faculty – Page 13 – Penn Bioengineering Blog

April 26, 2023April 25, 2023

Engheta, Margulies Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Two faculty affiliated with the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania have been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. They join nearly 270 new members honored in 2023, recognized for their excellence, innovation, leadership, and broad array of accomplishments.

Nader Engheta is the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor, with affiliations in the departments of Electrical and Systems Engineering (primary appointment), Bioengineering (secondary appointment) and Materials Science and Engineering (secondary appointment) in the School of Engineering and Applied Science; and Physics and Astronomy (secondary appointment) in the School of Arts & Sciences. His current research activities span a broad range of areas including optics, photonics, metamaterials, electrodynamics, microwaves, nano-optics, graphene photonics, imaging and sensing inspired by eyes of animal species, microwave and optical antennas, and physics and engineering of fields and waves. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the 2023 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering, the 2020 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics (U.K.), the 2020 Max Born Award from OPTICA (formerly OSA), induction to the Canadian Academy of Engineering as an International Fellow (2019), U.S. National Academy of Inventors (2015), and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the Ellis Island Honors Society (2019). He joins four other Penn faculty elected to the Academy this year.

Read the announcement and the full list of Penn electees in Penn Today.

Susan Margulies, Ph.D. (Photo: Jack Kearse)

Susan Margulies, Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech, was also elected. Margulies is both Professor Emeritus in Penn Bioengineering and an alumna of the program, having earned her Ph.D. with the department in 1987. Margulies is an expert in pediatric traumatic brain injury and lung injury. She previously served as Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech/Emory University and in 2021 became the first biomedical engineer selected to lead the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate of Engineering.

Read the announcement of Margulies’ elected to the Academy at Georgia Tech.

April 21, 2023April 20, 2023

This Patterned Surface Solves Equations at the Speed of Light

by Devorah Fischler

A tailored silicon nanopattern coupled with a semi-transparent gold mirror can solve a complex mathematical equation using light. (Image credit: Ella Maru studio)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, AMOLF, and the City University of New York (CUNY) have created a surface with a nanostructure capable of solving mathematical equations.

Nader Engheta, H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science, is a visionary figure in optics and in electromagnetic platforms. For the last two decades, he has created theory and designed experiments to make electromagnetic and optical devices that operate at the fastest rate in the universe.

Engheta is the founder of the influential field of “optical metatronics.” He creates materials that interact with photons to manipulate data at the speed of light. Engheta’s contribution to this study marks an important advance in his quest to use light-matter interactions to surpass the speed and energy limitations of digital electronics, bringing analog computing out of the past and into the future.

“I began the work on optical metatronics in 2005,” says Engheta, “wondering if it were possible to recreate the elements of a standard electronic circuit at nanoscale. At this tiny size, it would be possible to manipulate the circuit with light, rather than electricity. After achieving this, we became more ambitious, envisioning collections of these nanocircuits as processors. In 2014, we were designing materials that used these optical nanostructures to perform mathematical operations, and in 2019, we anted up to entire mathematical equations using microwaves. Now, my collaborators and I have created a surface that can solve equations using light waves, a significant step closer to our larger goals for computing materials.”

The study, recently published in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrates the possibility of solving complex mathematical problems and a generic matrix inversion at speeds far beyond those of typical digital computing methods.

The solution converges in about 349 femtoseconds (less than one trillionth of a second), orders of magnitude faster than the clock speed of a conventional processor.

Read the full story in Penn Engineering Today.

Nader Engheta is the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Systems Engineering and in Bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Professor in Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.

April 18, 2023

Carl H. June, MD, FAACR, Honored with 2023 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the largest cancer research organization in the country and based in Philadelphia, will bestow its 2023 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research to Carl June, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn Medicine. June is also Director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and member of the Penn Bioengineering Graduate Group. He is recognized for his groundbreaking work in developing the first gene-editing cell therapy for cancer and for his pioneering work with CAR T cell therapy.

Read the press release on the AACR website.

April 12, 2023

LeAnn Dourte Receives the Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty

by Olivia J. McMahon

LeAnn Dourte, Practice Associate Professor in Bioengineering, has been awarded a 2023 Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty.

