News

The latest research by Professor Diane Dalecki (BME, RCBU) and Professor Denise C. Hocking (Pharmacology & Physiology, BME, RCBU) was recognized with the Best Paper Award at the Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications Conference of the SPIE Defense + Security Symposium held recently in Baltimore, Maryland. Their invited paper titled "Guiding Tissue Regeneration with Ultrasound In Vitro and In Vivo" detailed three biomedical ultrasound technologies under development in their laboratories to stimulate tissue formation and regeneration. Co-authors of the paper included Sally Child, Carol Raeman, and BME graduate students Eric Comeau and Laura Hobbs. One technology under development employs forces within an ultrasound standing wave field to provide a noninvasive approach to spatially pattern endothelial cells and thereby guide the development of complex microvessel networks. A second technology uses ultrasound to site-specifically control the microstructure of collagen fibers within engineered hydrogels to direct cell function. The third line of research focuses on developing ultrasound as a therapeutic approach to enhance tissue regeneration in chronic wounds. These ultrasound technologies offer new solutions to key challenges currently facing the fields of tissue engineering, biomaterials fabrication, and regenerative medicine.

The SPIE DSS 2015 Defense + Security Symposium consisted of 32 separate conferences spanning 5 days with over 1200 total presentations. Conferences focused on a wide range of topics of interest to defense and security, including imaging, sensing, photonics, materials, and biomedical applications. The Symposium is the leading meeting for scientists, researchers and engineers from industry, military, government agencies, and academia throughout the world. The Micro- and Nanotechnology Sensors, Systems, and Applications Conference is one of the two largest conferences within the entire Defense + Security Symposium, and Professors Hocking's and Dalecki's presentation was one of over 100 invited presentations in the conference.

Melinda Vander Horst (BME Class 2015) presented her recent research at the 29th Annual National Undergraduate Research Conference (NCUR) held at Eastern Washington University in April. NCUR is an interdisciplinary conference where undergraduate students representing universities from around the world present their research and creative works. Melinda presented her poster, titled Development of a dual transducer system for ultrasound standing wave field-induced particle banding, with co-authors Eric Comeau (BME graduate student), Denise C. Hocking (Pharmacology & Physiology), and Diane Dalecki (BME). Melinda is a Xerox Undergraduate Research Fellow working with Professors Dalecki and Hocking on new ultrasound technologies for tissue engineering.

Diane Dalecki (BME) has been elected Vice Chair of the Bioeffects Committee of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). Professor Dalecki is a Fellow of the AIUM, and Director of the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound (RCBU). The Bioeffects Committee provides information and guidance to the AIUM on matters relating to the biological effects and safety of ultrasound. In addition to the 14 elected AIUM members, the committee includes select resource members from federal agencies and external organizations. Following completion of a 2-year term as Vice Chair, Professor Dalecki will become Chair of the Bioeffects Committee. Professor Dalecki served previously as Chair of the Bioeffects Committee from 2001-2003. The AIUM is a multidisciplinary association of more than 9000 physicians, scientists, engineers, and clinicians dedicated to advancing the safe and effective use of ultrasound in medicine.

Emma Grygotis receiving her Outstanding Presentation Award at the 2015 Therapeutic Ultrasound Winter School. Shown (Left to right) are conference organizers Gail ter Haar and Vera Khokhlova, and Emma Grygotis.

Emma Grygotis was the recipient of an Outstanding Student Presentation Award at the 2015 Therapeutic Ultrasound Winter School held in Les Houches, France at the École de Physique des Houches. At this forum, held in the French Alps on March 8-13, 2015, a group of twenty professors and fifty students gathered from around the world to discuss a range of topics in the rapidly expanding field of therapeutic ultrasound. Emma presented an overview of her studies focused on developing ultrasound technologies to fabricate bioactive collagen hydrogels for wound repair.

Attendees of the 2015 Therapeutic Ultrasound Winter School in the French Alps in Les Houches, France.

Emma is a second year graduate student in Pharmacology and Physiology working with Professor Denise Hocking (Pharmacology and Physiology, BME) and Professor Diane Dalecki (BME) on a joint collaboration to develop ultrasound technologies for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Emma is currently a pre-doctoral fellow in the HHMI Med-into-Grad program, and also a student member of the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound (RCBU). Recent BME alumna Karla Mercado, Ph.D. was also a participant at the 2015 Therapeutic Ultrasound Winter School.

BME seniors help real-life customers solve biomedical engineering problems through the two-semester Senior Design course taught by RCBU member Amy Lerner and Scott Seidman. In the 2014-2015 academic year, one team of BME seniors is embarking on a project to develop an ultrasound-based technique to detect dentinal cracks in teeth. The team will focus on detection of cracks in mandibular molars, as these are the teeth that exhibit cracks often. The senior design team consists of BME students Alexa Kuenstler, Jonathan Macoskey, Jacob Hyatt, Tek Gautum, and Jenny Won. Long-standing RCBU member Robert Lerner, MD who serves as the customer for this project brought the problem to the team. Diane Dalecki, Ph.D. is the senior design team supervisor for this project.