Research News, University of Michigan

IN THIS ISSUE
Engineering Research Solving Medical Needs
by Suzanne Tainter

a 43-year-old woman with a kidney donated by her sister 16 years ago
a vigorous retiree who shattered his lower leg when he slipped off a ladder
a young father recovering from third degree burns suffered in a work accident
a mother of three young children who lives with a leaky heart valve
a beloved grandmother who lost a breast to cancer

What do these people have in common?

All members of one family, they have injuries and illnesses that in future decades may be treated with innovations that biomedical engineering researchers at the University of Michigan are working on today. "Grow-your-own" breast implants and heart valves, bioengineered organs, DNA therapy for bone repairs-in this issue, we explore how biomedical engineers are melding biology and engineering to try to develop new ways to treat vexing and costly medical problems.

This issue of Research News begins with the research of David Mooney. A relative newcomer to the UM, he is an assistant professor of dentistry and chemical engineering. Drawing on 20 years of advances in molecular biology, Mooney is fashioning tissues from a combination of living cells and synthetic materials that might someday replace defective or damaged body parts. This "tissue engineering" requires a great deal of detailed engineering work to understand how tissue growth is regulated so that scientists can control that process.

Next, Research News turns to the work of Steven Goldstein, a veteran of biomedical engineering at the UM and head of the Orthopaedics Laboratory, whose research has provided a deeper understanding of the relationship between mechanical forces and bone. Recently, he has been part of an exciting new biological approach to healing hard-to-mend fractures.

In the last article in this issue, we look at another strength of biomedical engineering at the UM-ultrasound imaging. Now a staple of obstetrics, ultrasound imaging is being pushed into new medical applications such as coronary care and battlefield triage by electrical engineer Matthew O'Donnell.

This look at biomedical engineering research comes as the UM recasts its 30-year-old biomedical engineering program with a $3 million grant from the Whitaker Foundation. Principal investigators on that grant include Goldstein and O'Donnell, John Faulkner, professor of physiology, and Charles Cain, the first chairman of a new Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. The new department is coupled with a Center for Biomedical Engineering Research led by Goldstein in the Medical School, which provides a resource for any researcher in biomedical engineering at the university.

"We are adding a structure that makes biomedical engineering training at the UM more effective," explains Cain. "Working cooperatively, the new department and research center will enhance educational and research opportunities in biomedical engineering." The department is recruiting several new faculty members, and will provide a way to build a state-of-the-art curriculum, he says. The Center preserves "the community of people" with common interests in research collaborations.

Biomedical engineers normally interact across boundaries, explains Cain, "because it is in the biomedical engineer's self interest, but the program makes it easier."

Laboratories throughout the university rely on the technical expertise of the 80 to 100 graduate students in the program, Cain explains. And it is the UM's strength in a variety of research areas that draws outstanding students to this university, he adds.

"There are very broad opportunities at the University of Michigan. It has both a first rate Medical School and a first rate College of Engineering," he says. "My interest is ultrasound therapeutic applications; I need clinicians as collaborators." With the ready availability of good clinical partners at the UM Medical Center, Cain says, "I feel like a 'kid in a candy store' at Michigan."