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» return to IAB Minutes Listing
Attendees
Members:
Walt Baxter, Fred Cahn, Shu Chien, Steve Flaim, Dave Gibbons, Michael Heller,
Ben Kavanaugh, Mike Magers, Tony Ratcliffe, Bob Sah
Guests: Trey Ideker, Shirley Lee, Ann O’Donnell, Alan Walsh
Staff: Rowella Garcia, Jennifer Griffin, Imani Tyus
Chair: Shu Chien on behalf of Bill Craig
The meeting began with welcoming remarks by Dr. Shu Chien. Approval of Minutes from October 7, 2004 Meeting - The minutes were approved as submitted. Dr. Shu Chien introduced guests: Mr. Alan Walsh, mechanical engineer of Advanced Mechanical Technology, Inc based in Boston. Anne O’Donnell, Director of Jacobs School Corporate Affiliates Program (CAP), who is currently working with Dr. Chien on for a plan for joint membership between the Jacobs School CAP and our IAB, Shirley Lee, President and Ben Kavanaugh, Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Society, UCSD Student Chapter, together with advisors Dr. Sah and Professor Trey Ideker. Ben will attend future IAB meetings as the student representative.
Presentation by Industry – Synthasome, Inc. Dr. Anthony Ratcliffe
Dr. Anthony Ratcliffe is President and CEO of Synthasome, Inc., which has the main purpose of developing products that meet previously unmet clinical
needs in reparative medicine using tissue engineering technology, within a financially profitable and independent organization.
Tissue engineering industry has yet to be commercially successful. Synthasome has improved knowledge base, has a strong team approach to
regulatory issues, increased technical skills and has improved understanding of business models and markets. Among the tissue engineering
products that are already in the market are Integra Template, Carticel Genzyme, Transcyte Smith & Nephew, Apligraft Organogenesis,
Dermagraft S&N and Orcel Ortec.
The company strategy includes: In summary, Synthasome, Inc has achieved its early goals, including the establishing a product pipeline, obtaining new NIH-funded projects, and submitting patents. It is developing new products for the short, medium and long term, and is on track to becoming a key company in the fields of tissue engineering and reparative medicine . Mr. Mike Magers brought up the issue of cost models. Synthasome is currently outsourcing 2 cost models; one based on time, and the other based on the financials. When asked what percentage of Synthasome’s projects are through SBIR, Dr. Ratcliffe told the committee that right now they are using 4 SBIR’s which is more appropriate than an RO1 which is so much harder to complete. For more information please visit: http://www.synthasome.com Report on the Breakfast with Industry (BWI) – Dr. Shu Chien The Breakfast with Industry was held on Friday, November 12 th, 2004. It was another successful event. We had 30 industry representatives. The students and companies had a very close interaction. Tables were arranged to match the students and companies according to their expertise. Dr. Charles Cantor, Chief Scientific Officer of Sequenom, was the keynote speaker. Many IAB members participated in this event. In the past, there were instances in which graduate students were hired directly as a result of the BWI. The successful event was organized by the graduate students led by Jessica Lanford, with the help of staff, including Jennifer Griffin, Rowella Garcia and Imani Tyus. Recruitment of New IAB Members – Dr. Shu Chien This topic will be discussed at the next IAB meeting by Dr. Bill Craig. Report on the MRU Faculty Retreat – Dr. Shu Chien The Multi-campus Research Unit entitled “Bioengineering Institute of California” is a consortium of the Bioengineering programs of the 10 University of California campuses. The MRU Faculty Retreat was held at the Pacific Palms Conference Resort in the city of Industry, CA on November 6 and 7 th, 2004. The MRU has received funding support from the Whitaker Foundation for the development of a system-wide web-based teaching material. A webpage has been developed to publish all the teaching materials. Kiefer Huynh is the programming webmaster. During the retreat, the committee discussed establishing a modern information infrastructure with facilities and staffing for broadband inter-campus transmission, thus forming a network for research and teaching system-wide. They plan on establishing graduate student fellowships and facilitating intercampus cooperative graduate training. An annual System-wide Bioengineering Symposia will be held on June 26-27, 2005 at the University of California, Santa Cruz. There will be a strong emphasis on Industry at the symposia. Report On Stem Cell Initiative – Dr. Shu Chien Proposition 71 on Stem Cell Initiative was passed