & Young Hua Ming's audit for the 2011 fiscal year they noted certain inconsistencies. As a result, management and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors have agreed that the Audit Committee would immediately commence an independent investigation into the matters identified. Although the length of the investigation is uncertain at this time, the Company will endeavor to file the Form 10-K as soon as possible upon the completion of the investigation.

About American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. The economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward looking statements in this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact:

Hong Zhu 646-367-1765

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American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. Announces Delay in Filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2011

Literary: Focusing on graphic novels, fantasy and horror stories

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Danzig

Road to Peace (means abolishing war)

The Forum of Questioning Minds presents a lecture from Andy Schoenberg, professor of bioengineering and rehab medicine at the University of Utah. In 2002 he received the Gandhi Peace Award for his work in promoting peace and human rights. His presentation, "Road to Peace Abolish War?", will look at the causes of war and the steps individuals and nations can take to establish a more just and peaceful world.

When Sunday, March 25, at 2 p.m.

Where Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City

Info Free

Drawing up a story

The Orem Public Library will host a graphic-novel panel as part of the Librarys Orem Writes event series. Panelists include Nate Hale, acclaimed illustrator of Rapunzels Revenge; Jake Parker, illustrator of Missile Mouse and Michael Chabons Awesome Man; Jess Smiley, writer and illustrator of Upside Down: A Vampire Tale; and Brandon Dayton, writer/illustrator of Green Monk, one of YALSAs top 10 Great Teen Graphic Novels of 2011. They will discuss the art and writing behind some of todays hottest graphic novels.

When Wednesday, March 28, at 7 p.m.

Where Orem Library, 58 N. State St.

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Literary: Focusing on graphic novels, fantasy and horror stories

Homing in a life-saving treatment for shock

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Danzig

SAN DIEGO A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego, bioengineering professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new use of a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the teams protocol was licensed to San Diego-startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diegos Technology Transfer Office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself, Schmid-Schnbein said. We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives.

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult dont necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that the treatment could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates, said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness, said Kistler, who earned a doctorate (1998) and masters (1994) in bioengineering from the Jacobs School of Engineering as a student of Schmid-Schnbeins.

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The goal is to determine the safety and efficacy of the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity, which is defined as the incidence of disease. The team wants to know whether the treatment will reduce the time patients spend in intensive care and the hospital, and improve long-term survival rates. To determine this, researchers will follow up with patients 28 days and six months after discharge. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

John Rodenrys, CEO of InflammaGen Therapeutics, remarked, Initiation of the Phase 2 pilot study is a key milestone in the development of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for sepsis and septic shock, which may result in multi-organ failure, a highly-invasive condition for which there is currently no effective therapy option.

Hank Loy, president of InflammaGen Therapeutics, added, We look forward to working with the investigative team at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and expect their experiences to demonstrate the benefits of InflammaGen Shok-Pak, which have been evident in the pre-clinical studies and ex-U.S. patient experiences.

Bioengineering Professor’s Treatment for Shock Under Study

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Danzig

A 200-patient phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by UC San Diego bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein.

The study involves a San Diego startup.

This new use of the FDA-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

In 2005, the teams protocol was licensed to San Diego startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diegos technology transfer office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself, Schmid-Schnbein said. We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives.

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, preclinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

Originally posted here:
Bioengineering Professor’s Treatment for Shock Under Study

A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Danzig

Public release date: 12-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hockmuth chockmuth@ucsd.edu 858-822-1359 University of California - San Diego

A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications, and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the team's protocol was licensed to San Diego-startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diego's Technology Transfer Office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schnbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives."

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that the treatment could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler, who earned a doctorate (1998) and master's (1994) in bioengineering from the Jacobs School of Engineering as a student of Schmid-Schnbein's.

