Category Archives: BioEngineering

Join Log In Submit Story Jobs Newsletter Library 30334639 story Posted by Soulskill on Monday March 12, @05:13PM from the just-lazy-enough-to-work dept. derekmead writes "Forget CFLs, hybrid cars, and organic jeans. Buying our way out of climate change even if it's green consumption won't get us far. A new paper (PDF), published in Ethics, Policy, and the Environment by NYU bioethics professor S. Matthew Liao, poses an answer: engineer humans to use less. The general plan laid out by Liao is straightforward, ranging from using pharmacological behavior modification to create an aversion to meat in people, to using gene therapy to create smaller, less resource-intensive children. The philosophical and ethical questions, on the other hand, are absurdly complicated. The Atlantic also has a great interview with Liao, in which he talks about gene therapy and making humans hate the taste of meat." You may like to read: Post

love, n.: When it's growing, you don't mind watering it with a few tears.

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Solving Climate Change By Bioengineering Humans?

SAN DIEGO, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company initially focused on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of multi-organ failure (MOF), announced today that the Company has initiated a 200-patient Phase 2 pilot study to examine the efficacy and safety of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

The InflammaGen Shok-Pak is the result of decades of research by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schonbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States. Schmid-Schonbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable thereby causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. With the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, an enzyme inhibitor is administered directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, blockading the enzymes.

To date, the technology has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that InflammaGen Shok-Pak could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schonbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this blockade can save lives."

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The primary endpoint is to provide preliminary efficacy and safety data on the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity at discharge or at day 28. The secondary endpoint is the efficacy of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in reducing ICU and hospital length-of-stay, as well as morbidity and mortality at six months. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the ICU at the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

John Rodenrys, CEO of InflammaGen Therapeutics, remarked, "Initiation of the Phase 2 pilot study is a key milestone in the development of InflammaGen Shok-Pak as a potential treatment for sepsis and septic shock, which may result in multi-organ failure, a highly-invasive condition for which there is currently no effective therapy option."

Hank Loy, president of InflammaGen Therapeutics, added, "We look forward to working with the investigative team at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and expect their experiences to demonstrate the benefits of InflammaGen Shok-Pak, which have been evident in the pre-clinical studies and ex-U.S. patient experiences."

InflammaGen Shok-Pak was developed based on Schmid-Schonbein's research at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and was supported by the NIH and the von Liebig Center at UC San Diego. Schmid-Schonbein was awarded the 2008 Landis Award for his discovery.

About Multi-Organ Failure Multi-organ failure is a potentially life-threatening disturbance in normal organ function caused by acute shock (trauma, sepsis, burn and SIRS). Without swift medical intervention, the patient's organs will progressively continue to fail, decreasing one's chances of survival. In the United States, shock is the second leading cause of in-hospital deaths, with approximately 750,000 cases occurring annually.(1) It is estimated that between 28 and 50 percent of these patients die, exceeding the number of U.S. deaths from prostate cancer, breast cancer and AIDS combined.(2) In 2007, sepsis accounted for an estimated $38 billion in hospital billings.

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InflammaGen™ Therapeutics to Commence Phase 2 Pilot Study of InflammaGen Shok-Pak

Public release date: 12-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Hockmuth chockmuth@ucsd.edu 858-822-1359 University of California - San Diego

A 200-patient Phase 2 clinical pilot study will be initiated this month to test the efficacy and safety of a new use, and method of administering, an enzyme inhibitor for critically ill patients developed by University of California, San Diego Bioengineering Professor Geert Schmid-Schnbein. Conditions expected to qualify for the study include new-onset sepsis and septic shock, post-operative complications, and new-onset gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new use of a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug is based on decades of research by Schmid-Schnbein on the microvascular and cellular reactions that lead to multi-organ failure after a patient has gone into shock, which is the second-leading cause of in-hospital deaths in the United States.

Schmid-Schnbein and his colleagues at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering discovered that under conditions of shock, the epithelial cell barrier that lines the small intestine becomes permeable causing potent digestive enzymes to be carried into the bloodstream and lymphatic system where they digest and destroy healthy tissue, a process he named Autodigestion. The treatment involves blockading the enzymes with an enzyme inhibitor.

In 2005, the team's protocol was licensed to San Diego-startup InflammaGen Therapeutics under an agreement developed by UC San Diego's Technology Transfer Office. InflammaGen Therapeutics, a development-stage, critical care company, developed the InflammaGen Shok-Pak, a drug/delivery platform that delivers the enzyme inhibitor through a nasogastric tube directly into the stomach and lumen of the intestine, preventing shock and multi-organ failure. Schmid-Schnbein serves as a scientific advisor to InflammaGen but is not an employee of the company. Instead, he has chosen to focus on continuing to conduct fundamental research on autodigestion at UC San Diego.

"We are testing for the first time whether it is possible to help severely ill patients by blocking autodigestion, a condition in which digestive enzymes not only break down food inside the intestine but also the intestine itself," Schmid-Schnbein said. "We have pre-clinical results that this treatment can save lives."

To date, InflammaGen Shok-Pak has been used successfully outside the United States as a rescue therapy in 15 patients, most of whom were diagnosed with life-threatening conditions. In addition, pre-clinical studies of the technology in two animal species have demonstrated significant increases in long-term survival.

