2001 

$155,000 Award to establish Industrial Internship Program in Biomedical Engineering

STONY BROOK, NY- August 22, 2001    
The Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Stony Brook University (SBU) received a 3-year, $155,000 grant from the Whitaker Foundation to establish an Industrial Internship Program for graduate students in Biomedical Engineering. This award was submitted in partnership with the Center for Biotechnology at SBU. The goal of the internship program is to create internships at biomedical engineering and biotechnology companies in New York State for graduate students seeking a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering.

"The post genomic era has accelerated the need for individuals who have cross-disciplinary educations as well as an awareness and understanding of the commercial sector. We are confident that our program will provide the quality of education and industrial experience that will be critical to the success of our corporate partners", states Dr. Partap Khalsa, Graduate Program Director; Department of Biomedical Engineering.

The Center for Biotechnology will play an active role in coordinating the internship program. The Center will facilitate the participation of New York State companies in the program and provide on-going feedback and evaluation of the program. The award will enable the Center to expand its already successful internship programs while complimenting an overall workforce development strategy that is already underway, particularly as it relates to harnessing the intellectual and economic potential of our state's graduate student population.

"With support from the bioscience industry and the New York State government, we are confident that we can leverage these resources to implement a fully integrated and comprehensive workforce development strategy that will provide New York State industry with highly skilled and industry savvy scientists and engineers" states Dr. Clint Rubin, Director, Center for Biotechnology;

Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering. Participants for the first year of the internship program will come primarily from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at SBU. Students will start their internships at the end of their first academic year and subsequently receive their master's degree in BME within six to 12 months.

For more information on the internship program, please click here.

BME Professor Awarded an $800,000 Grant from NASA's Fundamental Space Biology, Ground Based Research Program

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it approved funding of a three year $865,000 research grant to Michael Hadjiargyrou, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering. The grant is a collaborative effort between Michael Hadjiargyrou, Anil Dhundale, Stefan Judex and Clinton Rubin and will be funded through NASA's Fundamental Space Biology, Ground Based Research program.

The grant is entitled "Elucidating the Molecular Events of Bone Mechanoreception" and will serve to strengthen Biomedical Engineering's research focus on bone adaptation. Click here to view the grant abstract.

State Education Department of New York approves Bachelors of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering at SUNY Stony Brook

STONY BROOK, NY - May, 2001
SUNY Stony Brook received approval to award a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering by the State Education Department of New York. The Department of Biomedical Engineering will start to offer the undergraduate major in Fall 2001.

óThis is an exciting discipline for students to enter, especially considering all the tremendous opportunities at the convergence of engineering, biology and the physical sciences. We are confident that we have constructed a superb curriculum, which will prepare the students for a challenging career following their graduation,Ç states Dr. Clinton T. Rubin, Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering. "Indeed, with the sequencing of the human genome, the advances in informatics, and the discoveries in nano-technology, I am certain that this decade, century and millennium will be the age of biomedical engineering." Students enrolled in this innnovative and challenging program will have the opportuntity to specialize in areas such as biomaterials, biomechanics, bioelectricity or molecular biomedical engineering.

SUNY Stony Brook is committed to advancing the training and development of students in the biomedical sciences. Students at SUNY Stony Brook benefit from access to state of the art research facilities and faculty expertise associated with a world class research institution. Stony Brook is a clear leader in the field of research and development in the biomedical sciences. In May 2001, SUNY Stony Brook was awarded $15.7 million by Governor Pataki to build a Strategically Targetted Academic Research (STAR) Center in Biomolecular Dignostics and Therapeutics on its campus.

The first undergraduate class will begin in Fall 2001. Students considering the new undergraduate degree in bioenginnering should contact Dr. Danny Bluestein (631-444-2156) as soon as possible.

Click here for more information on the new Bachelors of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering.

