Amanda Dillingham participated in the first cohort (Summer 2015) of the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Teachers (NSF RET) Site in Integrated Nanomanufacturing at Boston University. Through her involvement that summer, she started to develop “case study” curriculum and implementing it in her classrooms. Her piloted curriculum has also been used in several other schools in the Massachusetts area. With the start of the ERC CELL-MET, Amanda was top choice of teachers to engage and begin the RET portion of the ERC. From her participation this past summer, back in the lab conducting research, she designed new curriculum for her Biotech class and gained access to new technologies for educating her students at East Boston High School. On Monday, December 17th 2018, a team of CELL-MET participants visited EBHS to discuss the study of Engineering with Amanda’s students, a group of biotech-advanced seniors who all plan to attend college next year.
Culture of Inclusion Director Helen Fawcett organized the visit and opened the classroom presentation by sharing background information about the ERC and introducing the other visitors. Then, Imaging Thrust Area Leader Thomas Bifano and Task Area 3 Professor Jeroen Eyckman gave brief summaries of their work. They were joined by graduate students Christos Michas and Greco Song of Boston University, as well as Ivanna Corzo and Domenica Passariello, undergraduate researchers from Florida International University who participated last summer in a Research Experiences in Mentoring supplemental program at CELL-MET. After their introductions, the team spent 5 minutes per table, conversing with the students for the rest of the class period.
Discussions covered a range of topics from potential courses of study and future career aspirations, to undergraduate research opportunities and PhD programs. The undergraduates and graduate students offered relatable perspectives to the high schoolers, while the professors provided valuable guidance from their professional experiences. The students were fully engaged as they learned about engineering and the doors it can open for them as they graduate high school and seek to continue their education.
“My ‘Period 1’ class did NOT want you to leave,” said Dillingham, expressing her thanks after the conclusion of the classroom visit. Conversations had continued enthusiastically until dismissal by the bell.
Left to Right: Domenica Passariello, Jeroen Eyckmans, Christos Michas, Thomas Bifano, Greco Song, Ivanna Corzo, Helen Fawcett.
High-tech carpets inspired by polar bear fur and gecko feet could lead to new sticky or insulating surfaces. Engineers have developed a cutting edge way to make arrays of nano-fibres inspired by materials found in nature.They could bring us coatings that are sticky, repellent, insulating or even light emitting.
High-tech carpets inspired by polar bear fur and gecko feet could lead to new sticky or insulating surfaces. Engineers have developed a cutting edge way to make arrays of nano-fibres inspired by materials found in nature (stock image)
Study senior author Joerg Lahann, Professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan, said: 'This is so removed from anything I've ever seen that I would have thought it was impossible.'
Researchers discovered almost by chance a new method for making arrays of fibres that are hundreds of times thinner than a human hair.
Polar bear hairs are structured to let light in while keeping heat from escaping. Water-repelling lotus leaves are coated with arrays of microscopic waxy tubules.
And the nanoscale hairs on the bottoms of gravity-defying gecko feet get so close to other surfaces that atomic forces of attraction come into play.
Researchers looking to mimic such 'superpowers' and more have needed a way to create the minuscule arrays that do the work.
Prof Lahann said: 'Fundamentally, this is a completely different way of making nano-fibre arrays.'
The researchers have shown that their nano-fibres repelled water just like lotus leaves.
They grew straight and curved fibres and tested how they stuck together like Velcro -finding that clockwise and counterclockwise twisted fibres knitted together more tightly than two arrays of straight fibres.
They also experimented with optical properties, making a material that glowed.
The team believe it will be possible to make a structure that works like polar bear fur, with individual fibres structured to channel light.
But molecular carpets weren't the original plan.
The team believe it will be possible to make a structure that works like polar bear fur, with individual fibres structured to channel light to keep them warm (stock image)
Prof Lahann's group was working with that of Nicholas Abbott, at the time a Professor of chemical engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison, to put thin films of chain-like molecules, called polymers, on top of liquid crystals.
Liquid crystals are best known for their use in displays such as televisions and computer screens.
They were trying to make sensors that could detect single molecules.
Prof Lahann provided the expertise in producing thin films while Prof Abbott led the design and production of the liquid crystals.
In typical experiments, Prof Lahann's group evaporates single links in the chain and coaxes them to condense onto surfaces.
But the thin polymer films sometimes didn't materialise as expected.
Prof Abbott said: 'The discovery reinforces my view that the best advances in science and engineering occur when things don't go as planned.
'You just have to be alert and view failed experiments as opportunities.'