"Currently, patients in shock who survive their initial insult don't necessarily survive long-term. In addition, morbidity is very high in those patients that do survive. Our animal studies suggest that the treatment could improve functional outcomes and reduce the time patients remain in intensive care, as well as increase long-term survival rates," said principal investigator Dr. Erik Kistler, who currently serves as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Administration Healthcare System, San Diego. "While ICU costs can approach one-third of the entire hospital costs, decreasing ICU time by even a small percentage a day will have significant financial savings for patients and payors as well as result in significantly improved patient wellness," said Kistler, who earned a doctorate (1998) and master's (1994) in bioengineering from the Jacobs School of Engineering as a student of Schmid-Schnbein's.

The Phase 2 pilot is designed as a double-blind, standard-therapy controlled study of 200 critically ill ICU patients. The goal is to determine the safety and efficacy of the gastrointestinal administration of InflammaGen Shok-Pak in the reduction of morbidity, which is defined as the incidence of disease. The team wants to know whether the treatment will reduce the time patients spend in intensive care and the hospital, and improve long-term survival rates. To determine this, researchers will follow up with patients 28 days and six months after discharge. The Phase 2 pilot study will be conducted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, with additional sites being added as appropriate.

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A lifetime of research may be leading to a life-saving treatment for shock

by: Tyler North on March 9, 2012

Students have diverse opinions when it comes to eating on campus. However, most students agree on one aspect of on-campus dining its expensive.

Food on campus is the worst value anywhere in the entire valley, said James Kennedy, a graduate student in bioengineering. They give us low-quality food for very expensive prices.

Many students find that the price often outweighs any other positive aspects of on-campus dining.

Off campus you can get more food for a cheaper price, said Asad Rauf a senior in biomedical engineering. Even for a small sandwich you are paying like $3, so I just dont think its fair. I started bringing more food from home and I rarely eat on campus anymore.

Chartwells, a major provider of on-campus food including the contracted provider of food for the Heritage Center and the Union has a different stance.

We do a market basket analysis of all the businesses within a mile radius of the school and we make sure our prices are within reason of those other establishments, said Reggie Conerly, resident district manager for dining services.

Most items are made daily in the Union Food Court, some in front of you as you order, Conerly said. Quality is something Chartwells strives for.

That quality comes with a price. Purchasing basic meal plans on campus will cost a student anywhere from $7.50 to $8 per meal, depending on the plan.

If they opened up more dining options, I think it would be to our benefit and would lower the price, Rauf said.

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Students vie for cheaper on-campus dining

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) and Korea have combined their expertise in polymer patterning and materials science in a bid to develop new-generation solar cells.

UQ's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) Director, Professor Peter Gray, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

It will allow AIBN Professor Ajayan Vinu's research group to work closely with Yonsei Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Professor Eunkyoung Kim, and School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Professor Cheolmin Park.

Professor Vinu said the collaboration would encourage the creation of new science and new products, including efforts to improve the efficiency of solar cells.

He said AIBN would bring expertise in materials science, particularly Prof Vinu's work on and porous semiconducting and bio-nanomaterials.

Yonsei researchers would match this expertise with their knowledge of polymer patterning and fabrication.

We can't all be experts in every field. That is why we are collaborating with these experts in this field, Professor Vinu said.

We have expertise in the fabrication of porous functionalised semiconducting nanostructures that will maximise quantum efficiency of dye sensitized or organic solar cells, while the Yonsei researchers have know-how in designing the various types of solar cell device.

The fusion of materials development and device fabrication can help us to achieve a new solar cell technology or product with a low cost, which is going to make a huge revolution in the solar industry.

Beyond collaborating on research, the bond between AIBN and Yonsei includes joint conferences, student exchanges and plans for a joint lab in Korea.

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Development of new-generation solar cells

Kansas University leaders are looking for financial support for its initiatives in bioengineering, which could lead to new chemotherapy drug delivery mechanisms that would fight cancer, among other new research opportunities.

In the future, KU told the Kansas Bioscience Authoritys Board of Directors, KU would like to request funding from the authority for six new faculty members working in the area.

The presentation didnt include an immediate request for the faculty members, or a specific dollar amount, but university officials indicated they would likely be back to request the money.

David Vranicar, interim president and CEO of the KBA, told KU officials that it would be helpful for the KBA if KU would prioritize its requests.

The university has presented several projects to the KBA and has received money in several different areas, including in its biorefining efforts, expansion requests for its Bioscience and Technology Business Center incubator facility, biomedical initiatives and requests in support of the KU Cancer Center.

"In the end, I suspect the KBA will have to make judgments on that," Vranicar said, adding that he would look to KU to help make those judgments. "We probably aren't nearly as smart about KU as you guys are."

Two KU professors helped describe the bioengineering initiative for the KBA.

Paulette Spencer, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, told board members that the job market in the biomedical engineering field is expected to grow by 72 percent by 2018.

Parvesh Kumar, associate director of clinical research at the KU Cancer Center, described how a "smart nanoparticle" could carry a chemotherapy drug directly to cancerous cells and inject the drug directly into the cell itself. Today, chemotherapy is administered intravenously, he said, and kills a million normal cells for every cancer cell it kills, leading to significant side effects.

KU officials said they would like to request funds for four new professors on the Lawrence campus and two new professors at KU Medical Center, in addition to funds for construction or renovation of existing spaces to help with the initiative.

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KU expects to ask Kansas Bioscience Authority to fund new chemotherapy drug delivery research