1st author publication by Jennifer (Mercer) Collinger, who is completing the PhD in Professor Michael Boninger's lab. Collinger JL, Boninger ML, Koontz AM, Price R, Sisto SA, Tolerico ML and Cooper RA. Shoulder Biomechanics During the Push Phase of Wheelchair Propulsion: A Mulisite Study of Persons with Paraplegia."  ARCH PHYS MED REHABIL 2008;89:667-76.

Publications of two graduates from our Department: Kwarciak AM, Cooper RA and Fitzgerald SG. Curb Descent Testing of Suspension Manual Wheelchairs."  Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development  45:73-84, 2008.  (Andrew obtained his BioE MS degree working in Professor Rory Cooper's lab) Karmarkar A, Cooper RA, Liu H-y, Connor S and Puhlman J. Evaluation of Pushrim-Activated Power-Assisted Wheelchairs Using ANSI/RESNA Standards."  Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2008;89:1191-1198. (Jeremy is a B.S. BioE graduate)

Dr. Kevin Toosi's manuscript entitled, "THE EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM SPINAL CORD INJURY ON THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE URINARY BLADDER WALL," has been accepted for publication in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.  The complete citation is: Kevin K Toosi, M.D., M.S.; Jiro Nagatomi, PhD; Michael B Chancellor, MD; and Michael Sacks, Ph.D.  Dr. Toosi conducted this work in Professor Sacks' lab.

Professor George Stetten's paper that has been accepted for publication: Bing Wu, Roberta Klatzky, George Stetten.   “Learning to Reach to Locations Encoded from Imaging Displays,” Spatial Cognition and Computation. The 1st author, Dr. Wu, is a post doc at CMU who is joining Pitt BioE this summer as a Visiting Research Assistant Professor.

The new issue of ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING contains two 1st author publications by BioE graduates: (1) Vande Geest JP, Schmidt DE, Sacks MS and Vorp DA. The Effects of Anisotropy on the Stress Analysis of Patient-Specific Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 2008;36:921-932.  (2) Svitek RG and Federspiel WF. A Mathematical Model to Predict CO2 Removal in Hollow Fiber Membrane Oxygenators. ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 2008;36:992-1003. Dr. Vande Geest (BioE PhD in Dr. David Vorp's lab) is assistant professor of mechanical engineering @U Arizona.  Dr. Svitek (B.S. in BioE) works for EvaHeart in the area of ventricular assistance.

Dr. J. Scott Van Epps’ recent 1^st author publication co-authored with Dr. David Vorp, Dr. J. Scott Van Epps’ PhD adviser.  JS Van Epps and DA Vorp. Mechanopathobiology of Atherogenesis: A Review. JOURNAL OF SURGICAL RESEARCH Vol 142: 202-217, 2007.

1st author paper Lauren Johnson who is a PhD candidate in Professor Sanjeev Shroff's lab. Professor Michael  Pinsky is co-advising Lauren on this project. Lauren Johnson, Hyung Kook Kim, Masaki Tanabe, John Gorcsan, David Schwartzman, Sanjeev G. Shroff, Michael R. Pinsky.  Differential effects of left Ventricular pacing sites in an acute canine model of contraction dyssynchrony.  Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. (in press), 2007.

Drs. Rakie Cham and Mark Redfern are highlighted in the just released issue of Pitt Magazine (Summer 2007).  The article entitled, “Footloose – Giving Injuries the slip” on pp, 30 – 31, describes the exciting research being conducted in the Human Movement and Balance Laboratory by Drs. Cham and Redfern.

A recent chapter authored by Professor Marina Kameneva and Dr. James Antaki entitled, “Mechanical Trauma to Blood,” will be published in: Handbook of Hemorheology and Hemodynamics, Volume 69 Biomedical and Health Research, Editors: O.K. Baskurt, M.R. Hardeman, M.W. Rampling and H.J. Meiselman, September 2007.

The publication. Orthopedics This Week, includes an article entitled, “Carpal Tunnel Research: A View Out of the Tunnel,” that features Dr. Zong-Ming Li’s recognized work in this area.

An update on publications from Dr. Tamer Ibrahim's lab: (1) T. S. Ibrahim, and L. Tang, "Insight into RF power requirements and B1 field homogeneity for human MRI via rigorous FDTD approach ", Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol 25 (6), pp 1235-1247, June, 2007. (2) Jacobs MA, Ibrahim TS, Ouwerkerk R. AAPM/RSNA physics tutorials for residents: MR imaging: brief overview and emerging applications. Radiographics 2007;27(4):1213-1229. (Invited Paper)

Professor Michael Sacks’ recent publication in the JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS.  Nirmalanandhan VS, Rao M, Sacks MS, Haridas B and Butler DL. Effect of length of the engineered tendon construct on its structure-function relationships in culture. JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 40 (2007) 2523-2529

A recent 1^st author publication by BioE graduate student, Erica Authier, who conducted this work in Professor Rory Cooper’s lab.  Authier EL, Pearlman J, Allegretti AL, Rice I and Cooper RA. A sports wheelchair for low-income countries. DISABILITY AND REHABILITATION, June 2007; 29(11 – 12): 963-967.