“This award reflects LeAnn’s innovation and dedication in teaching our students in Bioengineering’s biomechanics, biomaterials and biomechatronics classes and labs,” says Ravi Radhakrishnan, Professor and Chair of Bioengineering. “She is a core member of our teaching faculty, spearheading the Department’s initiatives to improve experiential learning and classroom experiences through the SAIL model of education.”

The Structured, Active, In-Class Learning (or SAIL) model of education emphasizes teamwork and dynamic problem-solving. According to Penn’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), SAIL “provides students with the opportunity to struggle through the application of course ideas and material, often the most difficult part of learning for students, with guidance from instructors as well as help from their peers.”

In addition to her pedagogical interests, Dourte serves on the Bioengineering Climate Committee and is also highly involved in student wellness programming, serving as the Department’s Wellness Ambassador for the School.

The Provost’s Awards for Teaching Excellence by Non-Standing Faculty were established in 1988.

Read “Two Penn Engineers Receive 2023 Provost’s Teaching Awards” in Penn Engineering Today.

April 6, 2023

The Big Bang at 75

by Kristina García

A child stops by an image of the cosmic microwave background at Shanghai Astronomy Museum in Shanghai, China on July 18, 2021. (Image: FeatureChina via AP Images) — A girl stops by an image of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at Shanghai Astrology Museum in Shanghai, China Sunday, Jul. 18, 2021. The planetarium, with a total floor space of 38,000 square meters and claimed to be the world’s largest, opens to visitors from July 18. (FeatureChina via AP Images)

There was a time before time when the universe was tiny, dense, and hot. In this world, time didn’t even exist. Space didn’t exist. That’s what current theories about the Big Bang posit, says Vijay Balasubramanian, the Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor of Physics. But what does this mean? What did the beginning of the universe look like? “I don’t know, maybe there was a timeless, spaceless soup,” Balasubramanian says. When we try to describe the beginning of everything, “our words fail us,” he says.

Yet, for thousands of years, humans have been trying to do just that. One attempt came 75 years ago from physicists George Gamow and Ralph Alpher. In a paper published on April 1, 1948, Alpher and Gamow imagined the universe starts in a hot, dense state that cools as it expands. After some time, they argued, there should have been a gas of neutrons, protons, electrons, and neutrinos reacting with each other and congealing into atomic nuclei as the universe aged and cooled. As the universe changed, so did the rates of decay and the ratios of protons to neutrons. Alpher and Gamow were able to mathematically calculate how this process might have occurred.

Now known as the alpha-beta-gamma theory, the paper predicted the surprisingly large fraction of helium and hydrogen in the universe. (By weight, hydrogen comprises 74% of nuclear matter, helium 24%, and heavier elements less than 1%.)

The findings of Gamow and Alpher hold up today, Balasubramanian says, part of an increasingly complex picture of matter, time and space. Penn Today spoke with Balasubramanian about the paper, the Big Bang, and the origin of the universe.

Read the full Q&A in Penn Today.

Balasubramanian is Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Penn School of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Penn Bioengineering Graduate Group.

April 5, 2023April 4, 2023

Novel Tools for the Treatment and Diagnosis of Epilepsy

by Nathi Magubane

A neurologist examines an encephalogram of a patient’s brain. — Throughout his career, Brian Litt has fabricated tools that support international collaboration, produced findings that have led to significant breakthroughs, and mentored the next generation of researchers tackling neurological disorders. (Image: iStock Photo/Alona Siniehina)

When Brian Litt of the Perelman School of Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science began treating patients as a neurologist, he found that the therapies and treatments for epilepsy were mostly reliant on traditional pharmacological interventions, which had limited success in changing the course of the disease.

People with epilepsy are often prescribed anti-seizure medications, and, while they are effective for many, about 30% of patients still continue to experience seizures. Litt sought new ways to offer patients better treatment options by investigating a class of devices that electronically stimulate cells in the brain to modulate activity known as neurostimulation devices.

Litt’s research on implantable neurostimulation devices has led to significant breakthroughs in the technology and has broadened scientists’ understanding of the brain. This work started not long after he came to Penn in 2002 with licensing algorithms to help drive a groundbreaking device by NeuroPace, the first closed-loop, responsive neurostimulator to treat epilepsy.

