BME WEEKLY ROUNDTABLE

July 11, 2023

INTERIM HEAD’S NOTE

Greetings to all of you from my international trip. While I am visiting my extended family in Beijing for the first time in four years, I have been handling a number of burning issues as the Interim Head with great help from many of you. During my interim tenure, I want to make sure that the School continues to strive for excellence in all fronts of research, teaching, and engagement.

• The search for the next permanent Head is underway. The search committee will be announced soon. I will work with many of you and the Dean’s Office to facilitate a successful search. We want to find the best person to take over the baton as the leader of the School for the next many years. Under the headship of George and David, we have made great progress but we still have many places to improve. At this critical juncture, we all should think about what quality we’d like the new Head to have and which direction we would like them take us.  
• To ensure the smooth transition, I see my priority in the following three aspects: 1) UG teaching integration; 2) adjustment and stabilization of the graduate program policies implemented last year under Tami and Mike’s leadership; 3) identification of research areas of strategic importance to the department and synergy building to well position us for center grants
• For the first two priorities, Vitaliy Rayz (our new Associate Head for Academic Programs), Tamara Kinzer-Ursem and myself are in the process of finalizing our new graduate and undergraduate programs. Once the program directors are appointed, we will work on forming the committees for the coming academic year, which should be no later than the end of July.
• For the third priority, I know several groups have been bouncing ideas off of each other regularly. For example, there is a group looking into AI/ML in biomedicine and healthcare. The attached report (LBA 2023 Artificial Intelligence Overview) may be interesting to many of you. Let us keep up the momentum. The key here will be to create a scenario of superadditivity within our faculty’s research productivity.
• In addition, I’d like to help develop a strategy of improving our professional and online Master’s programs, which are critical to the financial health of our School.
• Congratulations to Fang and his colleagues for passing the preproposal competition of the NSF Biofoundry within the university. Now Fang is leading the team to work toward a full proposal. More of such will be great for the School.

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES

Week of July 10

Tues., July 11:  BME IBSC PhD Defense Announcement for Mazin Hakim (L. Solorio, advisor), 3:00 p.m., MJIS 2001 and via Zoom. This defense is open only to those who have signed the Lilly NDA. Title: Platforms for Molecular Mechanisms and Improvement in Subcutaneous Injection of Biotherapeutics. Advisory Committee: Luis Solorio, Chair; Arezoo M. Ardekani; Julie C. Liu; Pavlos P. Vlachos. Join Zoom Meeting https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/94670872770?pwd=SmxaZjFlaSs3RXVPZWZsU3d3SXhsQT09
Meeting ID: 946 7087 2770 Passcode: Mazin

Wed., July 12:  Diabetes Research Virtual Seminar Series, 2:00 p.m., via Zoom. Fiona Gribble, MD, DPhil, Professor of Endocrine Physiology, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, will present “Targeting the gut to treat metabolic disease.” Incretin based therapies are highly successful in treating type 2 diabetes and obesity. They are based on the gut hormone GLP-1, which is released postprandially from specialized sensory endocrine cells in the intestinal epithelium. Our group studies the cellular physiology underlying the function of cells secreting gut hormones, including the molecular pathways they employ to detect ingested foods. We now have a good understanding of how these cells respond to sugars, fats and proteins in the diet, and the metabolic consequences arising following release of hormones from different regions of the gut. Zoom link:  https://zoom.us/j/91323894836 . This seminar is sponsored by the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Diabetes Research Centers.

Sat. July 15^th: Nominations submitted from faculty and staff for Purdue Engineering Fellows. The Purdue Engineering Fellows program is designed to recognize the accomplishments, contributions and potential of seven outstanding seniors who make a difference in the college and in the lives of others by bringing creative thinking to their academic activities, demonstrating distinctive problem-solving abilities, and are respected by their peers and faculty. In summary, Purdue Engineering Fellows will be students who demonstrate impressive abilities to think creatively and to develop innovative solutions to problems—whether in the classroom, in student life, or in the community. We are now asking our faculty and staff to submit nominations through the Qualtrics survey: https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7ZZLY4ioCfXwjb0 by July 15th. 

Students must be in their senior year and graduating in May of 2024 (December grads are not eligible). Upon graduation, each recipient will receive $20,000 to use as they see fit. A nomination letter and copy of the student’s resume are required for full consideration.  Contact Darshini Render (render@purdue.edu) if you have questions, including verifying your student nominee eligibility. You can find information about previous Purdue Engineering Fellows here: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/News/Spotlights/2022/2022-0923-purdue-engineering-fellows

MJIS UPDATES

Just a reminder:  If you eat/snack in any of the seating areas in MJIS, please take a moment when you are finished to spray and wipe down the tables and make sure all trash is in the trash bins. We are seeing quite an infestation of ants that are attracted to food residue and crumbs! There are cleaning supplies available in each area. PLEASE remember to clean up after yourself each time.

Also, we are seeing a lot of backpacks, bookbags and personal items being left in the sitting areas. The Purdue Police have notified us that the theft ring has made a reappearance on campus, and are working their way through campus building. This particular group works on a “theft by convenience” mode – entering unlocked offices, and taking whatever is readily available. If you have high school students or others working in your labs this summer, please make sure they keep their personal belongings on the provided hooks inside the secure lab block. Don’t allow yourself to be the victim of a convenience crime!

Important deadlines and information

Tues., July 18:  BME Master's Defense Announcement for Clarisse Zigan (D. Chan, Advisor), 3:00 p.m., MJIS 2001 and via Zoom. Title of presentation:  Exploring Changes to Matrix Mechanics and Composition of Chondrocyte-laden Hydrogels.

