Bioengineering Technologies
People | Projects
Post Doctoral Student Eric Miller working with the tissue printer.
The Bioengineering Technologies Laboratory brings together researchers from across
disciplines at CMU to solve challenging problems in healthcare delivery. Multidisciplinary
teams create bioengineered systems for a broad range of applications including tissue
engineering, artificial organs, sensors, diagnostic tools, and therapy development.
Tissue Engineering
We envision a computer-aided tissue engineering system that will
assist tissue engineers in designing and manufacturing patient-specific therapies to
regenerate diseased or damaged tissue. Our focus is on therapies for bone regeneration
based on 3D biodegradable, biomimetic matrices seeded with biologically-inspired patterns
of growth factors and non-viral vector genes. Current projects include: Bayesian
computer-aided design tools; inkjet deposition-based manufacturing; synthesis of nano-scale
gene delivery carriers; and, 3D imaging based on quantum dot fluorescent probes. Faculty:
Cristina Amon (Mechanical Engineering), Phil Campbell (ICES), Susan Finger
(Civil Engineering), Prashant Kumta (Material Sciences and Engineering/Biomedical Engineering)
, Lee Weiss (Robotics Institute), and Alan Waggoner (Biological Sciences).
Bio- Micro Mechanical Systems (BioMEMS)
The goal is to apply MEMS technologies to
economically fabricate microminiature sensors for detecting physiological parameters
in real-time to provide timely feedback to the physician to help guide patient care.
Current projects include: a low-cost, ultra-miniature wireless sensor array that can be
permanently implanted within bone (including fractures and grafts) to measure biomechanical
stresses in situ at a micro-level scale; and, development of implantable biochemical
physiological microsensors to monitor vital status of critical care patients. Faculty:
Phil Campbell (ICES), Gary Fedder (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Alan Rosenbloom
(ICES/University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), and Lee Weiss (Robotics Institute).
Vascular Biomechanics
The combined goal is to understand the causal relationship between
mechanical insult and vascular disease, and to develop computational and experimental
methodologies to study the design of related medical devices and surgical assist technologies.
Current projects include: development of a biomechanical tool to assess the rupture risk of
abdominal aortic aneurysms, evaluation of flow-induced and mechanical forces on endovascular
grafts, hemodynamics of cerebral aneurysms, development of medical image processing algorithms,
design optimization of distal protection devices, and assessment of left atrium regional biomechanics.
Faculty: Cristina Amon (Mechanical Engineering), Elena Di Martino (ICES), and Ender Finol
(ICES).
Computational Biology and Nanotechnology for Disease Therapeutics and Diagnostics
Our
goal is to use computational and mathematical simulation tools along with nanotechnology
to produce reliable models of molecular, cellular and physiological interactions that will
be used to study disease mechanisms. Current projects include lattice-based Monte Carlo
modeling of protein assemblies forming within spatially constrained environments as well as
integrating nanoscale technology to probe living cells.