Instead of coating the top of the liquid crystal, the links slipped into the fluid and connected with each other on the glass slide. The liquid crystal then guided the shapes of the nanofibers growing up from the bottom, creating nanoscale carpets.
Prof Abbott said: 'A liquid crystal is a relatively disordered fluid, yet it can template the formation of nanofibers with remarkably well-defined lengths and diameters.'
And they didn't only make straight strands. Depending on the liquid crystal, they could generate curved fibres, like microscopic bananas or staircases.
Prof Lahann added: 'We have a lot of control over the chemistry, the type of fibres, the architecture of the fibres and how we deposit them.
'This really adds a lot of complexity to the way we can engineer surfaces now; not just with thin two-dimensional films but in three dimensions.'
The findings were published in the journal Science.
Annually, the Biomedical Engineering Society recognizes individuals for their accomplishments, significant contributions and service to the Society and the field of biomedical engineering. Christopher Chen, PhD of Boston University, has received the 2019 Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award.
The Pritzker Distinguished Lecture Award is the premier award of the Society given to an individual to recognize outstanding achievements and leadership in the science and practice of biomedical engineering. Chen is recognized for his seminal contributions to biomedical engineering. He is Professor, a founding director of Biological Design Center, Deputy Director and Co-PI of NSF STC for Engineering Mechanobiology, and Deputy Director, NSF ERC for Cellular Metamaterials, Boston University. He is one of the leading scientists in the field of mechanoiology. His paper in elucidating the key role for cell shape in control of cell fate switching has 4,707 citations. He has made significant contributions to stem cell field. His research in human mesenchymal stem cells revealed the role of RhoA as the critical signaling pathway regulating mechanical force responsive stem cell differentiation. He helped develop a cell patterning platform for characterizing mechanical stress induced cell morphogenesis. His Google Scholar h-index of 92 with nearly 40,000 citations. He will be recognized and will deliver a plenary lecture during the 2019 BMES Annual Meeting next year in Philadelphia.
A focus on solving major health issues, such as heart disease, provides a pathway to engage youth who seek positive real-world impact. As the country’s demographics transform to a minority-majority population, gaps in the inspiration and preparation of K-12 students will become engineering workforce gaps. However, this project can help combat these challenges by providing K-12 students with activities to educate them about engineering solutions to culturally relevant challenges so the students can see how their involvement in STEM careers could positively impact their communities.
Activity kits will be deployed across the U.S. to introduce museum visitors to CELL-MET research, while enhancing the capacity of science museums to educate their audiences about how engineering can solve real-world challenges. Through the creation of physical activities as well as professional development trainings for museum educators, science museums across the United States will be better equipped to communicate engineering concepts with diverse audiences. Faculty and staff from Boston University (BU), University of Michigan (UM), Florida International University (FIU) will work closely with museum educators from Museum of Science in Boston, University of Michigan Natural History Museum, FROST Science Museum in Miami and the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, to create culturally relevant and inclusive engineering activity kits that will be distributed to science museums across the U.S.
This project seeks to merge several models of learning to create a unique approach to engaging multiple generations of students in STEM identity development while exposing a broad and diverse audience to engineering. Considered in the project design, the leadership team intends that the outcomes and the project model could be shared broadly. Further, there will be measurable results at the university-level and in science museums across the United States.
In year one, the first priority is to create a strong shared foundation of CELL-MET research and activity kit goals and use this foundational knowledge to create the underpinning for the activity kit . The goals for Year 2 will be to distribute the kits across a broad network of museums, giving youth participants the opportunity to learn about engineering through hands-on activities, and assessing the impact of the activities on youth participants’ understanding of the content. The project aims to reach a total of 50-60 museums total during Year 2.