BME Program Receives Full-Fledged Department Status

Clinton Rubin

In December, 2000, the Provost announced to the University community that the Program in Biomedical Engineering would now be recognized as a full-fledged department, to be co-administered by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Medicine. Clinton Rubin was named as Chair of the Department, which will have eight core faculty, with joint appointments in CEAS and SOM.

"To now be a Department is an exciting advance for biomedical engineering here at Stony Brook," Dr. Rubin said, "and we look forward to continuing - and expanding - our efforts to integrate our biology and engineering research and education efforts across the campus and to Brookhaven National Laboratory."

Yacov Shamash

Yacov Shamash, VP Economic Development and Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science states that it is

"truly gratifying to see the amazing growth of our biomedical engineering programs in terms of research productivity and the very active involvement of undergraduate and graduate students which has resulted in the department designation. This designation provides excellent evidence of the quality of the department's faculty, leadership, and academic programs. I look forward to the continued growth of its educational and research programs, and to the resulting national recognition of the department as one of the best in the nation."

The elevation of the BME program to department status is a significant milestone in the schools of Medicine and Engineering.

Norman H. Edelman

"It is exciting to see the outstanding growth of the biomedical engineering program bring it to the point where is merits departmental status. The joint supervision by the schools of medicine and engineering is in the best tradition of collaboration across the campus. I expect to see continued dramatic growth of the department because the science is cutting edge and the leadership is visionary,"

states Norman H. Edelman, VP Health Sciences Center and Dean of the School of Medicine, SUNY Stony Brook.

BME admits record number of new graduate students for Fall 2001

Nineteen new students will enter our graduate program in the fall. This includes five students, entering with their MS degrees, who will join program faculty members directly into their doctoral research (they are still required to pass their qualifying exam). Twelve of 15 offers for full funding were accepted by first-year graduate students. The entering class has an average GPA of 3.6 and an average total GRE of 1963. Their undergraduate backgrounds are from biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, physics, biology, and biochemistry. These students will be matriculating into BME at Stony Brook from many states across the U.S. and three countries (Austria, China, and India). However, they will be undoubtedly be united in their devotion to BME and our local sports teams (Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Giants and the LI Ducks).

Newly Admitted Graduate Students for Fall 2001

M.S.
Azael Villanueva
Christophe DeStefano

Ph.D.
Allyson Ianuzzi
Amit Kulkarni
Bo Zhao
Cheng Liu
Erik Mittra
Guruprasad Madhavan
Harshad Shanbhag
Jesse Little
Kaustabh Ghosh
Lihong Yin
Maria Squire
Sepideh Shokouhi
Shazia Rana
Wei Yin
Yen Luu
Yi Xia

SUNY Stony Brook Awarded $15.7 M to build STAR Center

STONY BROOK, NY - May 3rd, 2001          
Governor George E. Pataki today announced that the State University of New York at Stony Brook has been awarded $15.7 million to create a new Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Center in Biomolecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics - representing one of the largest one-time academic research investments ever made by the State in the Long Island region.

The new STAR Center will play a critical role in the Governor's plan to expand high-tech and biotech research and development activities, attract world-class scientific researchers to New York and create new technology-based jobs and businesses on Long Island.

"This new STAR Center on Long Island is a critical part of our ongoing effort to make New York State a global leader in high-tech and biotechnology research and economic growth," Governor Pataki said. "This new Center - along with our $1 billion Centers of Excellence plan - will promote cutting-edge research and new job growth and economic development throughout Long Island."

The Long Island STAR Center will be a state-of-the-art enterprise that serves as the epicenter of discovery-based research and technology development in the areas of functional genomics instrumentation, gene discovery, drug design and delivery, and smart micro- and nano-based biomaterials and biosensors. The Center will strengthen Long Island's biotechnology corridor by promoting new technologies, opening up new markets and advancing disease diagnosis and treatment.