Dr. William Wagner’s (editor-in-chief) new biomaterials journal, Acta Biomaterialia, in its third year of publishing and now listed on Medline, just received its first impact factor or 2.132.  This places the journal 5th of 14 journals in the biomaterials category of Journal Citation Reports. For reference the official journals of the Society for Biomaterials, The Journal of Biomedical Materials Research A & B have impact factors of 2.497 and 1.778 respectively and The Annals of Biomedical Engineering has an impact factor of 2.276.

Three papers from Dr. Aaron Batista’s postdoctoral fellowship @Stanford have very recently been accepted for publication.  1) Batista AP, Santhanam G, Yu BM, Ryu SI, Afshar A, Shenoy KV. "Reference Frames for Reach Planning in Macaque Dorsal Premotor Cortex." Journal of Neurophysiology (available as preprint at http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/00421.2006v1).  2) Batista AP, Yu BM, Santhanam G, Ryu SI, Afshar A, Shenoy KV. "Cortical Neural Prosthesis Performance Improves When Eye Position is Monitored." IEEE Transactions in Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering (Due out in December 2007 special issue on Neural Prosthetics.)  3) Cynthia A. Chestek^*, Aaron P. Batista^*, Gopal Santhanam, Byron M. Yu, Afsheen Afshar, John P. Cunningham, Vikash Gilja, Stephen I. Ryu, Mark M. Churchland, and Krishna V. Shenoy (* with the notation that Chestek and Batista contributed equally to this work.) "Single-neuron stability during repeated reaching in macaque premotor cortex." Journal of Neuroscience.

The following paper has been accepted for publication in the journal, Experimental Brain Research. B. Wu, R. Klatzky, D. Shelton, G. Stetten, “Mental concatenation of perceptually and cognitively specified depth to represent locations in near space.”  The 3^rd author, Damion Shelton, Ph.D., was a member of our 1^st undergraduate baccalaureate class in 2000.

The annual meeting of the Tissue Engineering International and Regenerative Medicine Society-North American Chapter (TERMIS) was held in Toronto, Canada the week of June 11, 2007.  The participation of BioE students and faculty is indicated below with BioE faculty in bold font and BioE graduate students in italicized font.

TERMIS NA Conference Papers with BioE Student/Faculty Authors

(1) A Lineage of Myogenic-endothelial Cells in Adult Human Skeletal Muscle that are Superior to Myoblasts for Myocardial Infarct Repair, Masaho Okada, Thomas R. Payne, Bo Zheng, Hideki Oshima, Nobuo Momoi, Kimimasa Tobita, Bradley B. Keller, Julie A. Phillippi, Bruno Peault, Johnny Huard

(2) Development of a Tissue-engineered Vascular Graft Combining a Biodegradable Elastomeric Scaffold, Muscle-derived Stem Cells and In-vivo Remodeling in a Rat Model, Alejandro Nieponice, Lorenzo Soletti, Timothy M. Maul, Burhan Gharaibeh, Bridget M. Deasy, Jianjun Guan, Johnny Huard, William R. Wagner, David A. Vorp

(3) Intestinal Progenitor Cells Preferentially Migrate and Proliferate in Response to Degradation Products of Small Intestinal Submucosa Extracellular Matrix Bioscaffolds, Vineet Agrawal, Ellen P. Brennan, Janet Reing, Donald O. Freytes, Stephen F. Badylak

(4) Gene Regulation Through Controlled Release from a Biodegradable Poly(ester urethane)urea, Priya Ramaswami, Anand Katakam, Jennifer Friz, Dean Cress, Jianjun Guan, William R. Wagner

(5) Spatial Control of Multi-lineage Differentiation of Muscle-Derived Stem Cells, Julie A. Phillippi, Eric D. Miller, Johnny Huard, Lee E. Weiss, Alan Waggoner, Phil G. Campbell

(6) Development of Hollow Fiber-Based Bioreactor Systems for 3D Neuronal Cell Cultures, Candace A. Brayfield, Kacey G. Marra, John P. Leonard, Glenn T. Gobble, Matt J. Baun, X. Tracy Cui, Jorg C. Gerlach

(7) In Vivo Remodeling of ECM Scaffolds as a Function of Macrophage Phenotype, Stephen F. Badylak, Jolene Valentin, Ann Stewart-Akers

(8) A novel population of CD146+CD133+ muscle progenitors in human skeletal muscle and during ontogeny, M. Crisan, L. Casteilla, A. Logar, L. Zimmerlin, B. Sun, TS Park, S. Yap, J. Huard, B. Peault

(9) Tissue Engineered Adrenal Gland Functions in vitro, Hongbin Jiang, Tiffany S. Sellaro, Stephen F. Badylak, Jennifer B. Ogilvie

(10) Maintenance of Human Hepatocyte-Specific Functions by Acellular, Extracellular Matrix Scaffolds, Tiffany L. Sellaro, Stephen Strom, Anrati Ranade, Stephen F. Badylak

