Biomedical Engineering Continues to Make the Future

By Sergio Fantini, Caoimhe Bennis, and David Kaplan

Biomedical engineering (BME) is a discipline of growing importance in society and is a vital and growing part not only of the Boston area but also of the whole U.S. territory infrastructure—industry, academics, and hospitals. There has been a major expansion in the field of BME for the past few years. This expansion is due to many factors, including

  • scientific and technological advances in molecular and cell biology, materials science, and engineering disciplines
  • the increasing recognition of the role of interdisciplinary strategies to solve complex biomedical problems
  • the aging of the population leading to increasing health-care needs and the associated demands and costs.

The BME Department at Tufts University reflects these themes and offers comprehensive education and research opportunities to students, faculty, and industry interested in pursuing this topic. We give an overview of the engineering of regenerative medicine and sensing systems at various focused laboratories within Tufts University below.

Regenerative Medicine-Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering

Combining knowledge in cell and molecular biology, physiology with biomaterials, biomechanics and biotransport phenomena, regenerative medicine aims to understand the mechanical, structural, and biological processes associated with designing and developing systems to repair or replace damaged organs and tissues. The current research activities address the aspects of cellular engineering, biomaterials, and tissue engineering.

Prof. David Kaplan (Figure 1) directs biomaterials and tissue engineering at TERC. The Kaplan Laboratory research focuses on biopolymer engineering to understand structure-function relationships, with emphasis on the studies related to self-assembly, biomaterials engineering, tissue engineering. and regenerative medicine.

Figure 1. David Kaplan

(Above) Figure 1. David Kaplan

Prof. Catherine Kuo (Figure 2) directs tissue engineering and embryonic development research in the Kuo Laborato­ry. The overarching research theme in this laboratory is that embryogenesis­-inspired regen­eration strategies will result in accelerated stem cell differen­tiation and musculoskeletal tis­sue development. The primary model tissues in this research are tendon and ligament, with the focus being extended to associative tissues of mesenchy­mal origin. In this vein and major areas: development of 3­D culture models with which to study developmental biology and disease mechanisms of en­gineered tissues of mesenchymal origin; chemo­ and mecha­noregulation of embryonic progenitor and adult stem cell dif­ferentiation and tissue development (in vivo and engineered in vitro); scaffold development and characterization of structure–function relationships

Figure 2. The overarching research theme in the Kuo Laboratory is that embryogenesis-inspired regeneration strategies will result in accelerated stem cell differentiation and musculoskeletal tissue development. Catherine Kuo looks on as graduate student Charles Banos studies chicken embryos.

Figure 2. The overarching research theme in the Kuo Laboratory is that embryogenesis-inspired regeneration strategies will result in accelerated stem cell differentiation and musculoskeletal tissue development. Catherine Kuo looks on as graduate student Charles Banos studies chicken embryos.

Click to enlarge

Cardiovascular tissue engineering in Prof. Lauren Black’s Laboratory is focused on understanding the bio­ physical signaling mechanisms responsible for the develop­ ment of healthy and diseased myocardium inclusive of me­chanical stress/strain, electrical stimulation, and cell–cell/cell–matrix interactions. The ultimate goal of his research is to design and develop new methods for repairing diseased or damaged myocardium. The work in his laboratory spans the following areas.

  • The use of novel methods, such as whole organ decellu­larization, to study the role that the local extracellular environment (matrix stiffness, morphology, and compo­sition) plays in the progression of myocardial disease and how it relates to the potential effectiveness of cell therapy­ based methods of cardiac repair.
  • Investigation into the physicochemical signaling mecha­nisms (growth factors, electrical stimulation, and me­chanical stimulation) responsible for the development of healthy myocardium from cardiac precursor or stem/progenitor cells.
  • The design, development, and evaluation of new methods for cardiac repair following myocardial infarction (heart attack) and heart failure, inclusive of tissue­engineered ventricular myocardium created in vitro for implantation in vivo.

Prof. Qiaobing Xu focuses on nanoscience for biomedical application, aimed at developing new synthetic materials, such as a library of lipidlike molecules, for the delivery of therapeutic biomacromolecules (for example, proteins and messenger RNA). Current research also investigates the use of drug delivery to stimulate host immune system for cancer vaccine applications and the development of micro/nanofabrication tools for tissue engineering applications.

Sensing Systems-Medical Instrumentation and Measurement

The development of new methodologies for image acquisition and processing is necessary to establish new procedures for monitoring therapy response and clinical diagnosis. The current research activities aim to create imaging systems that can provide continuous, noninvasive, inexpensive monitoring for a variety of organs and tissues in clinical abnormalities. Specific research lines in this area include the following:

  • Diffuse Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy led by Prof. Sergio Fantini (Figure 3)

    Figure 3. Fantini, professor of biomedical engineering at the optical mammography laboratory of the Tufts University BME Department.

    Figure 3. Fantini, professor of biomedical engineering at the optical mammography laboratory of the Tufts University BME Department.

  • Optics in the Development of Biomedical Devices led by Prof. Mark Cronin-Golomb
  • Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and Biophotonics led by Prof. Fiorenzo Omenetto
  • Optical Diagnostics for Diseased and Engineered Tissues (ODDET), led by Prof. Irene Georgakoudi

Conclusions

The BME at Tufts University brings together experts from diverse fields of engineering, medicine, and science to offer comprehensive education and research opportunities to students, faculty, and industry. To achieve a comprehensive learning experience, students undertake work experience, focused course work, international study experiences, and internships within a true collaborative environment. The current research activities aim to create imaging systems that can provide continuous noninvasive, inexpensive monitoring for a variety of organs and tissues in clinical abnormalities, and to develop novel paradigms in biomaterials, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Hence, BME continues to make the future by anticipating the needs that interface engineering and clinical medicine. For more information on biomedical research at Tufts University, please refer to our Web site at engineering. tufts.edu/bme/

Authors

Serigio Fantini (Sergio.Fantini@tufts.edu) is with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University.

Caoimhe Bennis (cbennis@partners.org) is with Motion Analysis Lab, Spaulding Rehabilitation Boston.

David Kaplan (David.Kaplan@tufts.edu) is with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University.

Click here to read the entire article, which appeared in the July/August 2011 issue of the IEEE Pulse magazine.