Building on this work, Litt noted in 2011 how the implantable neurostimulation devices being used at the time had rigid wires that didn’t conform to the brain’s surface, and he received support from CURE Epilepsy to accelerate the development of newer, flexible wires to monitor and stimulate the brain.

“CURE is one of the epilepsy community’s most influential funding organizations,” Litt says. “Their support for my lab has been incredibly helpful in enabling the cutting-edge research that we hope will change epilepsy care for our patients.”

Read the full story in Penn Today.

Brian Litt is a Professor in Bioengineering and Neurology.

Flavia Vitale is an Assistant Professor in Neurology with a secondary appointment in Bioengineering.

Jonathan Viventi is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University.

April 3, 2023

Brit Shields Wins Inaugural Penn Engineering Student Advocacy Award

Penn Engineering announced the faculty recipients of the 2023 Student Choice Awards (formerly the Teaching and Advising Awards). Each year, the Penn Engineering undergraduate student body thoughtfully selects the recipients of these awards for their dedication in teaching, mentorship and student advocacy. This year also features two new awards, the Student Advocacy Award and the Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award.

Brit Shields, Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering, is the inaugural recipient of the Student Advocacy Award. This award is presented to a member of the Penn Engineering faculty by the Underrepresented Student Advisory Board in Engineering in recognition of their outstanding commitment to women and underrepresented student advocacy, equity and inclusion.

Dr. Shields poses with her award at the annual Penn Engineering Awards Ceremony.

Shields completed a Ph.D. at Penn in 2015 in History and Sociology of Science, with a dissertation on scientific diplomacy through the example of Richard Courant and New York University, where Shields completed an M.A. in Humanities and Social Thought: Science Studies.

She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering in 2019. She has brought her expertise in the history and sociology of science to her leading role in developing and improving the ethics curriculum for all students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Read other stories featuring Brit Shields in the BE Blog.

Read the full list of 2023 Penn Engineering Student Choice Award Winners in Penn Engineering Today.

March 29, 2023March 29, 2023

Gregory Bowman Appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor

by Ron Ozio

Greg Bowman — Gregory Bowman, the Louis Heyman University Professor, has joint appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Department of Bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. (Image: Courtesy of School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Gregory R. Bowman, a pioneer of biophysics and data science, has been named a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The announcement was made today by President Liz Magill and Interim Provost Beth A. Winkelstein.

Bowman holds the Louis Heyman University Professorship, with joint appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Department of Bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

His research aims to combat global health threats such as COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s disease by better understanding how proteins function and malfunction, especially through new computational and experimental methods that map protein structures. This understanding of protein dynamics can lead to effective new treatments for even the most seemingly resistant diseases.

“Delivering the right treatment to the right person at the right time is vital to sustaining—and saving—lives,” Magill said. “Greg Bowman’s novel work holds enormous promise and potential to advance new forms of personalized medicine, an area of considerable strength for Penn. A gifted researcher and consummate collaborator, we are delighted to count him among our distinguished PIK University Professors.”

Bowman came to Penn from the Washington University School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, where he served on the faculty since 2014. He previously completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bowman’s research utilizes high-performance supercomputers for simulations that can better explain how mutations and disease change a protein’s functions. These simulations are enabled in part through the innovative Folding@home project, which Bowman directs. Folding@home empowers anyone with a computer to run simulations alongside a consortium of universities, with more than 200,000 participants worldwide.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, and Packard Foundation, among others, and he has received a CAREER Award from the NSF, Career Award at the Scientific Interface from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award from the American Chemical Society. He received a Ph.D. in biophysics from Stanford University and a B.S. (summa cum laude) in computer science, with a minor in biomedical engineering, from Cornell University.

“Greg Bowman’s highly innovative work,” Winkelstein said, “exemplifies the power of our interdisciplinary mission at Penn. He brings together supercomputers, biophysics, and biochemistry to make a vital impact on public health. This brilliant fusion of methods—in the service of improving people’s lives around the world—will be a tremendous model for the research of our faculty, students, and postdocs in the years ahead.”

The Penn Integrates Knowledge program is a University-wide initiative to recruit exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines and who are appointed in at least two schools at Penn.