(11) Regenerative medicine based on post-natal muscle stem cells, Johnny Huard

(12) In Vivo Mechanical Environment Affects Muscle Stem Cell Transplantation for Muscle Regeneration, Theresa R. Cassino, Masaho Okada, Lauren Drowley, Joseph Feduska, Philip R. LeDuc, Johnny Huard

TERMIS NA Poster Presentations with BioE Student/Faculty Authors

(1) Incorporation of Protein Delivering Microspheres into Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Repair, Lauren Kokai, Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, Steven R. Little, Kacey G. Marra

(2) Sex Difference in Muscle Stem Cell Transplantation for Myocardial Regeneration, Lauren Drowley, Masaho Okada, Thomas Payne, Gregory Botta, Theresa Cassino, Hideki Oshima, Johnny Huard

(3) Optimization of a stem cell-based tissue engineered vascular graft with a novel hybrid scaffold, Lorenzo Soletti, Jianjun Guan, Yi Hong, John J. Stankus, Alejandro Nieponice, William R. Wagner, David A. Vorp

(4) Cardiac and Bladder Extracellular Matrix (ECM) in Lyophilized Sheet and Gel Form for Cardiac Applications, John M. Wainwright, Donald O. Freytes, Joseph P. Tinney, Kimimasa Tobita, Stephen F. Badylak

(5) Decellularization of Pancreatic Extracellular Matrix for the Development of a Tissue-Engineered Artificial Pancreas, Rena Tchen, Jillian E. Tengood, Tiffany S. Sellaro, Hongbin Jiang, Stephen F. Badylak, Jennifer B. Ogilvie

(6) Repair of the Thoracic Wall with an Extracellular Matrix Scaffold in a Canine Model, Thomas W. Gilbert, Alejandro Nieponice, Alan R. Spievack, Stephen F. Badylak

(7) Extracellular Matrix Scaffold Remodeling in a Canine Tracheal Wall Defect , Thomas W. Gilbert, Sebastien Gilbert, Stephen F. Badylak,

(8) In Vitro Growth of Myogenic Cells on Urinary Bladder Matrix Gels ,Donald O. Freytes, Annie S. Lee, John W. Wainwright, Kelly M. Clause, Joseph P. Tinney, Bradley B. Keller, Kimimasa Tobita, Stephen F. Badylak

(9) Chemotactic and mitogenic properties of ECM bioscaffolds, Julie M. Myers-Irvin, Janet Reing, Li Zhang, Susan Braunhut, Ellen Heber-Katz, Stephen F. Badylak

(10) Reversing the Effects of Scarring in Lacerated Muscle Tissue using Matrix Metalloproteinase-1, Joel L. Kaar, Yong Li, Johnny Huard, Richard R. Koepsel, Alan J. Russell

(11) The coalescence of decellularized tissue scaffolds, laser-activated chitosan bioadhesive and olfactory ensheathing cells for tissue repair and regeneration of the spinal cord, Helder Marcal, Stephen Badylak, Tiffany Sellaro, Antonio Lauto, Stephen Mahler, Peter Gray

(12) Attachment of N-isopropylacrylamide to Surfaces by Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Liquid Deposition, Sara Wargo, Richard Koepsel, Alan Russell

(13) Toward an Engineered Vein Graft Using an External Electrospun Biodegradable Polymer Wrap to Gradually Impose Arterial Circumferential Wall Stress, Mohammed S. El-Kurdi, Yi Hong, PhD, John J. Stankus, Lorenzo Soletti, William R. Wagner, David A. Vorp

(14) Obtaining Matured Oocytes from Preantral Follicles Matured in Suspension Culture, Matthew Heise, Richard Koepsel, Elizabeth McGee, Alan Russell

(15) Incorporation of Protein Delivering Microspheres into Conduits for Peripheral Nerve Repair, Lauren Kokai, Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, Steven R. Little and Kacey G. Marra

(16) The Effects of Scaffold Composition Upon Macrophage Polarization and Tissue Remodeling Outcome, Bryan N. Brown, Ann M. Stewart-Akers, Stephen F. Badylak

(17) Follistatin Improves Skeletal Muscle Healing After Injury, J Zhu, Y Li, J Huard

(18) Myogenic Potential of Human Fetal Placental Blood Vessels, Tea Soon Park, Chien-Wen Chen, Alison Logar, Johnny Huard, and Bruno Peault

(19) Morphology, Proliferation, and Gene and Protein Expression Changes in Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells Following Mechanical Stimulation, Timothy M. Maul, Douglas W. Chew, Alejandro Nieponice, David A. Vorp

(20) The activation profile of human blood monocytes on SIS-ECM materials, Jolene E. Valentin, Stephen F. Badylak

(21) Mechanical Stimulation of Bone Marrow Progenitor Cells within a Three-Dimensional Fibrin Matrix, Jessica L. LoSurdo, Alejandro Nieponice, Douglas W. Chew, and David A. Vorp