At Florida International University, some exciting alteration to an extrusion type 3D printer may lead to a cost-effective methodology for building scaffolds for cardiac tissue growth. This past summer, Tony Thomas, a postdoctoral associate working on CELL-MET research led efforts along with undergraduate researcher Briana Canet, one of the FIU undergraduates participating as an NSF REM student through supplemental funding for the ERC. The students under the direction of Prof. Arvind Agarwal and Tony Thomas, researched a low viscous polymer called Pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA). PETA is a biomaterial used in the fabrication of scaffold in tissue engineering. Generally, nanoscale scaffolds are 3D printed using expensive industrial Stereolithography-type (SLA) printers. To adopt this printing technique at a lab scale in a cost-effective manner, here at FIU an extrusion type 3D printer was altered to achieve results similar to SLA printing while extruding. This capability will allow CELL-MET to rapidly prototype macro scale scaffolds and decrease new material development time, bringing opportunities for advanced research into the materials development component of the Cell Scaffolds Thrust Area. The video included shows, chemically modified, novel PETA being extruded through a 0.4 mm nozzle at room temperature. This resembles thermoplastic fused deposition 3D printing. The second video shows a dog-bone specimen 3D printed that will be used to establish the mechanical properties of the novel extrusion methodology developed. Further work will be carried out to accelerate the photopolymerization time of the PETA and then 3D printing of complex lattice structures. For more information, please reach out to Tony Thomas at FIU (tonthomas@fiu.edu)
During the first week of September, 2018, Pranjal Nautiyal, a graduate student of Prof. Arvind Agarwal at FIU represented CELL-MET at the 2018 TERMIS World Congress meeting at the Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan. This year’s theme was “Integration of Industry, Government, and Academia for Regenerative Medicine.” CELL-MET (using BU Photonics Center funding) sponsored the Business Plan Competition where a few of the finalists were focused on cardiac tissue therapies.
Pranjal attended this event, with two key areas of focus in mind: 1. Reach out to industries, informing them about CELL-MET and about industry membership, and 2. Gain a sense of important aspects for commercialization of regenerative medicine technologies. He attended many expositions, panel discussions by industry representatives in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and keynote talks. He also interacted with companies and exhibitors at TERMIS and did an outstanding job of making additional connections for the ERC which has opened doors for potential collaboration in the future.
Pranjal found several key areas of focus from the TERMIS meeting that can be of future influence to research considerations for CELL-MET. Mostly, there was a consistent theme of standardization of materials and cell sourcing and a concern on the lack of high-volume manufacturing. One of the key areas of focus for CELL-MET is understanding the end customer needs and use of the materials and that was an area of major discussion at TERMIS as well. Scalability and having medical practitioners and regulatory experts on your teams were discussed as routes for success in regenerative medicine.
Maedeh Mozneb, a master’s student at FIU, Ayse Muniz, a doctoral candidate at UMich, Josh Javor, a BU doctoral candidate and Anant Chopra, a research scientist in Prof. Christopher Chen’s lab supported the ERC CELL-MET with discussions with potential members during the show. These CELL-MET members participated in the show and led discussions about CELL-MET research activities with those who were attending BioTech Week Boston. Tom Dudley, Innovation Ecosystem Leader for CELL-MET said that “there were over 200 exhibitors and over 3000 attendees from nearly 800 organizations attending the show. The CELL-MET team was part of the inaugural Cell & Gene Therapy show and made more than 25 connections that require follow-up for serious membership consideration.” Connections beyond potential ERC memberships included potential impacts for broader student training. For example, GE Healthcare made the offer to host a student contingent to tour a full-scale bio-processing facility.
During the same week CELL-MET co-hosted a networking session with Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), a DoD funded organization based in Manchester, NH. This networking session was held at the BU Photonics Center, in conjunction with BWB and was intended to highlight the collaborations between the early research of CELL-MET and the manufacturing readiness focus of ARMI. Tori Wiedorn and Jenny Sun, both doctoral candidates at BU helped with this event.
David J. Bishop, Director of the CELL-MET Engineering Research Center and Head of the Boston University Division of Materials Science & Engineering, has been elected to the rank of National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow. The NAI Fellows Selection Committee has chosen Bishop for induction as he has "demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that has made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.” Congratulations to Professor Bishop on this great achievement and recognition as a truly prolific academic inventor!
Bishop will be inducted into the NAI at the Fellows Induction Ceremony on April 5, 2018 at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.
As a new NAI Fellow, Bishop joins the ranks of three other CELL-MET professors: Professor Steven Forrest, University of Michigan; Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Columbia University; and Professor Mark Grinstaff, Boston University.
The NAI was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society.
Goal is personalized heart tissue for clinical use
A cardiac patch. The ERC’s ultimate goal is to advance nano-bio-manufacturing methods that could lead to large-scale fabrication of functional heart tissue, which could replace diseased or damaged muscle after a heart attack. Illustration courtesy of Jeroen Eyckmans
By Barbara Moran, BU Research
Boston University has won a $20 million, five-year award from theNational Science Foundation(NSF) to create a multi-institutionEngineering Research Center(ERC), with the goal of synthesizing personalized heart tissue for clinical use. The grant, which is renewable for a total of 10 years and $40 million, is designed to accelerate an area of engineering research—in this case, bioengineering functional heart tissue—that is likely to spur societal change and economic growth within a decade.
