2019 News Archives

James McGrath receives the Outstanding Faculty Award from Edmund Hajim

December 25, 2019

mcgrath.jpgJames McGrath, professor of biomedical engineering, is the recipient of the 2019 Edmund A. Hajim Outstanding Faculty Award.

“Jim leads a highly productive research laboratory dedicated to advancing novel technologies for fabricating nanomembranes for engineering applications in biosensing and separations processes,” said Hajim School Dean Wendi Heinzelman.

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Professor Maddox receives funding from NIH and NIDCD

August 23, 2019

Professor Maddox

Professor Ross Maddox has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) for his project, “Rapid acquisition of the frequency-specific auditory brainstem response through parallel stimulus presentation.”

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Summer in Rochester means research

August 15, 2019

A student doing research in a lab.

There’s no better time to do research at the University than during the summer. While the classrooms may be quiet, labs and libraries remain busy as undergraduate students work on projects from engineering to political science.

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Professor Whasil Lee receives CMSR pilot grant

July 15, 2019

whasil

Professor Whasil Lee has received Center for Musculoskeletal Research (CMSR) pilot funding for her project with Dr. Sandeep Mannava (Orthopaedics) titled, “Targeting mechanosensitive ion channels for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-injury associated Osteoarthritis: Evaluation in a mouse model.” The goal of this project is to measure the outcome of  the intra-articular injection of Piezo inhibitors using OA mouse model.

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Maureen Newman receives 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award

July 3, 2019

Maureen newman

Maureen Newman, a recent graduate of our BME PhD program, is the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Dissertation Award for the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Arts, Sciences and Engineering. Maureen’s dissertation is “Bone-targeted Polymer Delivery of Osteoanabolics for Bone Regeneration.” Maureen, now a formulations scientist with Surrozen, investigated a novel therapeutic strategy for osteoporosis treatment under the mentorship of Danielle Benoit. This strategy combined a bone-building drug and a bone-targeting polymer delivery vehicle to reverse the reduction of bone volume and bone strength in patients with osteoporosis. 

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Professor Carney receives renewed NIH funding

July 1, 2019

carney

Congratulations to Professor Laurel Carney on the renewal of her NIH R01 for her project, “Auditory Processing of Complex Sounds.” The Carney Lab hypothesizes that midbrain sensitivity to neural amplitude and frequency fluctuations in peripheral responses provides a robust representation of complex sounds, including speech. Aim 1 tests this hypothesis with physiological and behavioral studies of midbrain responses to stimuli that combine these cues, including “designer” stimuli with conflicting cues to determine how they may interact. These results will be used to test and refine a new computational model for midbrain responses with sensitivity to these cues. Aim 2 tests the hypothesis with physiological responses of midbrain neurons to voiced speech, to directly test model predictions based on characterization of each neuron’s sensitivity to these cues. Understanding the role in speech coding of the amplitude and frequency fluctuations in peripheral responses is clinically significant because these fluctuations are vulnerable to SNHL. In Aim 3, we will test the hypothesis that amplitude and frequency fluctuations can be manipulated in synthetic speech to influence intelligibility in human listeners with or without SNHL, in quiet and in noise. Preliminary results from modeling, physiological, and behavioral studies support the proposed hypotheses. Ultimately, our goal is to extend this approach to manipulate fluctuation contrasts in running speech, to effectively “correct” sound for the impaired ear.

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Several BME professors receive University Research awards

June 10, 2019

BME primary faculty Regine Choe, Ross Maddox, and Jim McGrath, as well as BME graduate faculty Denise Hocking (Pharmacology & Physiology), Andrew Berger (Optics) and Lisa DeLouise (Dermatology) are recipients of this year's University Research Awards. These awards provide “seed” grants for promising, high-risk projects.

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BME PhD candidate Danielle Desa awarded 2019 Research Initiative grant from the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester

May 20, 2019

Group photo.

Congratulations to Danielle Desa, a third-year biomedical engineering PhD student in the lab of Professor Ed Brown, who has received a 2019 Research Initiative grant from the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester (BCCR). These grants are awarded to fund innovative new projects with the potential to yield significant medical breakthroughs in the cause and prevention of breast cancer, prevention of metastasis, and cure.

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Professor Giacomelli receives NIH funding

May 15, 2019

mohs

Congratulations to Professor Michael Giacomelli who has received NIH funding for his project, "Fluorescence microscopy for evaluation of Mohs surgical margins." Mohs surgery is a widely used technique for the treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer that obtains extremely low recurrence rates by imaging tissue as it is removed from the body to ensure complete resection. However, Mohs is slow and extremely labor intensive because it depends on frozen sections processing to produce histological images. The cost and reduced throughput associated with frozen section processing limits its availability to patients while contributing to rising health care costs. My research has developed fluorescent imaging technologies, rapid tissue labeling, and image processing technologies enabling real-time evaluation of pathology in skin tissue with an order of magnitude reduction in processing time as compared to frozen sections.

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Madeline Cappelloni wins 2019 Edward Peck Curtis Award

April 15, 2019

maddy cappelloni

Congratulations to Madeline Cappelloni, a graduate student in the Maddox Lab, who was awarded the 2019 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. The award was personally presented by Vice Provost and University Dean of Graduate Studies Margaret Kearney.

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Benoit Lab graduate students receive honors from Society for Biomaterials

February 22, 2019

Three members of the Benoit Lab have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the Biomaterials' 2019 Annual Meeting which will be held in Seattle, WA, April 3-6, 2019. Graduate student Kenneth Sims received a Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) award which recognizes research excellence and helps to develop future leaders within the Society for Biomaterials. Graduate students Marian Ackun-Farmmer and Clyde Overby received Honorable Mentions. 

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