(22) Investigating Cue-Signal-Response Relationships in Mesenchymal Stem Cell Migration, Shan Wu, Alan Wells, Linda G. Griffith, Douglas A. Lauffenburger

(23) Detection and Purification of Four Distinct Populations in the Stromal Vascular Fraction of Human Adipose Tissue, Ludovic Zimmerlin, Vera S. Donnenberg, Bruno Peault, J. Peter Rubin, Albert D. Donnenberg

(24) Blood-soluble drag-reducing polymers as a novel hemodynamic approach to tissue regeneration, Philip J. Marascalco, Ravikumar Thangappan, Alejandro Nieponice, Marina V. Kameneva

A publication co-authored by BioE graduate Student, Joseph Candiello has been published online:  Merryman WD, Liao J, Parekh A, Candiello JE, Lin H and Sacks M. “Differences in Tissue-Remodeling Potential of Aortic and Pulmonary Heart Valve Interstitial Cells.” Tissue Eng 2007 June 27.  Joe is a student in Dr. Hai Lin’s lab.  The 1^st author, Dr. David Merryman, who just last month defended his BioE PhD dissertation, undertook this work in Professor Sacks’ lab.

BioE graduate student, John Stella's abstract entitled, "The Digital Leaflet: Quantitative Image Analysis and 3D Digital Reconstruction of the Aortic Valve Leaflet," which he just presented at the 4th Biennial Meeting of the Society for Heart Valve Disease in New York, was selected as one of the 10 top abstracts out of a total of 133 abstracts presented at the meeting.  Also, John’s paper entitled “Time-dependent biaxial mechanical behavior of the aortic heart valve leaflet,” has been e-published in JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 2007 (June 12).  John  is performing his research in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.

The manuscript entitled, “The role of the primate superior colliculus in the control of head movements,” authored by Walton, Mark; Bechara, Bernard; and Gandhi, Neeraj has recently been accepted for publication in the JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY.  Bernard is performing his dissertation research in Dr. Neeraj Gandhi’s lab.

A publication by BioE graduate student, Kevin Mihelc is in the current issue of ASAIO Journal.  Kevin performed this work in Professor William Federspiel’s lab.  Eash, Heide J.; Mihelc, Kevin M.; Frankowski, Brian J.; Hattler, Brack G.; Federspiel, William J. “Evaluation of Fiber Bundle Rotation for Enhancing Gas Exchange in a Respiratory Assist Catheter.” ASAIO Journal. 53(3):368-373, May/June 2007

Dr. George Stetten’s research was featured in the rankings edition of the US News & World report (found online here http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/articles/brief/gbeng_brief.php).  Another excellent example of Pitt BioE research accomplishments being cited in top lay publications in addition to your archival publications.

Dr. George Stetten's sonic flashlight is the cover story in the Department of Radiology's newsletter at UPMC.  http://www.radiology.upmc.edu/pitt_rad_winter_2007.pdf

Two recent publications from Dr. Tamer Selim Ibrahim's lab, which are co-authored with Dr. Ibrahim's former student Roney Abraham.  (1) R. Abraham, and T. S. Ibrahim, "RF body-coil design for homogenous and localized 7 Tesla imaging", Magnetic Resonance In Medicine, Vol 57 (2), pp 236-243, 2007.  COMMUNICATIONS: Opening Article of the February 2007 Issue.  (2) T. S. Ibrahim, C. Mitchell, R. Abraham, and P. Schmalbrock, "In-depth study of the electromagnetics of ultra high field MRI", NMR in Biomedicine, Vol 20 (1), pp 58-68, Feb., 2007.

Publications in 2006 from Dr. James Wang and the MechanoBiology Lab:

1. Thampatty BP, IM HJ, Wang JH-C. Ep₄ Receptor regulates collagen type-i, mmp-1, and mmp-3 gene expression in human tendon fibroblasts in response to il-1ß treatment, Gene 386(1-2):154-161, 2007.

2.  Wang JH-C., Thampatty, B.P. An introductory review of cell mechanobiology (review), biomech model mechanobiol., 1-16, 2006.

3.  Wang JH-C., Iosifidis, M., Fu, F. Biomechanical basis of tendinopathy (review), corr, 443:320-332, 2006.

4.  Thampatty, B.P.; IM, H.J., Wang JH-C. Leukotriene b₄ at low dosage negates the catabolic effect of pge₂ in human patellar tendon fibroblasts. Gene 372:103-109, 2006. 

5.  Agarwal, C., Britton, Z.T., Alaseirlis, D.A., Li, Y., Wang JH-C. Healing and normal fibroblasts exhibit differential proliferation, collagen production, a-sma expression, and contraction. Ann biomed eng 34:653-659, 2006.

6.  Wang JH-C. Mechanobiology of tendon (invited review), I Biomech. 39:1563–1582, 2006.

7.  Yang, Z.C., Chen, J.X., Lin, J-S., Wang JH-C. Determining substrate displacement and cell traction fields - a new approach, J Ttheor. Biology 242:607–616, 2006.