The partners in the Stony Brook STAR Center include top research institutions Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The one-time award is being made through the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research's $102.5 million Capital Facility and Faculty Development Programs. In addition, SUNY Stony Brook's School of Medicine received a separate $930,000 Faculty Development Program award to help it attract top-notch scientists and researchers for a specific high-technology related research program.

Stony Brook President Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny said, "Governor Pataki's announcement is another outstanding example of New York State's recognition of the important role research institutions play in the economic health and well being of New York. The STAR Center in Biomolecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics, which partners Stony Brook University with industry, will pay off in dividends for generations to come. The research, coupled with entrepreneurship, will help New York become a leader in the many facets of the biotechnology industry. I am grateful for the vision and courage of our representatives in this endeavor."

Russell W. Bessette, M.D., Executive Director of the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) said, "The creation of these STAR centers provide a prime example of how Governor Pataki's initiatives will boost the State's economy through high-tech development. They will provide the physical and intellectual infrastructure necessary to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs in science and technology in New York State."

More information about the STAR Center program and the types of research that will be conducted may be found at NYSTAR's Web page at http://www.nystar.state.ny.us/stardetails.htm.

BME faculty unveils unique developments in Nanotechnology

Two unique developments at the nanoscale level were unveiled last week: a hollow sphere composed of fullerene derivatives and a method for coaxing thin films to roll up into nanotubes...more»

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory faculty joins BME program

"CSHL and SUNY Stony Brook have long enjoyed close collaborations, and I firmly believe that BME in general, and molecular biomedical engineering in particular, represent perfect new directions for building on these established ties. I am confident that many Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory faculty will welcome the opportunity to mentor BME students with engineering and hard sciences backgrounds. I am optimistic about the success of this undertaking, and am certain that our joint programs will be fruitful in both the research and educational arenas."

Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Program (IBRP)

As biomedical research enters the post-genomics age, much of our understanding of complex, system level interactions which control biological processes will arise from rigorous interdisciplinary interactions between the physical and biological sciences. This program will cultivate this interaction by introducing undergraduate students who otherwise would study and work solely in the physical sciences to the exciting frontiers of biomedical research. The Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Program (IBRP), will place up to ten students per year who are concentrating in the physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering into laboratories which focus on biomedical research. For more information on the IBRP, please click here.

BME Professors win $1.5M award from The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI)

February 2, 2001.

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) announced today that two grants will be funded in the newly formed Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), with total funding of approximately $1.5M over three years. Yi-Xian Qin, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in collaboration with Clinton Rubin (Professor of BME) and Barry Gruber (Associate Professor of Medicine & Dermatology), is principal investigator of the grant funded through NSBRI's Technology Development division, and is entitled: "A Non-Invasive Scanning Confocal Ultrasonic Diagnostic System for Bone Quality." The second proposal, a collaborative effort between Stefan Judex, Michael Hadjiargyrou and Clinton Rubin, all in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is entitled: "A biomechanical countermeasure for disuse osteopenia," and will be funded through the Bone division. These proposals will serve to strengthen Biomedical Engineering's ties to Brookhaven National Laboratory, a consortium member of NSBRI. NSBRI research seeks solutions to health concerns facing astronauts on long space missions. Patients on Earth suffering from similar conditions will benefit from these advances. Dr. Rubin commented

"This is a great opportunity for the basic science central to our department's faculty to be directly applied to issues critical to an extended human presence in space. That the work may also help diagnose and treat osteoporosis here on Earth is a wonderful added incentive to move forward."

An elated Dr. Qin states,

"It is incredible that NSBRI recognizes our technology and research. The work may eventually benefit both development of ground-base biomedical diagnostic device and the future space mission."