InflammaGen™ Therapeutics to Commence Phase 2 Pilot Study of InflammaGen Shok-Pak

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Danzig

SAN DIEGO, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company initially focused on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of multi-organ failure (MOF), announced today that the Company has initiated a 200-patient Phase 2 pilot study to examine the efficacy and safety of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

The InflammaGen Shok-Pak is the result of decades of research by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schonbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States. Schmid-Schonbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable thereby causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. With the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, an enzyme inhibitor is administered directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, blockading the enzymes.

To date, the technology has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that InflammaGen Shok-Pak could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schonbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this blockade can save lives."

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The primary endpoint is to provide preliminary efficacy and safety data on the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity at discharge or at day 28. The secondary endpoint is the efficacy of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in reducing ICU and hospital length-of-stay, as well as morbidity and mortality at six months. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the ICU at the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

John Rodenrys, CEO of InflammaGen Therapeutics, remarked, "Initiation of the Phase 2 pilot study is a key milestone in the development of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for sepsis and septic shock, which may result in multi-organ failure, a highly-invasive condition for which there is currently no effective therapy option."

Hank Loy, president of InflammaGen Therapeutics, added, "We look forward to working with the investigative team at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and expect their experiences to demonstrate the benefits of InflammaGen Shok-Pak, which have been evident in the pre-clinical studies and ex-U.S. patient experiences."

InflammaGen Shok-Pak was developed based on Schmid-Schonbein's research at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and was supported by the NIH and the von Liebig Center at UC San Diego. Schmid-Schonbein was awarded the 2008 Landis Award for his discovery.

About Multi-Organ Failure Multi-organ failure is a potentially life-threatening disturbance in normal organ function caused by acute shock (trauma, sepsis, burn and SIRS). Without swift medical intervention, the patient's organs will progressively continue to fail, decreasing one's chances of survival. In the United States, shock is the second leading cause of in-hospital deaths, with approximately 750,000 cases occurring annually.(1) It is estimated that between 28 and 50 percent of these patients die, exceeding the number of U.S. deaths from prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.(2) In 2007, sepsis accounted for an estimated $38 billion in hospital billings.

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InflammaGen™ Therapeutics to Commence Phase 2 Pilot Study of InflammaGen Shok-Pak

Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Danzig

Join Log In Submit Story Jobs Newsletter Library 30334639 story Posted by Soulskill on Monday March 12, @05:13PM from the just-lazy-enough-to-work dept. derekmead writes "Forget CFLs, hybrid cars, and organic jeans. Buying our way out of climate change even if it's green consumption won't get us far. A new paper (PDF), published in Ethics, Policy, and the Environment by NYU bioethics professor S. Matthew Liao, poses an answer: engineer humans to use less. The general plan laid out by Liao is straightforward, ranging from using pharmacological behavior modification to create an aversion to meat in people, to using gene therapy to create smaller, less resource-intensive children. The philosophical and ethical questions, on the other hand, are absurdly complicated. The Atlantic also has a great interview with Liao, in which he talks about gene therapy and making humans hate the taste of meat." You may like to read: Post

love, n.: When it's growing, you don't mind watering it with a few tears.

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Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans?

KU expects to ask Kansas Bioscience Authority to fund new chemotherapy drug delivery research

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Danzig

Kansas University leaders are looking for financial support for its initiatives in bioengineering, which could lead to new chemotherapy drug delivery mechanisms that would fight cancer, among other new research opportunities.

In the future, KU told the Kansas Bioscience Authoritys Board of Directors, KU would like to request funding from the authority for six new faculty members working in the area.

The presentation didnt include an immediate request for the faculty members, or a specific dollar amount, but university officials indicated they would likely be back to request the money.

David Vranicar, interim president and CEO of the KBA, told KU officials that it would be helpful for the KBA if KU would prioritize its requests.

The university has presented several projects to the KBA and has received money in several different areas, including in its biorefining efforts, expansion requests for its Bioscience and Technology Business Center incubator facility, biomedical initiatives and requests in support of the KU Cancer Center.

"In the end, I suspect the KBA will have to make judgments on that," Vranicar said, adding that he would look to KU to help make those judgments. "We probably aren't nearly as smart about KU as you guys are."

Two KU professors helped describe the bioengineering initiative for the KBA.