8.  Li, B., Chen, J., Wang JH-C. Rgd peptide-conjugated poly(dimethylsiloxane) promotes adhesion, proliferation, and collagen secretion of human fibroblasts. J Biomedical Materials Research 79 (4): 989-98, 2006.

9.  Thampatty B.P., Wang JH-C. A new approach to study fibroblast migration. Cell motility & Ccytoskeleton 64 (1):1-5, 2006.

10. Wang JH-C., Lin, J-S., Yang, Z.C.  Cell traction force microscopy. Advanced bioimaging technologies in assessment of quality of bone and scaffold biomaterials (review chapter), in press.

11. Wang JH-C., Thampatty, B.P. Mechanoregulation of fibroblast function, the encyclopedia of biomaterials and biomedical engineering (review), in press.

12. Wang JH-C., Lin, J-S.  Cell traction force and measurement methods, biomech model mechanobiol, in press.

13. Chen, Jj.; li, H.; Sundarraj, N.; Wang JH-C. Alpha-smooth muscle actin expression linearly enhances cell traction force. Cell motility & cytoskeleton, in press.

14. Wang JH-C., Thampatty, B.P., Lin, J-S., Im, Hj. Mechano-regulation of gene expression in fibroblasts (invited review), gene, in press.

Dr. George Stetten's Visualization and Image Analysis (VIA) laboratory and their colleagues have had 3 papers accepted at this year's International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) meeting in 

Washington.  This symposium is a joint effort of the IEEE and NIH.  The papers are: (1) R. Tamburo, G. Siegle, G. Stetten, C.A. Cois, K. Rockot, J. Galeotti, C. Reynolds, H. Aizenstein, "Localizing amygdala structure differences in late-life depression," ISBI 2007 (2) C.A. Cois, K. Rockot, J. Galeotti, R. Tamburo, D. Gottlieb, J. Mayer, A. Powell, M. Sacks, G. Stetten, "Automated segmentation of the right heart using an optimized shells and spheres algorithm," ISBI 2007 (3) D. Shelton, B. Wu, R. Klatzky, and G. Stetten, "Design and calibration of a virtual tomographic reflection system," ISBI 2007. 

The following paper has also been accepted for publication at the ACM Transactions on Applied Perception.  R. Klatzky, B. Wu, D. Shelton, G. Stetten, "Learning to perform actions in near space under perceptual vs. cognitive control."  Among the authors: Robert Tamburo completed his Ph.D. in BioE in Dr. Stetten's lab; Aaron Cois is a current BioE Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Stetten's lab; Ken Rockot is a former graduate student in Dr. Stetten's lab; and Damian Shelton is a baccalaureate graduate of our Department.

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Professor Michael Sacks’ publication in the current issue of ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING.  H Kim, KB Chandran, MS Sacks and J Lu. An experimentally derived stress resultant model for heart valve dynamic simulations. ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 35, January 2007, pp. 30 – 44.

A recent publication by Professor Savio Woo. TISSUE ENGINEERING just released its issue on "Contributions from the NIH Workshop. Tissue Engineering: The Next Generation."  Professor Woo is among the distinguished authors on the article: "Translation from Research to Applications."  TISSUE ENGINEERING Volume 12, Number 12, December 2006,  pp. 3341 ff.

Recent publication from Dr. Steven Abramowitch’s lab: Biomechanical Adaptations of the Rat Vagina and Supportive Tissues in Pregnancy to Accommodate Delivery, Jerry L. Lowder, Kristen M. Debes, Daniel K. Moon, Nancy Howden, Steven D. Abramowitch, and Pamela A. Moalli Obstet. Gynecol. 2007; 109:136-143. 

Professor Michael Sacks’ most recent publication in the JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS:  Ali Mirnajafi, Jeremy Raymer, Leigh McClure and Michael Sacks. “The flexural rigidity of the aortic valve leaflet in the commissural region.” JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 39 (2006) 2966 - 2973

Professor Savio Woo’s and Dr. Steven Abramowitch’s most recent publication in the JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS:  Daniel K. Moon, Steven D. Abramowitch and Savio L.-Y. Woo. “The development and validation of a charge-coupled device laser reflectance system to measure the complex cross-sectional shape and area of soft tissues.” JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICS 39 (2006) 3071 – 3075.

Professor Marina Kameneva’s and Dr. James Antaki’s most recent publications:  Lee SS, Antaki JF, Kameneva MV, Ahn KH, Lee SJ. “Strain hardening of red blood cells by accumulated cyclical supraphysiological stress”. Artificial Organs, 31(1):80-86, 2007.

Several recent publications from Professor Guy Salama’s lab:  Guy Salama and Barry London. “Mouse models of long QT syndrome.”J Physiol (Lond) 2007;578 43-53 http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/578/1/43?etoc and Barry London, Linda C. Baker, Polina Petkova-Kirova, Jeanne M. Nerbonne, Bum-Rak Choi, and Guy Salama. “Dispersion of repolarization and refractoriness are determinants of arrhythmia phenotype in transgenic mice with long QT.  J Physiol (Lond) 2007;578 115-129 http://jp.physoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/578/1/115?etoc.  Co-author Linda C. Baker, Ph.D. completed the Ph.D. in BioE @Pitt in Professor Salama’s lab.