The abstracts of the work are as follows:
 

A. Biomechanical Countermeasure for Disuse Osteopenia

Osteoporosis, the progressive loss of bone density and strength, which cripples tens of millions on our planet, distinguishes itself as perhaps the greatest physiologic obstacle to an extended human presence in space. The principal objectives of this proposal are to establish the efficacy of a unique, biomechanical countermeasure to inhibit bone loss in an animal model of disuse osteoporosis, and correlate this regulatory influence to the expression patterns of several genes critical to bone formation and resorption. Using a ground based model of microgravity, the tail-suspended rat, we have shown that brief exposure (10 minutes) to extremely low magnitude (0.25g, engendering < 5 microstrain), high frequency (30-90 Hz) mechanical signals will inhibit the bone loss which typically parallels disuse, even though 10 minutes of full weightbearing failed to curb this loss. Longer-term experiments in sheep have shown this stimulus to be strongly anabolic, increasing bone mineral density, trabecular number and connectivity, and improving bone strength. In a series of four specific aims, we will use several morphometric assays on the mouse model of tail-suspension to rigorously establish the efficacy of a specific mechanical signal (10 minutes at 30Hz, 0.3g; parameters being used in clinical trials to inhibit bone loss in the elderly) to inhibit and/or reverse 28 days of disuse osteopenia. In an effort to understand the mechanisms by which this signal is anabolic, we will also monitor the temporal and spatial expression of nine genes, each indicative of a specific process of bone formation or resorption. The use of the mouse will facilitate many aspects of the protocol, including comprehensive genomic profiling and expedited access to spaceflight. Considering that many flight opportunities are brief and thus do not permit long term morphologic adaptations in bone to occur, combining the molecular with the tissue level strategies will facilitate establishing countermeasure efficacy even following short term exposure to microgravity. In essence, this work represents a critical step in establishing a physiologically based, non-pharmacologic, non-invasive treatment for osteoporosis, for use on earth or in space.
 

B. A Non-Invasive Scanning Confocal Ultrasonic Diagnostic System for Bone Quality

Musculoskeletal complications induced in extended space mission represent a key astronaut health problem. In normal gravity, early diagnosis of progressive bone loss or poor bone quality indicates prompt treatment and thus will dramatically reduce the risk of bone fracture. The principal diagnostic methods for osteoporosis and microgravity induced osteopenia is dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), which provides only an index of bone mineral density and/or content, and not bone's physical properties. More recently, advents in ultrasonic techniques provide an intriguing method for characterizing the material properties of bone in a manner which is non-invasive, non-destructive, repeatable, safe and relatively accurate. Limitations with this approach, however, leave non-invasive ultrasound - in its current configuration - as a first order screening tool, rather than a highly accurate diagnostic.

Our principal goal is to continue development and evaluation of a scanning confocal acoustic diagnostic (SCAD) system capable of generating non-invasive, high-resolution ultrasonic attenuation and velocity maps of trabecular and cortical bones. This system, relevant not only for ground-based determination of bone's physical properties, can effectively be used in the space environment for determining even subtle changes in density and strength during extended flights. In addition to the development of this device, we will validate the structure and density information detected by SCAD using mCT and mechanical testing methods in both in vivo and ex vivo animal models, including human subject. These data will provide a database for further testing in the space environment. Importantly, the SCAD system is small and light weight. The work may provide a unique method to detect progressive bone decay in the space mission. A well-established SCAD system may also provide a significant impact in diagnostic of osteoporosis and bone quality.

Intel Finalists Work on Non-invasive Bone Diagnostic at SUNY Stony Brook

Craig Berman and John Yoon, from Ward Melville High School of Long Island, NY are two INSTAR high school students that have much to be proud of. John Yoon was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) and Craig Berman has advanced to the finals at the Intel STS. The Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) is America's oldest and most highly regarded pre-college science competition. Intel's sponsorship of the Science Talent Search is part of the Intel Innovation in Education initiative, a global, multi million - dollar effort to help realize the possibilities of science and technology in education. The STS, often considered the "Junior Nobel Prize," will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year at a black-tie award banquet on Monday, March 12, in Washington, D.C.

Craig Berman will join 40 other seniors from the US on an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to the Science Talent Institute (STI), where they will undergo final judging. On the basis of a rigorous round of interviews, 10 top scholarship winners will be selected. The winner will walk away with the top prize of a $100,000 four-year scholarship.

