Attendees
Members: Walt Baxter, Jim Burke, Shu Chien, Edward Chuong, Bill Craig, Melissa Fitzgerald, Dave Gibbons, David Gough, Stanley Kim, Jonathan Mansbridge, Melissa Kurtis Micou, Anthony Ratcliffe, David Roth, Bob Sah, John Watson
Staff: Rowella Garcia, Jennifer Griffin
Guests: Iman Famili, Priya Sundaramurthy, Hank Werronen
Approval of Minutes from December 13, 2006- The minutes were approved as submitted.
The meeting began with welcoming remarks and introductions of new members and guests by Mr. Jim Burke.
New Member
Stanley Kim, J.D. serves as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of SoftMax, Inc. and has been with the company since near inception. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego, School of Law.
About SoftMax
Founded in 1998 by scientists from The Salk Institute and The University of California, San Diego, SoftMax, Inc. finds its origins in the field of computational neurobiology. SoftMax explores brain functions and applies insight to develop innovative, adaptive and practical solutions to solve real-world problems. SoftMax’s platform technology, called SoftMax Signal Separation or S^3, has received substantial attention due to its potential applications in signal separation including in speech signal processing, biomedical data analysis, image and video analysis and compression, and large-scale data mining of information.
Source: http://www.softmax.com
Melissa Kurtis Micou is a new faculty member in the UCSD Bioengineering Department, where she also received her Ph.D. in 2001. Dr. Micou joined the Department in January 2007.
Guest
Iman Famili, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist from Genomatica, attending on behalf of Dr. Christophe Schilling. She received her Ph.D. in bioengineering, specializing in bioinformatics, from the University of California, San Diego, where she was a fellow of the Whitaker Foundation, Phi Beta Kappa Epsilon Association and Association for Women in Science.
Hank Werronen participated in our meeting as a guest of John Watson. Mr. Werronen is a consultant working with on a five-year business plan for the Department of Bioengineering.
Priya Sundaramurthy –Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Newsletter Co-Chair.
Presentation of Plaque to Dr. Bill Craig
The Board expresses its deep appreciation for Dr. Bill Craig’s superb leadership and outstanding contributions as Chairman of the Industry Advisory Board from 2002 to 2006.
BMES Activities – Edward Chuong
Priya Sundaramurthy distributed copies of the BMES newsletter The Bio-E Quarterly. The Winter 2007 issue featured an interview with faculty member Melissa Micou, BMES activities and events, and other important student information.
Bioengineering Day -April 13, 2007
BMES’s first annual Bioengineering Day will be held on Friday, April 13th. The mission of Bioengineering Day is to recognize and celebrate the achievements of Bioengineering students and our well-ranked department itself. This event will encourage positive interactions among current undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, alumni, and industry professionals in related fields. Events will include:
• Keynote speeches from distinguished UCSD alumni
• The 2nd Annual Bioengineering Quiz Bowl
• Alumni panel discussions
• Industry presentations
• Bioengineering student poster exposition
• Alumni council meeting and luncheon
More information can be found on the BMES website at http://bmes.ucsd.edu.
International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition - iGEM
The UCSD Undergraduate Bioengineering student group is interested in participating in the iGEM competition, which addresses the question “Can simple biological systems be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells? Or is biology simply too complicated to be engineered in this way.” iGEM is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which started in 2003. The goals of this competition are:
•To enable the systematic engineering of biology
•To promote the open and transparent development of tools for engineering biology
•And to help construct a society that can productively apply biological technology
In the past, iGEM teams managed to partially or completely build a variety of systems, from biosensors to biological photographic film.
The UCSD Bioengineering students are in the process of forming a team to compete. They ask for your support. For more information on how you can help, please contact Edward Chuong at echuong@ucsd.edu.
8th Annual UC Systemwide Bioengineering Symposium – Shu Chien
The UC Systemwide Bioengineering Symposium is held annually by the UC System-wide Multi-campus Research Unit: The Bioengineering Institute of California, which is headquartered at UCSD. Beginning in 2000, these Symposia rotate among the ten UC campuses, giving faculty, students, and industrial colleagues an opportunity to exchange information and foster collaboration. The Symposia host industrial exhibits and job fairs. The next symposium will be held on June 15-17 2007 at UCSF. IAB members are encouraged to participate in this meaningful event. Please visit http://www.bioengineering.ucsf.edu/UCBIOE.vp.html for more information.