Dr. Tamer Ibrahim's first peer reviewed publication since joining our BioE faculty.  T. S. Ibrahim, "Ultra High Field MRI Whole-Slice and Localized RF Field Excitations Using the Same RF Transmit Array", IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Vol 25 (10), pp 1341-1347, October, 2006.  IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging is the highest cited Medical Imaging journal and the second highest cited Biomedical Engineering Journal and the second highest cited IEEE Journal.

The following publication which is the lead article in the current issue of ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING.  The first author, Jonathan Grashow, completed his M.S. in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.  Grashow JS, Sacks MS, Liao J, and Yoganathan AP. Planar biaxial creep and stress relaxation of the mitral valve anterior leaflet. ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. Vol 34, No 10, October 2006, pp. 1509-1518.

BioE graduate student, Jennifer Mercer’s most recent publication;  Yang Y-S, Koontz AM, Triolo RJ, Mercer JL and Boninger ML. “Surface electromyography activity of trunk muscles during wheelchair propulsion.” CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS 21 (2006) 1032-1041.  Jen is conducting this work in Professor Michael Boninger’s lab.

Professor Rory Cooper’s new textbook published by CRC Press (Catalog no. IP834). BioE offers our congratulations to Professor Cooper for “providing the first text to offer the blueprints to product development and the science of assistive technology.”  “An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering.” Edited by Rory A. Cooper, Hisaichi Ohnabe and Douglas A. Hobson. A volume in the Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. 17 chapters, 352 pages.

BioE has two articles in the current edition:

(1) VandeGeest JP, Sacks MS and Vorp DA. “A planar biaxial constitutive relation for the luminal layer of intra-luminal thrombus in abdominal aortic aneurysms.”  J BIOMECHANICS 2006;13:2347-2354.  The 1^st author, Jonathan VandeGeest, received his PhD in BioE with us (research conducted in Dr. David Vorp’s lab).  Jonathan is currently assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Arizona.

(2) Darcy SP, Kilger RHP, Woo SL-Y and Debski RF. “Estimation of ACL forces by reproducing knee kinematics between sets of knees: a novel non-invasive methodology.” J BIOMECHANICS 2006;13:2371-2377  The 1^st author, Shon Darcy, received his M.S. degree with us working at the MSRC.

BioE Graduate student, Gusphyl Justin’s recent publication; Gus performed this work in Professor Mingui Sun’s and Professor Robert Sclabassi’s labs.  Brian Wessel is a B.S. graduate from BioE.  Mingui Sun, Gusphyl Justin, Paul Roche, Jun Zhao, Brian Wessel, Yingze Zhang and Robert Sclabassi.  “Harnessing the Body’s Own Energy and Communication Resources.” IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, September/October 2006, pp. 39-46.

Professor Michael Sacks’ recent 1^st author publication: Michael S. Sacks, Yoshiharu Enomoto, Jeffrey R. Graybill, W. David Merryman, Ahmad Zeeshan, Ajit P. Yoganathan, Robert J. Levy, Robert C. Gorman and Joseph H. Gorman III. “In-Vivo Dynamic Deformation of the Mitral Valve Anterior Leaflet.”  Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2006;82:1369-1378.  Jeff Graybill is a BioE PhD candidate now working in Dr. Andrew Schwartz’s lab.  David Merryman is completing his PhD in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.  An invited commentary follows Professor Sacks’ paper, which states:  “The study at hand provides important in vivo mechanical data with clinical implications, and simultaneously challenges the surgeon to embrace an integrated biomechanical, histological, and ultrastructural approach in the clinical evaluation of mitral pathophysiology. It is through such multidisciplinary efforts that the intricate puzzle of the mitral valve will continue to take its proper form.”

BioE graduate student, Jen Mercer’s recent 1^st author publication: Mercer JL, M Boninger, A Koontz, D Ren, T Dyson-Hudson and R Cooper. “Shoulder joint kinetics and pathology in manual wheelchair users.” CLINICAL BIOMECHANICS 21 (2006) 781-789.  Ms. Mercer is conducting this research in Professor Michael Boninger’s lab.

BioE graduate student, John Stella's first manuscript entitled, "ON THE BIAXIAL MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE LAYERS OF THE AORTIC VALVE LEAFLET," has just been accepted for publication in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.  John is the first author on this work which was conducted in Professor Michael Sacks' lab.

A new 1^st author publication by Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest, a recent PhD graduate from the Bioengineering Department.  The 2^nd author, David Wang, is also a PhD graduate in Bioengineering.  This work was conducted in Dr. David Vorp’s lab.  Jonathan P. Vande Geest, David H.J. Wang, Stephen P. Wisniewski, Michel S. Makaroun and David A. Vorp. “Towards a Noninvasive Method for Determination of Patient-Specific Wall Strength Distribution in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms.”  ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 34 (7), July 2006, pp. 1098-1106.