From left to right - Reed Mauser, Dr. Yi-Xian Qin, Craig Berman (seated) and John Yoon.

John Francis Yoon, whose project is titled "Cross-sectional Assessment of Fluid Perfusion in Simulated Osteoporotic Bone", aimed to identify fluid perfusion in bone and the bone-cartilage interface, and to identify how load-induced fluid flow influences bone adaptation and nutrition supply. This project is supported by The Whitaker Foundation, the Center for Biotechnology's Innovative Technology Development (ITD) grant through funding from the New York State office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) and SPIR. John has been with the Center's research team for two years and hopes to become a doctor or a scientist as his future career.

Craig submitted to Intel STS a medicine and health entry in the investigation of the use of ultrasound in the early detection of osteoporosis. The basic research of this project, "Characterization of Ultrasound in Osteoporotic-like Bone Tissue and its Clinical Application as a non-invasive Diagnostic System", will be used for the on-going biomedical engineering research and clinical diagnostic application. Craig has worked in the research lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, SUNY Stony Brook for three years under the supervision of Dr. Yi-Xian Qin, Assistant Professor in BME. The research is supported by the Center for Biotechnology and NIH.

Craig has been involved with the Center's research team for three years. Prior to INSTAR, he reached the LISEF final in 1999, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair team award (with Reed Mauser) in 1999, and was a semi-finalists in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in 2000. He has been accepted by Yale University with early decision.

The distinct and disciplined background of faculty has helped push the BME Program forward in the recognized research areas of biomaterial, biomechanics, skeletal tissue adaptation, tissue engineering, medical imaging and instrumentation, biomedical modeling and molecular biomedical engineering. There are currently more than 40 faculty members in the Program. Each year, the Program attracts a number of pre-college students doing research with faculty. They join the research team and learn essential cutting edge technical skills. These experiences will help them broaden their knowledge and influence their future career.

Participation in the STS has often served as a precursor to impressive accomplishments in science. Statistics show that 95 percent of former STS winners have pursued a branch of science as their major field of study. More than 70 percent have gone on to earn Ph.D.s or become M.D.s. More than 100 winners of the world's most coveted science and math honors are alumni of the STS, including three National Medal of Science winners, 10 MacArthur Foundation Fellows, two Fields Medallists and five Nobel Laureates.

More information on the Intel Science Talent Search can be found at http://www.sciserv.org/sts/

BME professor wins BNL´s Science & Technology Award

Charles Springer, Chemistry Department, has made exceptional contributions to both basic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) science and to the development of the BNL 4-Tesla (T) high-field MRI facility. Since joining the BNL Chemistry Department in 1994, he has directed the development of a 4T magnetic resonance instrument and the MRI laboratory. As part of the MRI program, Springer has pursued research focused on water dynamics in tissues, which has important implications for the functional imaging of the brain and the use of contrast agents routinely used in clinical MRI studies.

From left: Charles Springer, Peter Johnson, Ilan Ben-Zvi, Toshi Sugama, and Thomas Roser.