UCSD Department of Bioengineering Senior Design Project 2007-08 – Melissa Kurtis Micou
Our industrial partner, Breg has worked successfully with UCSD and Dr. Bob Sah on a Senior Design Project. .The project, titled Bioengineering Undergraduate Industry Link for Design (BUILD) is in its third round. This program exposes undergraduate students to a hands-on practical application of research and development in the context of a design project. Students receive credit for these projects and are required to write a final paper and present the results to the company’s executive staff. Mr. Burke has nine engineers who work for him and are excited about being involved and in touch with the students. One benefit for Breg is they are exposed to top-notch interns from the program. It is estimated over the 3 years, the BUILD program cost Breg less than $10,000.
Hank Werronen asked if the students are required to do a business plan for these projects. Dr. Micou explained that these projects focus mostly on research and some commercialization so implementing a business plan would be a great addition. Another thought was involving students outside Bioengineering such as those in the Rady School of Management.
Iman Famili asked Mr. Burke how many hours per week the industry representatives met and interacted with the students. Meetings usually take an hour per week and most interactions are done over the phone and by email. Students do the work, the involved industry mainly supervise the project.
For more information regarding the Senior Design Project, please contact Melissa Micou at (mmicou@bioeng.ucsd.edu)
Dr. Gough asked the industry members’ opinion on whether the emphasis should be more on the application or on the basic engineering science. Mr. Burke commented that there has to be a balance depending on what the student is planning to do. If the student wants to go for their master’s or Ph.D. then he/she would need to focus on the basics. If they are planning to go into industry, then the focus should be on application. The balance is tricky because one has to understand the basics to be able to apply them.
IAB Membership Update– Jim Burke
One of the benefits of participating on the IAB is networking. Mr. Burke suggested the board consider recruiting one or two additional industry representatives. Dr. Melissa Fitzgerald will provide contact information for a representative of Genentech at Oceanside. It was also suggested contacting Dow Chemical Company (formerly Dowpharma) and Diversa, who are interested in participating on the IAB.
Research Expo - Shu Chien
The Jacobs School’s 26th Annual Research Expo will take place immediately after the IAB meeting, today, at 8:30am. Breakouts will take place in the CSE building, P-F Bioengineering Hall, and Atkinson Hall of Calit2. All engineering M.S. and Ph.D. students were invited to display their research posters during the exhibit period. During the Bioengineering breakout session, Dr. Geert Schmid-Schönbein and Mr. John Rodenrys, reviewer for the von Liebig Center, will discuss his research on the Auto-Digestion Hypothesis for Shock and Multi-Organ Failure. Other Bioengineering faculty will present on research developments in their labs. Full details regarding the Research Expo can be found at http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/re.
ASME Frontiers in Biomedical Devices 2007 – Dr. Walt Baxter
The ASME Nanotechnology Institute is pleased to announce Frontiers in Biomedical Devices 2007, to be held June 7-8, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, Irvine, California. Leading authorities in the commercial and academic arenas will focus their expertise in eight technical sessions plus posters:
•Imaging & Monitoring the Environment
•Simulation & Modeling
•Device Testing
•Bio-Sensors & Diagnostics
•Device Design & Development
•Therapeutic Devices
•Next Generation Device Technology
•Clinical & Regulatory
•Posters
The conference also includes an evening reception/exhibition session on June 7th at the hotel. Posters will be presented and displayed during the conference.
The program will be co-chaired by Abe Lee, Ph.D. of the University of California Irvine's Henry Samueli School of Engineering's Biomedical Engineering Department, and co-chaired by Walt Baxter, Ph.D. of Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Management.
Please refer to http://www.asmeconferences.org/BioMed07 for more information.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 a.m.
For additional information and copy of hand-outs please contact Rowella Garcia at rgarcia@bioeng.ucsd.edu.
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