A recent accepted manuscript for publication in the high-impact factor Journal of Cell Science is first authored by Zhijie Ding, a second year BioE grad student in Dr. Partha Roy's lab.  Ding Z., Lambrechts A., Parepally M., Roy P: Silencing profilin-1 inhibits endothelial proliferation, migration and cord morphogenesis.

A recent publication by BioE graduate students, Jonathan Kirk and Research Associate, Caroline Evans, who are conducting this research in Professor Sanjeev Shroff's lab.  Pressure-calcium relationships in perfused mouse hearts. Guy A. MacGowan, Jonathan A. Kirk, Caroline Evans, and Sanjeev G. Shroff. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 290: H2614-H2624, 2006.

BioE graduate student, David Merryman’s 1^st author publication:  Merryman WD, Engelmayr GC, Jr., Liao J, Sacks MS. Defining biomechanical endpoints for tissue engineered heart valve leaflets from native leaflet properties. Progress in Pediatric Cardiology. 2006;21:153-160.  The 2^nd author, George Engelmayr, PhD is a recent BioE PhD graduate who is doing a post-doc in the Langer Lab @MIT.  Both David and Georger performed this research in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.

BioE graduate student, David Merryman’s paper entitled, “Aortic Valve Interstitial Cell Phenotype and Bio Sythesis: Synergistic Effects of Cyclic Tension and TGF-B1,” has been selected as one of six papers highlighted in the PhD Student Paper Competition: Tissue Eng and Cell Biomechanics at 2006 Summer Bioengineering Conference.  David is performing this research in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.

A recent 1^st author publication by BioE PhD candidate Tim Maul, and co-author BioE PhD candidate Lorenzo Soletti.  Both Tim and Lorenzo are performing this work in Dr. David Vorp’s lab.

Recent 1^st author publication by BioE PhD candidate Weiqun Yu.  Weiqun  is performing his research in Dr. Gerard Apodaca’s lab.  Yu, W., Zacharia, L., Jackson, E., and Apodaca G. Adenosine receptor expression and function in bladder uroepithelium. American Journal of Physiology - Cell Physiology, 2006, In press.

Recent publications by BioE PhD candidates Alicia DeFail, Christina Lee, and Tim Maul.  Alicia and Christina are BioE PhD candidates in Dr. Kacey Marra’s lab; and Tim is working in Dr. David Vorp’s lab.  (1) Lee, W.-C.C.; Maul, T.; Vorp, D.A.; Rubin, J.P.; Marra, K.G. “Effects of Uniaxial Cyclic Strain on Adipose-derived Stem Cell Morphology, Proliferation, and Differentiation," Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, 2006, In Press.

(2) DeFail, A.J.; Edington, H.; Matthews, S.; Lee, W.-C.C; Marra, K.G. “Controlled Release of Bioactive Doxorubicin from Microspheres Embedded within Gelatin Scaffolds,” J. Biomedical Materials Research, 2006, In Press. 

(3) Ferreti, M.; Marra, K.G.; Kobayashi, K.; DeFail, A.J.; Chu, C.R. “Controlled In Vivo Degradation of Genipin Crosslinked Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Hydrogels within Osteochondral Defects,” Tissue Engineering, 2006, In Press.

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A recent publication 1^st authored by BioE PhD candidate, Joie Marhefka. Joie is conducting this work in Professor Marina Kameneva’s lab.  The 2^nd author, Phil Marascalco, is also a BioE PhD candidate in Professor Kameneva’s lab.  Joie N. Marhefka, Philip J. Marascalco, Toby M. Chapman, Alan J. Russell, and Marina V. Kameneva. Poly(N-vinylformamide)-A Drag-Reducing Polymer for Biomedical Applications. Biomacromolecules  Web Release Date: 04-Apr-2006; (Article) DOI: 10.1021/bm060014i

A recent paper acceptance that is 1^st authored by Jennifer Mercer.  Jeniffer is conducting this work in Professor Michael Boninger’s lab.  Mercer JL, Boninger ML, Koontz AM, Ren D, Dyson-Hudson T, Cooper RA.  “Shoulder Joint Kinetics and Pathology in Manual Wheelchair Users,” Clinical Biomechanics, in press.

BioE graduate student, David Montag's manuscript entitled, "Successful Simultaneous Measurement of Cell Membrane and Cytokine Induced Phosphorylation pathways (CIPP) in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear cells," has been accepted for publication in The Journal of Immunological Methods.  David is performing this work in Professor Michael Lotze's lab.

The following paper was accepted for publication which includes BioE Graduate students Virginia Penascino and Greg Cooper as co-authors:  Dudas, J.R.; Marra, K.G.; Cooper, G.M.; Penascino, V.M.; Mooney, M.P.; Jiang, S.; Rubin, J.P.; Losee, J.E. "The Osteogenic Potential of Adipose-derived Stem Cells for Repair of Rabbit Calvarial Defects," Annals of Plastic Surgery, 2006, In Press.  This work was conducted in Dr. Kacey Marra’s lab.