The Louis Heyman University Professorship is a gift of Stephen J. Heyman, a 1959 graduate of the Wharton School, and his wife, Barbara Heyman, in honor of Stephen Heyman’s uncle. Stephen Heyman is a University Emeritus Trustee and member of the School of Nursing Board of Advisors. He is Managing Partner at Nadel and Gussman LLC in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This story originally appeared in Penn Today.

Dr. Bowman is Penn Bioengineering’s third PIK Professor after Kevin Johnson and Konrad Kording. See the full list of University PIK Professors here.

March 24, 2023March 23, 2023

More Cancers May be Treated with Drugs than Previously Believed

by Alex Gardner

3D illustration of cancer cells — nucleus and membrane of pathogen micro organisms in blue background

Up to 50 percent of cancer-signaling proteins once believed to be immune to drug treatments due to a lack of targetable protein regions may actually be treatable, according to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The findings, published this month in Nature Communications, suggest there may be new opportunities to treat cancer with new or existing drugs.

Researchers, clinicians, and pharmacologists looking to identify new ways to treat medical conditions—from cancer to autoimmune diseases—often focus on protein pockets, areas within protein structures to which certain proteins or molecules can bind. While some pockets are easily identifiable within a protein structure, others are not. Those hidden pockets, referred to as cryptic pockets, can provide new opportunities for drugs to bind to. The more pockets scientists and clinicians have to target with drugs, the more opportunities they have to control disease.

The research team identified new pockets using a Penn-designed neural network, called PocketMiner, which is artificial intelligence that predicts where cryptic pockets are likely to form from a single protein structure and learns from itself. Using PocketMiner—which was trained on simulations run on the world’s largest super computer—researchers simulated single protein structures and successfully predicted the locations of cryptic pockets in 35 cancer-related protein structures in thousands of areas of the body. These once-hidden targets, now identified, open up new approaches for potentially treating existing cancer.

What’s more, while successfully predicting the cryptic pockets, the method scientists used in this study was much faster than previous simulation or machine-learning methods. The network allows researchers to nearly instantaneously decide if a protein is likely to have cryptic pockets before investing in more expensive simulations or experiments to pursue a predicted pocket further.

“More than half of human proteins are considered undruggable due to an apparent lack of binding proteins in the snapshots we have,” said Gregory R. Bowman, PhD, a professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics and Bioengineering at Penn and the lead author of the study. “This PocketMiner research and other research like it not only predict druggable pockets in critical protein structures related to cancer but suggest most human proteins likely have druggable pockets, too. It’s a finding that offers hope to those with currently untreatable diseases.”

Read the full story in Penn Medicine News.

March 22, 2023

Building Devices and a “Sense of Community”: Penn Bioengineering Labs Featured in Technical.ly Philly

Penn Bioengineering juniors work on their ECG devices in BE 3100, Bioengineering Modeling, Analysis and Design Laboratory II (aka BE MAD)

The George H. Stephenson Foundation Educational Laboratory & Bio-MakerSpace (aka the Penn BE Labs) played host last week to Sarah Huffman, a local journalist writing for Technical.ly Philly. During her visit to the lab, she chatted with third year undergraduates working on their ECG devices for monitoring breathing and heart rates, and senior design students applying all they’ve learned in their previous three years to their graduation capstone projects. She also got a chance to discuss the classes and learn about the lab’s vision to be a bio-makerspace with Sevile Mannickarottu, Director of Educational Labs for BE, and with David Issadore, Associate Professor in Bioengineering and in Electrical and Systems Engineering and professor of the third year spring lab course:

Journalist Sarah Huffman interviews BE 3100 professor David Issadore.

“’The students all come here and they hang out and they build stuff,’ said David Issadore, associate professor of bioengineering and electrical and systems engineering. ‘This junior-level course is kind of an entry point for their senior design. So next year, all these students are going to take on new projects, and then they all kind of hang around here and they build incredible stuff.’”

The profile of the BE Labs is part of Technical.ly’s 2023 Universities Month, a series focusing on the latest trends and tech in higher education.

Read “Peek into an afternoon at Penn’s collaborative bioengineering lab and makerspace” in Technical.ly.

Read more stories featuring the Penn BE Labs.