Abstract:
Biomaterials and synthetic micro-environments, e.g. scaffolds, bioreactors, drug carriers, etc. can be designed to interact with stem cells and directly influence signaling pathways, differentiation and cell behavior. Most physiological and pathophysiological processes involve complex interactions of cells with their microenvironments.  These interactions often vary both spatially and temporally and provide critical, instructive cues to the cells. In this talk we would specifically focus on engineering artificial niches to control stem cell fate. Specifically, we would present results from our effort to (a) generate complex tissues with spatially varying extracellular matrix (ECM) compositions and mechanical properties from a single stem cell population, and (b) generate functional immune cells from embryonic and adult stem cells using biomaterial and bioreactor-based approaches. We will also briefly discuss our work on designing new biomaterial-based delivery systems for cancer therapies.

Biosketch:
Dr. Krishnendu (Krish) Roy received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kharagpur, India) followed by his MS from Boston University and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Following his PhD, he joined Zycos Inc., a start-up biotechnology company where he served first as a Scientist and then as a Senior Scientist in the Drug Delivery Research group.  Dr. Roy left his industrial position to join The University of Texas at Austin in 2002, where he is currently the General Dynamics Endowed Faculty Fellow in Engineering, Associate Chair for Education and Outreach and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Roy’s research interests are in the areas of stem cell engineering with particular focus on bioreactor cultures and immune cell generation. He is also interested in controlled drug and vaccine delivery technologies and biomedical polymers with applications in cancer and immunotherapies. He was recently elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Dr. Roy has received numerous awards and honors including the Young Investigator Awards from both the Controlled Release Society (CRS) and The Society for Biomaterials (SFB), the Young Scientist Award from HSEMB, NSF CAREER award, Global Indus Technovator Award from MIT, the CRS Cygnus Award etc. He has also received the translational research award from the Coulter foundation and the bioengineering grant from the Whitaker Foundation. Dr. Roy’s research has been supported through numerous grants from the NIH and NSF as well as an individual investigator award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). He serves as a member of the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Controlled Release and the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics.

Evan Zamir, PhD - Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering

The primary mission of Dr. Zamir's research program is to uncover the biophysical mechanisms that both drive and regulate tissue morphogenesis and cell motility during embryonic development; he uses gastrulation as an experimental system for studying these phenomena. Gastrulation is, perhaps, the fundamental morphogenetic event that occurs during development of higher organisms, as it involves the formation of mesoderm (the middle of the three primary germ layers), which gives rise to vital internal organs, including the heart. Moreover, in recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that many of the genetic regulatory mechanisms that regulate cellular processes during gastrulation play crucial, if not central, roles in abnormal developmental processes that can occur in children or adults — notably, cancer. Therefore, Dr. Zamir is interested in several areas of human health that, at first glance, may appear unrelated — heart development, cancer, tissue engineering — yet involve many of the same fundamental cellular processes and genetic pathways.

The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind. The goal of the seminar series is to highlight research taking place throughout the institute to enable the IBB community to further collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.

Continental breakfast and coffee will be served.

Brian Hammer, PhD - Assistant Professor, School of Biology

Abstract:

Vibrio cholerae, the waterborne bacteriumresponsible for the deadly disease cholera, is both a transient human pathogenand a ubiquitous inhabitant of marine environments. The pathogenesis andecology of this deadly microbe are the focus of research in the Hammer lab. V.cholerae has become a model organism to understand a process of microbialcell-cell communication called quorum sensing, which allows bacterial groups toact in unison by synchronizing gene expression in response to populationdensity. V. cholerae, and many other Vibrio species, achievesquorum sensing by producing and then responding to chemical signal molecules,called autoinducers, which control the production of multiple regulatory smallRNAs. In V. cholerae, these non-coding sRNAs are predicted to base-pairwith, and alter the translation of, several mRNAs encoding protein regulatorsthat alter the expression of >100 genes. Many of the quorum-sensingregulated genes (such as the cholera toxin and attachment factors) are criticalfor host colonization, while others (such as genes involved in horizontal genetransfer) are important in marine ecosystems. We are currently using genetic,biochemical, and computational methods to define the mechanism of sRNA control andthe role of V. cholerae quorum sensing in clinical and environmentalsettings.

The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind. The goal of the seminar series is to highlight research taking place throughout the institute to enable the IBB community to further collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.

Continental breakfast and coffee will be served.

Michael Goodisman, PhD - Associate Professor, School of Biology

"Social Biology of Insects" 

Abstract

 Biological complexity has increased through a series of major evolutionary transitions.  One of the most recent transitions occurred when individually reproducing organisms came together to form integrated social groups.  The transition to sociality is best exemplified by the social insects, such as ants, social bees, social wasps, and termites.  Social insects have been ranked as ‘among the greatest achievements of organic evolution’ because of the extraordinary levels of cooperation.  In addition, social insects have been extremely successful ecologically.  In this presentation, I will introduce the life history strategies and evolutionary significance of social insects.  I will then discuss aspects of research within my group aimed at understanding the molecular basis underlying sociality, the nature of selection in social systems, the breeding biology of social animals, and the process of self-organization in social groups.  

The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind. The goal of the seminar series is to highlight research taking place throughout the institute to enable the IBB community to further collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.

Continental breakfast and coffee will be served.

Abstract

Systems modeling and quantitative analysis of large amounts of complex clinical and biological data may help to identify discriminatory patterns that can uncover health risks, detect early disease formation, monitor treatment and prognosis, and predict treatment outcome. In this talk, we describe a machine-learning framework for medical decision making. It consists of a pattern recognition module, a feature selection module, and a classification modeler and solver. The pattern recognition module involves automatic image analysis, genomic pattern recognition, and spectrum pattern extractions. The feature selection module consists of a combinatorial selection algorithm where discriminatory patterns are extracted from among a large set of pattern attributes. These modules are wrapped around the classification modeler and solver into a machine learning framework. The classification modeler and solver consist of novel optimization-based predictive models that maximize the correct classification while constraining the inter-group misclassifications. The classification/predictive models 1)have the ability to classify any number of distinct groups; 2) allow incorporation of heterogeneous, and continuous/time-dependent types of attributes as input; 3) utilize a high-dimensional data transformation that minimizes noise and errors in biological and clinical data; 4) incorporate a reserved-judgement region that provides a safeguard against over-training; and 5) have successive multi-stage classification capability.

Successful applications of our model to developing rules for gene silencing in cancer cells, predicting the immunity of vaccines, identifying the cognitive status of individuals, and predicting metabolite concentrations in humans will be discussed. We acknowledge our clinical/biological collaborators: Dr. Vertino (Winship Cancer Institute, Emory), Drs. Pulendran and Ahmed (Emory Vaccine Center), Dr. Levey (Neurodegenerative Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease), and Dr. Jones (Clinical Biomarkers, Emory).

The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind. The goal of the seminar series is to highlight research taking place throughout the institute to enable the IBB community to further collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.

Continental breakfast and coffee will be served.

2011 Industry Partners' Symposium program

For more information, contact Megan McDevitt, Marketing and Event Manager, IBB