Mon., July 24: Final Grade Entry Begins. (Ends promptly at 5:00 p.m., Tues., August 8^th).

Wed., Aug. 9: Poster Presentation Applications Deadline. Registration is open for this year's Indiana CTSI Annual Meeting to be held in-person, with virtual option, 2023 Indiana CTSI Annual Meeting on September 22, 2023.

As you know, this year's 2023 August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research Awardee, Huda Y. Zoghbi, MD, is our keynote speaker. Dr. Zoghbiis a Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and an investigator with Howard Hughes Medicine Institute.  

In honor of this year’s Watanabe Awardee, Dr. Zoghbi, our annual meeting theme will focus on translational neuroscience. Thus we will be showcasing the Indiana CTSI’s cutting-edge research in neuroscience and related topics from across all our campuses. Importantly, as part of the day's agenda, we responded to your feedback and have dedicated a separate poster session along with more opportunities for networking and building collaborations. Our complete program is being finalized so please view the website to stay informed.  

We are accepting submissions for in-person poster presentations. Research topics across the translational spectrum are welcome. Come showcase your research that is making a difference! The deadline for submitting poster presentation applications is 5:00 pm EDT on Wednesday, August 9th. More information is available via the registration link above – please note that you must register first in order to receive poster submission details.

We look forward to seeing you on September 22 as we highlight the great work and people of the Indiana CTSI, and celebrate our efforts to advance health research in Indiana and beyond.

Wed., Sept. 6:  BMES Early Bird Registration Deadline! Register now to lock in savings with early-bird pricing for the 2023 BMES Annual Meeting (to be held in Seattle, WA, October 11-14). Thousands of biomedical engineers will attend this year’s meeting to learn, collaborate, and network. As a BMES member, you can save more than 10% with reduced early bird rates, so if you’re not already a member, now would be a good time to join! Click here for details: https://mailchi.mp/e3958bb463f2/o8cvhb9q5x-9335625?e=ea10e317a2

NOTE:  We recommend booking your room at the Hyatt Regency Seattle because it’s closer to the convention center AND it’s where university receptions will be held (in addition to some being held inside the convention center).  Here’s the link to reserve with the $259 discount rate.  This rate only lasts until the allotted number of rooms have been sold. https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/SEARS/G-BMES

Fri., Sept. 8:  Abstract Submission Deadline for The Trauma THOMPSON Challenge. The primary goal of The Trauma THOMPSON Challenge is to encourage research to build better algorithms for autonomous instruction systems in uncontrolled and austere environments, especially for life-saving procedures. The envisioned algorithms include action recognition, action anticipation, procedure recognition, and visual question answering (VQA). The challenge participation details are below. 

Committee Updates

Academic Programs Update

Summer Grading Deadlines:

1. Final Grading windows are found here:
1. Full 12-week summer session (includes all undergrad and grad-level research students)
1. Grade entry begins at 8 a.m. Monday July 24th and ends promptly at 5 p.m. Tuesday August 8th.
2. Guidance on Final grading
3. Now is the perfect time for faculty to take the 15 minutes to get all your required certifications up to date BEFORE the deadline approaches.
1. FERPA
2. GLBA
3. Data Handling
4. Protecting SSNs
4. This page provides myPurdue grade entry instructions.
5. This page provides BrightSpace final grade submission instructions.
1. Those not making the deadline must use the Grade Change Workflow to submit a grade for each student.
1. Instructions may be found here.

Resources and further information

BME Master's Defense Announcement for Clarisse Zigan (D. Chan, Advisor), Tues., July 18, 3:00 p.m., MJIS 2001 and via Zoom. Title of presentation:  Exploring Changes to Matrix Mechanics and Composition of Chondrocyte-laden Hydrogels.

Committee: Dr. Deva Chan, Chair; Dr. Alex Chortos, Dr. Douglas Brubaker

Abstract: To explore the mechanisms of cellular mechanotransduction, it is necessary to employ biomaterials that effectively merge biofunctionality with appropriate mechanical characteristics. Agarose is a standard biopolymer used in cartilage mechanobiology but lacks necessary adhesion motifs for cell-matrix interactions to complete mechanostransduction studies. Collagen type I is a natural biomaterial used in cartilage mechanotransduction studies but creates an environment much softer than native cartilage tissue.  In these studies, agarose is blended at two final concentrations (2% w/v and 4% w/v) with collagen type I (2 mg/mL). Our ultimate goal is to determine whether a composite hydrogel of agarose and collagen can create a mechanically and biologically suitable matrix for chondrocyte studies. First, hydrogels were characterized by rheologic and compressive properties, contraction, and structural homogeneity. Following baseline characterization, primary murine chondrocytes were embedded (1 x 10⁶ cells/mL) within the hydrogels to assess the longer-term in vitro impact on matrix mechanics, cell proliferation, sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) content, and cellular morphology. To begin probing questions about physiologic loading conditions that chondrocytes experience in vivo, a custom compression loading system was validated using cell-laden hydrogels. Briefly, the 4% agarose – 2mg/mL collagen I hydrogel composites were able to retain chondrocyte morphology over 21 days in culture, resulted in continual sGAG production, and had bulk mechanics similar to that of the stiffest hydrogel material tested, indicating this hydrogel class may be promising towards developing an effective hydrogel for chondrocyte mechanotransduction and mechanobiology studies, a critical step towards a fuller understanding of cell-matrix interactions.

Zoom link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/99312080091?pwd=RnBkMSs3eHViZ0F3Kyt4Vlhqdld2UT09

Meeting ID: 993 1208 0091

Passcode: 411736

Attachments:

LBA 2023 Artificial Intelligence Overview