“The goal is moving from the basic research capability to a technology that could be disruptive,” saysKenneth Lutchen, dean of the College of Engineering and a professor of biomedical engineering, who notes that the ERC program is designed to stimulate translation of research to practice by facilitating worldwide corporate, clinical, and institutional partnerships. “The center will transform cardiovascular care by synthesizing breakthroughs in nanotechnology and manufacturing with tissue engineering and regenerative medicine,” he says.
ERC grants are extremely competitive. Of more than 200 applicants, only 4—Boston University, Purdue University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Texas A&M University—received awards in 2017. “The awarding of the NSF ERC is outstanding recognition of the quality and creativity of our faculty team from across the College of Engineering,” says Robert A. Brown, president of BU. “Their efforts will help make the creation of personalized human tissue for cardiac applications a reality.”
The Engineering Research Center will be housed at Boston University, the lead institution on the grant. The award hits a “sweet spot” at the intersection of BU’s strengths in biomedical engineering, photonics, and nanotechnology, says Lutchen.David Bishop, an ENG professor of electrical and computer engineering, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of physics, and head of ENG’s Division of Materials Science & Engineering, will direct the center. Working with him will be four leaders in specific areas—or “thrusts”—of technical expertise:Thomas Bifano, an ENG professor of mechanical engineering and materials science & engineering, and director of the Photonics Center, will direct imaging;Alice White, an ENG professor and chair of the mechanical engineering department, and professor of materials science & engineering, will direct nanomechanics;Christopher Chen, an ENG professor of biomedical engineering and materials science & engineering, will direct cellular engineering; andStephen Forrest, a University of Michigan professor of materials science and engineering, will direct nanotechnology.Arvind Agarwal, a Florida International University (FIU) professor of mechanical and materials engineering, will work with White’s team to advance nanomechanics methods, and will also lead FIU’s involvement in the ERC, with a crucial role in education and outreach.
David Bishop, an ENG professor of electrical and computer engineering, a CAS professor of physics, and head of the Division of Materials Science & Engineering, will direct the ERC. Photo by Cydney Scott
The ERC will also develop areas of expertise in education, diversity, administration, and outreach.Helen Fawcett, an ENG research assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will lead the diversity team.Stormy Attaway (GRS’84,’88), an ENG assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will colead the workforce development and education team with Sarah Hokanson (CAS’05),Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs program director. The administration team will be led by Robert Schaejbe, Photonics Center assistant director of operations and financial administration. Thomas Dudley, Photonics Center assistant director of technical programs, will lead the Innovation Ecosystem team, a group of companies and research consortia that will serve as advisors and work with the ERC to commercialize the technologies it creates.
“We have assembled a very competitive team from world-class institutions with a compelling vision,” says Bishop, noting that the grant is designed to move research from the lab into industry, while also creating education, job training, and employment opportunities. “This grant gives us the opportunity to define a societal problem, and then create the industry to solve it. Heart disease is one of the biggest problems we face. This may allow us to solve it, not make incremental progress.”
Heart disease—including coronary heart disease, hypertension, and stroke—is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to theAmerican Heart Association. About 790,000 people in the United States have heart attacks each year, about one every 40 seconds. Of those, about 114,000 will die. Statistics like these, and the fact that cardiovascular disease is relatively advanced in terms of regenerative medicine, led the team to target heart disease in their ERC proposal.
Scientists and engineers have been struggling to build or grow artificial organs for decades. But aside from simple, nonmoving parts, like artificial windpipes, the field has not lived up to its early promise. This is partly because organs, with their multiple cell types, have proved difficult to synthesize, and also because researchers have learned that the body’s dynamic stresses—beating hearts, stretching lungs—play a larger role in how tissues grow and perform than originally thought.
The ERC plans to accomplish four goals with the cellular metamaterials it intends to build: fabricate responsive heart tissue containing muscle cells and blood vessels; understand and control the tissue using optical technologies; scale the process up to easily create multiple copies of the tissue; and personalize the product, so it can be tailored to individual patients. The first goal will be to create “functionalized heart tissue on a chip,” says Lutchen, tissue that could be built with a specific patient’s cells and used to test new drugs and therapies. The ultimate goal is to fabricate heart tissue that could replace diseased or damaged muscle after a heart attack.
“It’s humbling to have the opportunity to work on something that could really be a game changer,” says Bishop. “If we succeed, we’ll save a lot of lives and add meaningful years for many people.”