Paulette Spencer, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, told board members that the job market in the biomedical engineering field is expected to grow by 72 percent by 2018.

Parvesh Kumar, associate director of clinical research at the KU Cancer Center, described how a "smart nanoparticle" could carry a chemotherapy drug directly to cancerous cells and inject the drug directly into the cell itself. Today, chemotherapy is administered intravenously, he said, and kills a million normal cells for every cancer cell it kills, leading to significant side effects.

KU officials said they would like to request funds for four new professors on the Lawrence campus and two new professors at KU Medical Center, in addition to funds for construction or renovation of existing spaces to help with the initiative.

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KU expects to ask Kansas Bioscience Authority to fund new chemotherapy drug delivery research

Development of new-generation solar cells

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Danzig

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Korea have combined their expertise in polymer patterning and materials science in a bid to develop new-generation solar cells.

UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) Director, Professor Peter Gray, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

It will allow AIBN Professor Ajayan Vinu's research group to work closely with Yonsei Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Professor Eunkyoung Kim, and School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Cheolmin Park.

Professor Vinu said the collaboration would encourage the creation of new science and new products, including efforts to improve the efficiency of solar cells.

He said AIBN would bring expertise in materials science, particularly Prof Vinu's work on and porous semiconducting and bio-nanomaterials.

Yonsei researchers would match this expertise with their knowledge of polymer patterning and fabrication.

We can't all be experts in every field. That is why we are collaborating with these experts in this field, Professor Vinu said.

We have expertise in the fabrication of porous functionalised semiconducting nanostructures that will maximise quantum efficiency of dye sensitized or organic solar cells, while the Yonsei researchers have know-how in designing the various types of solar cell device.

The fusion of materials development and device fabrication can help us to achieve a new solar cell technology or product with a low cost, which is going to make a huge revolution in the solar industry.

Beyond collaborating on research, the bond between AIBN and Yonsei includes joint conferences, student exchanges and plans for a joint lab in Korea.

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Development of new-generation solar cells

Students vie for cheaper on-campus dining

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Danzig

by: Tyler North on March 9, 2012

Students have diverse opinions when it comes to eating on campus. However, most students agree on one aspect of on-campus dining its expensive.

Food on campus is the worst value anywhere in the entire valley, said James Kennedy, a graduate student in bioengineering. They give us low-quality food for very expensive prices.

Many students find that the price often outweighs any other positive aspects of on-campus dining.

Off campus you can get more food for a cheaper price, said Asad Rauf a senior in biomedical engineering. Even for a small sandwich you are paying like $3, so I just dont think its fair. I started bringing more food from home and I rarely eat on campus anymore.

Chartwells, a major provider of on-campus food including the contracted provider of food for the Heritage Center and the Union has a different stance.

We do a market basket analysis of all the businesses within a mile radius of the school and we make sure our prices are within reason of those other establishments, said Reggie Conerly, resident district manager for dining services.

Most items are made daily in the Union Food Court, some in front of you as you order, Conerly said. Quality is something Chartwells strives for.

That quality comes with a price. Purchasing basic meal plans on campus will cost a student anywhere from $7.50 to $8 per meal, depending on the plan.

If they opened up more dining options, I think it would be to our benefit and would lower the price, Rauf said.

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Students vie for cheaper on-campus dining

UQ Summer Research Program provides wealth of new experiences

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Danzig

Adam Hand at UQ's AIBN

Mr Hand crossed the country and spent Christmas away from his family to learn about bioengineering at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland.

During his break from undergraduate engineering studies at Edith Cowan University, the 23-year-old from Tuart Hill spent 12 weeks at the AIBN as part of a Summer Research Scholarship Program.

Mr Hand spent the time in the lab of AIBN Professor Mark Kendall to learn about the Nanopatch, a needle-free vaccination device with thousands of small projections designed to deliver vaccine to immune cells in the skin.

In only 12 weeks I believe I have experienced more and learnt more than I could have ever hoped to learn in a classroom, he said.