in November. A 29-member Oversight Committee has been formed by the State of California. UCSD has Drs. Ed Holmes (Dean of Medical School) and Leon Thal (Chair of Neuroscience) on this committee. Drs. Holmes met with UCSD Bioengineering faculty to discuss this initiative. A plan to form a scientific committee is in the works. The projects to be funded by the California Stem Cell Initiative will be those that the NIH would not sponsor, and hence will be mainly those on human embryonic stem cells. No major rules have been laid out about the funding of these grants, and there has been no decision about industry participation yet. We hope that the industry will play a significant role in this. Dr. Chien will meet with Dr. Larry Goldstein (Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UCSD), who played a major role in drafting Proposition 71 and fostering its passage, to discuss the role of bioengineering in this initiative. Student Internship – Imani Tyus Imani Tyus, Bioengineering Internship Coordinator, announced that the office is still accepting applications from students. On May 12, 2005, an annual gathering will be held. The industry representatives will have a 3-5 minutes presentation. This is another informal way to make the students feel more comfortable with the industry. A new Bioengineering Internship brochure was distributed to the group.
Dr. Chien mentioned there has been discussions with the Jacobs School of Engineering to coordinate the internship programs. Thanks to all the IAB members, we are
able to provide this very important element in the students’ education.
BMES Chapter for Undergraduates at UCSD – Trey Ideker, Bob Sah, Shirley Lee
and Ben Kavanaugh Dr. Trey Ideker introduced Ben Kavanaugh and Shirley Lee. Shirley Lee serves as the president of the Biomedical Engineering Society, UCSD Student Chapter,
and Ben Kavanaugh is the VP. Drs. Bob Sah and Ideker serve as the advisor. The BMES is an undergraduate student organization composed of students educated in
bioengineering, bioengineering: biotechnology, bioengineering premedical and bioengineering: bioinformatics. They wish to interact more with local industry. Ben
Kavanaugh prepared an industry packet which was handed out to the members. This organization holds monthly general body meetings to keep students informed and
involved, as well as Industry Nights to expose them to local companies. They publish a newsletter called Bio-E Quarterly to further encourage dialogue within
the Bioengineering community. A committee of 5 to 6 students writes the articles. It is a great medium where everybody comes on a common place to address each
other’s inputs. They also have their own Student Outreach Program in conjunction with the Jacobs School of Engineering. With the recent cut in State
funding, this is a great time for companies to cooperate. Ben Kavanaugh will join the IAB as the student representative.
Dr. Bob Sah mentioned that Ben and Shirley were recognized and given the National BMES Student Chapter Achievement Award. This is a great opportunity
to recognize students by giving them recognitions and awards. The BMES Eugene Mead Memorial Award has been established to recognize the team with the best
design. BMES hopes to expand such awards by having industry participate in these recognitions. Anyone who is interested in sponsoring, please contact Dr.
Bob Sah. Dr. Ratcliffe asked if there are any specific topics or expertise BMES has in mind regarding these awards. Dr. Sah told the group if a company
decides to cooperate they can create what is called the “class award” which can be given to a student who writes the best paper on a
subject that the particular company is interested in. Possible topics include tissue engineering, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, etc. Dr. Walt Baxter mentioned that companies might suggest an expertise area that each company will fund. Dr. Chien added that Ben and Shirley and the BMES have done a great job. They have come up with great activities and ideas with their own initiative. The students would like to see more support from the industry. For more information please go to: http://bmes.ucsd.edu Announcements Dr. Steve Flaim is a member of the local organizing company for this Congress. He mentioned that this will be a good chance for students and companies
to interact. The IUPS will provide a space for companies to exhibit their products and for interviewing the students. Please contact Dr. Flaim for more information. Dr. Chien thanked everybody for another successful meeting. The meeting adjourned at 9:05am. For contact information and copy of hand-outs please contact Rowella Garcia at rgarcia@bioeng.ucsd.edu. |
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