Abstract of Dr. Springer's work -
 

High Magnetic Field Lowers the Detection Threshold for MRI Contrast Reagents

Contrast reagents (CRs) are used in 30% to 40% of all MRI examinations: on a worldwide basis, two to four million doses are administered annually. They constitute one of the safest classes of drugs ever discovered. In recent years, these have come to be thought of as non?radioactive analogs of the tracers of nuclear medicine. One monitors the time-course of the passage of a CR through a region-of-interest. The quantification of the pharmacokinetic properties yields measures of blood perfusion (delivery of the CR), blood vessel permeability to the CR, and tissue "leakage space" into which the CR distributes. Since these are precisely the properties altered by angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels) and by cell necrosis and apoptosis, they are of tremendous importance in the evaluation of tumors (for example), though CRs are used to diagnose many other disease states as well. Their potential for evaluating new, putative antiangiogenic drugs is recognized and obvious. We have discovered that the threshold for detection of CR becomes lower as the strength of the MRI magnetic field is larger. For example, using the 4 Tesla (T) MRI instrument at BNL, we find that we can detect CR levels at least six times lower than is possible at 2 T. The vast majority of clinical MRI instruments operate at 1.5 T, or smaller. At the same time, taking advantage of the indirect detection of CR in MRI (via its effect on the water MRI signal), we have discovered how to correct the large systematic errors present in the pharmacokinetic parameters determined in the standard manner. It also allows us to access a new parameter, measuring the cell membrane water permeability (affected by aquaporin regulation). We will soon apply for a copyright on the new software package (BOLERO) we are developing for analyzing and mapping these parameters.

2000

SOA Whitaker Grants Awarded

The mission of the first Special Opportunity Award, beginning in 1996, was to establish a
university-wide, interdisciplinary program of graduate education and research in biomedical engineering. This program would emphasize the integration of engineering and life sciences both within the curriculum and in the laboratory, with the goal of training students to enter academia, industry or the government. Building on the existing strengths in biomechanics, medical imaging, material science, computational modeling and tissue engineering, the program in BME has made great strides in accomplishing its goals. Of significance is the approval, in 1998, by the State Education Department to award the Masters and Doctoral Degees in Biomedical Engineering, as well as the Advanced Graduate certificate.

The mission of the second SOA, which began in the fall of 1999, is to develop an undergraduate major in biomedical engineering, which emphasizes a contextual based learning experience in an environment committed to the integration of research and education. With the goal of offering a BS degree in biomedical engineering by the Fall of 2001, it is hoped that this opportunity will attract academically outstanding students to focus on research and design problems which directly interface with the life sciences.

Outstanding Research Award

DIRECTOR OF BIOTECH CENTER PRESENTED AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH

Clinton T. Rubin Cited by the American Society of Biomechanics

The American Society of Biomechanics will present Dr. Rubin with its highest award of honor, the 2000 Giovanni Borelli Award, at the 24th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB), to be held in Chicago on July 19-22, 2000. The Borelli Award recognizes outstanding career accomplishment and is awarded annually to an investigator who has conducted exemplary research in any area of biomechanics.

Dr. Rubin's research focuses on the molecular, cellular and tissue level mechanisms involved in the physical control of bone growth, healing, and homeostasis, and how these mechanisms can be utilized in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of skeletal disease and injury. The National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Exogen, Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals and the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research currently fund this work.

Since 1997, the Center for Biotechnology has been lead by Dr. Clinton T. Rubin, Director. His strategic vision to fully capitalize upon the intellectual property resources of our State's universities for the purpose of economic development has been a primary focus of the Center's activities for the last three years. Dr. Rubin is a Professor of Orthopedics, Anatomy and Biomedical Engineering in the School of Medicine and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In addition, as founder of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at SUNY Stony Brook, Dr. Rubin is committed to harnessing Stony Brook's unique resources to create a rigorous, cross-disciplinary training and research environment for graduate students.

Dr. Rubin has also been instrumental in helping to set up the University MicroArray Facility (IMF) at SUNY Stony Brook. Under the leadership of Dr. Rubin, the Center will help advance custom cDNA spotting microarray capabilities, in cooperation with the School of Medicine and the American Medical Development Corporation. The IMF will serve as a regional center for DNA MicroArray efforts.

Dr. Rubin's accomplishments in basic science are reinforced with his commitment to industry and the private sector. He is the founder of Exogen, a medical device company focused on the biophysical modulation and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and disease, which holds the FDA's only approved device for the acceleration of fracture healing. After going public, Exogen was subsequently purchased by the multinational firm of Smith & Nephew. Dr. Rubin holds seven patents with six additional patents pending. His entrepreneurial skills are well suited to the ambitious economic development agenda of the Center, from workforce development to company creation.