The program has opened my eyes to a completely different and fascinating field that I would have never imagined entering when originally enrolling in engineering.

Mr Hand spent his time in the lab improving and automating the dry coating procedure of vaccines for use on the Nanopatch.

He admitted to being completely overwhelmed when he arrived in Brisbane, moved into a share-house and started his research project at AIBN.

When I first arrived in Brisbane I was thrust into a new city, a new house and more dauntingly this new experience of bioengineering.

You may ask: why did you throw away a summer holiday to work at AIBN?'. However, that wasn't the case. Travelling from Perth and experiencing a new life was an adventure in itself and working at the AIBN was an opportunity that I would not have missed.

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Student Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Seeks to Mend Previously Untreatable Tissue Injuries

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Danzig

Christopher Rivet Is One of Three Finalists for the $30,000 2012 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize

Newswise Troy, N.Y. Christopher Rivet has successfully married two powerful bioengineering technologies to develop a new method for delivering drugs directly to an injury site and jumpstarting the process of tissue regeneration. His innovation could be an important new tool in preventing paralysis resulting from spinal cord trauma, cancer, diabetes, or a host of other diseases.

Rivet, a doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is one of three finalists for the 2012 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize. A public ceremony announcing this years winner will be held at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, in the auditorium of the Rensselaer Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. For more information on the ceremony visit: http://www.eng.rpi.edu/lemelson

Rivets project is titled A Hydrogel and Electrospun Fiber Composite Material, and his faculty adviser is Ryan Gilbert, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer.

Sadly, there is no shortage of situations that lead to a loss of functioning tissue and, in turn, paralysis. These circumstances can range from the surgical removal of a tumor, to untreated bedsores, to a spinal cord injury stemming from a gunshot wound or traffic accident. All of these situations require action first to stop the progression of the injury, and secondly to restore function to the damaged tissue. However, there is currently no treatment, short of receiving a transplant from a donor, to simultaneously pursue both goals and more effectively mitigate the onset of paralysis.

Rivets patent-pending invention pairs electrospun fibers with hydrogels to help solve this important societal need. He has developed a new way to disperse nanoscopic electrospun fibers, which can prompt and guide tissue regeneration, within injectable, drug-infused hydrogels. The result is an advanced biomaterial that can mimic and serve as a temporary replacement for living tissue.

For example, potential target could be a patient who had a large bone tumor removed, leaving behind a hole that is too large for the body to recover from on its own. The surgeon may elect to use a hydrogel. Injected as a liquid, the hydrogel would firm up and fill in the unique shape of the void. Hydrogels can be treated with different drugs to help stop progression of the injury, and the gels can be tuned to match the mechanical properties of the tissue their replacing. However, hydrogels cannot carry the appropriate chemical cues to guide regenerative nerve cells into and out of the injury site. This means hydrogels alone are not a winning strategy for combating the onset of paralysis.

Rivet has incorporated electrospun fibers, which are spun from polymer and can carry guidance cues and promote functional recovery, into hydrogels. The end result is a complex system that can deliver multiple drugs as well as the necessary guidance cues to coax nerve cells through the injury site and kick start the process of regeneration. As the patients body tissue regenerates, the hydrogels and electrospun fibers simply dissolve harmlessly. Rivets system is also highly adaptable, as different electrospun fibers can be matched with various hydrogels to achieve specific goals.

When not in the lab or classroom, Rivet enjoys spending time outdoors. If hes not skiing, cycling, or hiking, you can probably find him on the lake fishing. At home in Grand Blanc, Mich., Rivets family and friends are rooting for him to win the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize. His mother is a high school math and science teacher and his father works for the United Auto Workers labor union. Rivets older sister is a laboratory manager at Kettering University.

Rivet was curious and creative as a young student, and he strives to foster those virtues in others. He is an active mentor in local elementary schools and high schools, sparking the interest of students and encouraging them to seek out opportunities to study and work in the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. He also mentors several undergraduate students at Rensselaer.

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Student Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Seeks to Mend Previously Untreatable Tissue Injuries

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