3DP for tissue regeneration, biomechanics of Ebola adhesion, and more take center stage in Philadelphia

Lehigh University's Department of Bioengineering is presenting 26 poster and lecture sessions at the annual meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), October 16-19, 2019, in Philadelphia. See below for a complete list of presentations by Lehigh bioengineering faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students at BMES 2019.

Additionally, the department will be celebrating the launch of its new B.S. program in Biocomputational Engineering at a special reception taking place 8-11 p.m., Thursday, October 17, at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel.

“The two areas where innovation is the strongest in the economy right now are information sciences and biotech,” says Anand Jagota, professor and founding chair of the Department of Bioengineering in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. “Because they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, with computation and theory on one side and experimental disciplines on the other, the confluence of these two is a huge potential growth area. How to handle health data, how to connect to diagnostic machines—that’s where advances in information technology are really coming together to address health care needs, and very few places actually train people at the intersection.”

Lehigh is among the first handful of top-tier U.S. research universities to offer an undergraduate major in this subject. The program will equip students to develop new diagnostic tools and software, model the building blocks of life, identify populations at risk of diseases, shore up health care data acquisition methods and security, and design clinical research trials, among other and not-yet-conceived applications.

Jagota explains that computation and bioengineering typically converge in three areas: molecules/mechanics of cells, genomics data, and optimization of health care delivery. “Lehigh’s program will ground students in all three areas and give them a basic bioengineering education as well,” he says.

Disseminating new knowledge

“Across the board, we’ve seen tremendous growth in bioengineering at Lehigh over the last few years,” he continues. “And now, with the announcement of Lehigh’s new College of Health, there will be even more opportunity for impact through research that is devoted to making health care more accessible, affordable, and effective—collaboration that will serve to amplify research currently being conducted across the Rossin College.”

Lehigh Bioengineering research being presented at BMES 2019 includes the following:

Oral presentations:

  • Spatial Organization of Biochemical Cues in 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Osteochondral Regeneration: Paula Camacho, Hafiz Busari, Peter Schwarzenberg, Anne Behre, William G. deLong Jr, Hannah L. Dailey, Lesley W. Chow
     
  • Red-light Optogenetic Pacing and Cardiac Recovery in Drosophila: Jing Men, Jason Jerwick, Ziling Li, Rudolph Tanzi, Airong Li, Chao Zhou

Poster sessions:

  • Characterization of Red Blood Cell Damage Under Large Deformation: Yaling Liu, Ratul Paul, Meghdad Kazizadeh
  • Biomechanics of Ebola Virus Adhesion to Cell Surfaces: Xinyu Cui, Luke Wang, Nicole Lapinski, X. Frank Zhang, Anand Jagota
  • Scutoids as a New Paradigm of Cellular Organization: Pedro Gomez-Galvez, Pablo Vicente-Munuera, Samira Andari, Luis M. Escudero, Javier Buceta
  • Strategies to Tune Physical Properties in 3D-Printed Biomaterials: Kelly Seims, Paula Camacho, Peter Schwarzenberg, Tomas Babuska, Tomas Grejtak, William De Long, Brandon Krick, Hannah Dailey, Lesley Chow
  • Solvent-cast 3D Printing with Biodegradable Polymers for Tunable Scaffold Properties: John Tolbert, Diana Hammerstone, Lesley Chow
  • Shear-Induced Extensional Response Behaviors of Tethered Von Willebrand Factor: Yi Wang, Michael Morabito, Avani Pisapati, Ciara Kavanagh, Xiaohui F. Zhang, Edmund Webb III, Alparslan Oztekin, Xuanhong Cheng
  • Isolation, Characterization, and Wound Healing Potential of MSC Derived Exosomes: Sajedeh Yazdanparast Tafti
  • Biomechanical Characterization of the Adhesion Between Enveloped Virus and Phosphatidylserine-Binding Proteins: Wenpeng Cao, Chuqian Xiong, Zhibo Zhang, Anand Jagota, X. Frank Zhang
  • Expedited Growth of 3D Tumor Spheroid and Drug Testing on Microfluidic Device: Yaling Liu, Yuyuan Zhou, Christopher Uhl
  • Developing Functionalized Bioresorbable Membranes Using Natural and Synthetic Polymer Blends: Nicole Malofsky, Paula Camacho, Hafiz Busari, Amelia Zellander, Lesley W. Chow
  • Unidirectional Connections between Microwells – Confined Groups of Neurons In Vitro: Yixuan Ming, Svetlana Tatic Lucic, Yevgeny Berdichevsky
  • Understanding Cell Size Homeostasis and Phenotypic Diversity during Bacteria Filamentation: Yanyan Chen and Javier Buceta
  • Stablizing Effect of Liposome Membrane On Ligand-Receptor Binding: Yuyuan Zhou, Wenpeng Cao, X. Frank Zhang, Yaling Liu
  • Cell-secreted Protease Crosslinking to Control Cell Migration: E. Thomas Pashuck, Stephanie Fung, Neil Joshi, Joachim Kohn
  • Sheath Flow Focusing of Jurkat Cells for Electrical Impedance Probing: Caroline Ladegard, Xuanhong Cheng
  • Characterizing Effects of Sterilization and Cell Culture on Peptide-Functionalized 3D-Printed Scaffolds: Matthew Fainor, Paula Camacho, Anne Behre, Lesley W. Chow
  • Nanoparticle Focusing for Mitochondrial Separation: Ashleigh Crawford
  • Low-Cost, Point-of-Care Sickle Cell Anemia Screening Device for Use in LMICS: Ashleigh Crawford, Jannah Wing, Maria Lancia, Olivia O'Donnell, Paola Lopez, Jaro Perera, Nattapat (Dream) Intarachumnum
  • 3D Printing Biodegradable Polymer Scaffolds with Tunable Architectures: Sareena Karim, Kelly Seims, Tomas Babuska, Brandon Krick, Lesley Chow
  • Protease Activity Detection by Fluorescent Peptide Zymography for Cell-Specific Targeting: Amanda Ferrante, Abdul-Nafea Syed, E. Thomas Pashuck
  • Variance in Thoracic Morphology in Age Groups Susceptible to Thoracic Injury: Shannon L. Taylor, Katelyn A. Greene, Ashley A. Weaver
  • Mechanical Characterization of Triple-negative Breast Cancer Cells via Atomic Force Microscopy: Alyssa Spiller, Etienne Harte, Anais Montillaud, Pierre Vacher, Francoise Argoul
  • Quantifying Cell Type-Specific Protease Activity Using Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry: Abdul-Nafea Syed, Amanda Ferrante, E. Thomas Pashuck
  • Investigating Mechano-Sensing Properties of TMEM184A: Minuette Laessig, Barbara Tsaousis, Leanna Altenburg, Grace Ciabattoni, Linda Lowe-Krentz
Slide with scaffolds

Lehigh researchers will present on "Spatial Organization of Biochemical Cues in 3D-Printed Scaffolds for Osteochondral Regeneration" at BMES 2019. Photo: Stephanie Veto

Anand Jagota

Anand Jagota, professor and founding chair of the Department of Bioengineering

Lehigh BioE at BMES