Dr. Rubin graduated from Harvard with a BA in Physiology and a PhD in Anatomy from the University of Bristol, UK. Among his other honors, he is the recipient of the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research Fuller Albright award, and the Kappa Delta award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Dr. Rubin sits on the Board of Directors for the New York Biotechnology Association.

Regional DNA Center Opened

The School of Medicine and the Center for Biotechnology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook have announced plans to create a regional center for DNA microarray efforts. Dr. Norman H. Edelman, Vice-President for Health Sciences and Dean of the Medical School, announced the formal agreement with the American Medical Development Corporation (AMDeC) to establish an DNA Microarray Facility at Stony Brook using a platform pioneeredby Affymetrix, a California-based leader in the technology. The details of the agreement were reported today in the New York Times. The University Microarray Facility (UMF) plans a service menu that includes both the Affymetrix "chip" and the cDNA-spotting, custom glass slide-based technologies.

The Center for Biotechnology (CBT) is advancing custom cDNA spotting microarray capabilities in this joint effort. Dr. Clinton Rubin, Director-CBT at Stony Brook, noted..."this joint effort will catalyze new approaches to questions of fundamental interest to the public and private sectors of biomedical research." "The current time-table seeks to place the Affymetrix system on line this summer, while the glass slide fabrication facility is being developed by the CBT," observed Dr. Craig Malbon, Vice-Dean for Scientific Affairs, School of Medicine. Dr. Malbon negotiated the agreement on behalf of Stony Brook to evolve to a regional core for microarray services. The UMF effort will be housed both in the newly-constructed Centers of Molecular Medicine and the new headquarters of the CBT on campus. Dr. Anil Dhundale, Assistant Director- CBT, has been appointed as Scientific Director of the UMF to organize the rapid development of this exciting core facility. "The ability to perform large-scale and custom gene profiling at Stony Brook will enable robust research grants and foster economic development on Long Island," said Dr. Dhundale. Vice-President for Research Gail Habicht enthusiastically supported the efforts to bring this new technology to campus as a core facility available to the reseaarch community. The University Microarray Facility expands the portfolio of biomedical scientific cores, which includes campus-wide facilities for microscopy & imaging, protein analysis (including MALDI mass spectroscopy), tissue culture & hybridoma, transgenic mouse technology, mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, biostatistical consultation, and DNA sequencing.

Center for Biotechnology New Facilities

Heavy snow was falling on Long Island January 20, but inside the new Center for Biotechnology facilities, Dr. Clinton Rubin and his staff basked in the glow of accomplishment. A crowd of 60 industry leaders braved the snow to celebrate the grand opening of the center's new location in the Psychology A building on the SUNY Stony Brook
campus. Speakers at the event included Shirley Strum Kenny, president of the university; NYBA's executive director, Karin Duncker; James Hayward, CEO of the Collaborative Group and Assemblyman Steven Englebright, Suffolk County's state Assemblyman.

Dr. Kenny opened the ceremony by congratulating the staff on their achievements, which include forming NYBA and launching 40 start-up companies over 16 years. Assemblyman Englebright then presented Dr. Kenny with a proclamation from the New York Assembly. He added his own praise, saying that the center was Long Island's future and the best of what state/ academic/ industry partnerships can be.

The Center's history and its role in founding New York Biotechnology Association were recalled by Karin Duncker. James Hayward spoke of the center's contribution to Long Island's bioscience industry in general and to the Collaborative Group in particular. Over half his staff, he noted, had some connection to the Center for Biotechnology.

As part of his presentation, Mr. Hayward unveiled the new web site of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative (LILSI), www.lilsi.org. The center is handling the
ongoing administration of the initiative, a regional effort to develop national recognition for Long Island as a bioscience hub.

The importance of the Center to New York was highlighted in the address of Dr. Clinton Rubin, the center's director. In 1998, the Center had an
economic impact on the state of $86 million, twice that of any other state center for advanced technology. In its new location, Dr. Rubin promised, the Center will
expand its focus to encompass early stage technology development. With 20 technologies in various stages of development and 6 of those in advanced stages, the center has already become a virtual pharmaceutical company, he said.

In closing, Dr. Rubin reminded the guests that translating academic research into economic benefit takes resources, and he hoped that the Center proved worthy of
continued support and investment. But with its impressive track record, influential supporters and a new, state-of-the-art research facility, the Center for
Biotechnology can be sure of its future. The vision is up and running.

Kevon Storie
NYBA

NIH Grant awarded

BNL Researchers Receive NIH Funding for Development of Unique Contrast Agents for MRI

From 30% to 40% of all MRI examinations currently include use of a contrast reagent (CR). This amounts to the administration of two to four million doses a year, worldwide. Almost all of these utilize compounds of the paramagnetic gadolinium(III) ion. A team of BNL and USB scientists has recently made significant advances in the quantitative applications of MRI CRs. The team includes: recent Stony Brook Chemistry Ph.D.s Charles Landis and Xin Li, BNL chemists Charles Springer and William Rooney (Li is now also in BNL Chemistry), and Frank Telang, Jeffrey Coderre, Patricia Molina and Peggy Micca from BNL's Medical Dept.
Quantitative studies treat the CR as a non-radioactive tracer. A basic quantity pertaining to a tracer is its concentration. Unlike the original tracers of nuclear medicine, however, an MRI CR is not detected directly, but through its effect on the relaxation rate constant (R) of the water proton nuclear magnetic resonance signal. This requires a calibration relationship between R and the CR concentration. When studied as aqueous CR solutions in test tubes, one finds that R is a linear function of CR concentration. It is this straight line that is currently used for calibration in clinical MRI.

However, a CR molecule penetrates at most the extracellular spaces of tissues: essentially never entering inside cells. But the majority of tissue water is intracellular: water molecules must exchange across the cell membrane (cytolemma) in order for intracellular water to make molecular contact with CR. The assumption of the linear calibration relationship requires that this exchange be effectively infinitely fast. In a paper published last year in the journal Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM) on studies of the thigh muscle in the rat, the BNL MRI workers showed for the first time that equilibrium transcytolemmal water exchange is in fact measurable, and is not infinitely fast. The dependence of R on CR concentration in vivo is distinctly non-linear. The scientists were able to describe the measured data with an analytical equation based on the exchange kinetics.

In a second MRM paper, to appear this year, the BNL MRI investigators report the consequences of the misapplication of the straight line calibration. Following a rather mild CR injection, the linear assumption underestimates the maximum CR concentration in the rat thigh muscle by a factor of two. Furthermore, the use of the true calibration curve allows determination of the real CR concentration (in the chemistry sense) for the first time. This, in turn, allows factoring of the parameters describing CR pharmacokinetic behavior, not before possible with a single tracer. These parameters - the tissue blood perfusion, the permeability of blood vessel walls to CR, and the actual tissue space accessible to CR - are the quantities that make MRI CRs so useful in the characterization of tumors, brain MS lesions, and many other pathologies. The BNL/USB discoveries make possible the accurate high-resolution MR mapping of these quantities as well as those measuring blood vessel wall and cell membrane water permeabilities. Studies of human volunteers are now under way.

SBIR Grant Awarded

Sustained gene transfer for chronic wound healing.

This phase I Small Business Innovation Research application seeks to develop a device for sustained gene transfer to achieve chronic topical wound healing. A biodegradable matrix will be formulated to release a plasmid DNA gene construct encoding Platelet Derived growth Factor (PDGF) in a sustained manner. An in vitro cell proliferation model will be used to assess the efficacy of this gene delivery matrix system. The chronic dermal wounds of diabetics are notoriously hard to heal. This system hope to accelerate the healing of chronic wounds.

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