The publication entitled, "Effects of Boundary Conditions on the Estimation of the Planar Biaxial Mechanical Properties of Soft Tissues” was voted by the reviewers as one of the top nine papers published in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering in 2005.  Authors are: Wei Sun, Michael Sacks, and Michael Scott.  Dr. Wei Sun completed his Ph.D. in Professor Michael Sacks’ lab.

BioE graduate student, Erik Wolf conducting this work in Professor Rory Cooper’s lab has recently submitted a 1^st author paper;  Wolf E, Pearlman J, Cooper RA, Fitzgerald SG, Kelleher AM, Collins DM, Boninger ML and Cooper R.  “Vibration Exposure of Individuals Using Wheelchairs over Sidewalk Surfaces.”  Disability and Rehabilitation 2005; 27(23):1443-1449.

Two recent 1^st author publications by BioE graduate students, William Stauffer and Reecha Wadhwa, who are both working in Dr. Xinyan (Tracy)  Cui’s lab, Polypyrrole doped with 2 peptide sequences from laminin, Biomaterials, Volume 27, Issue 11, April 2006, Pages 2405-2413  by William R. Stauffer and Xinyan T. Cui and Electrochemically controlled release of dexamethasone from conducting polymer polypyrrole coated electrode, Journal of Controlled Release, In Press (Available online 19 December 2005), Reecha Wadhwa, Carl F. Lagenaur and Xinyan Tracy Cui.

A recent 1st author publication by Eric Wolf, who is completing his PhD research in Professor Rory Cooper’s lab.  Wolf EJ, Pearlman J, Cooper RA, Fitzgerald SG, Kelleher AR , Collins DM, Boninger ML, Cooper R, Vibration Exposure of Individuals Using Wheelchairs Over Sidewalk Surfaces, Disability and Rehabilitation, pp. 1443-1449, Vol. 27, No. 23, December 2005.

BioE graduate student, Alicia DeFail's recent first author publication in Biomaterials:  Alicia J. DeFail, Constance R. Chu, Nicholas Izzo and Kacey G. Marra, "Controlled release of bioactive TGF-β₁ from microspheres embedded within biodegradable hydrogels," Biomaterials, 2006, 27(8), 1579-1585.  Alicia is working in Dr. Kacey Marra’s lab.

A recent publication by BioE PhD candidate, Brad Impink.  Brad is conducting his research in Dr. Michael Boninger’s lab.  Koontz AM, Cooper RA, Boninger ML, Yang Y, Impink BG, van der Woude LHV, A Kinetic Analysis of Manual Wheelchair Propulsion During Start-Up on Select Indoor and Outdoor Surfaces, Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, pp. 447-458, Vol. 42, No. 4, July/August 2005.

Professor Marina Kameneva recently delivered the following lecture to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering: "Drag-reducing polymers: Effects on macro- and micro-hemodynamics."  The abstract for Professor Kameneva’s talk can be found at this URL:  http://www.engr.pitt.edu/chemical/news/seminars/abstracts/2005_fall/kameneva.html

The following paper from Dr. Stetten's lab has been accepted in the journal, Radiology.  The 1st author, Wilson Chang, who completed his PhD in BioE in Dr. Stetten's lab, is currently completing the M.D. portion of the M.D., Ph.D. Program.  W. Chang, N. Amesur, R. Klatzky, G. Stetten, "The Sonic Flashlight Is Faster than Conventional Ultrasound Guidance to Learn and Use For Vascular Access on Phantoms."

BioE graduate student Ms. Lauren Kokai has recently published the following first author publication:  Kokai, Lauren E.; Rubin, J. Peter; Marra, Kacey G., "The Potential of Adipose-Derived Adult Stem Cells as a Source of Neuronal Progenitor Cells," Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2005, 116(5), 1453-1460.  Lauren is performing this work in the lab of Dr. Kacey Marra.  Dr. Marra served as Lauren’s undergraduate adviser and is continuing to provide outstanding mentorship for Lauren’s graduate research.

Dr. George Stetten’s new IEEE publication:  Bing Wu, Roberta Klatzky, Damion Shelton, George Stetten, “Psychophysical Evaluation of In-Situ Ultrasound Visualization,” Special Issue on Haptics, Virtual and Augmented Reality, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. 11, no. 6, November/December 2005.   The 3^rd author, Mr. Damion Shelton, is a member of our first B.S. Bioengineering graduating class.

A paper from Professor Michael Sacks’ lab appears in the current issue of THE ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING.   The complete reference is:  J Nagatomi, KK Toosi, JS Grashow, MB Chancellor and MS Sacks. Quantification of Bladder Smooth Muscle Orientation in Normal and Spinal Cord Injured Rats.  ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 33:1078-1089, 2005.  Kevin Toosi is a current graduate student and Jonathan Grashow is a recent M.S. graduate from Professor Sacks’ lab.

BioE graduate student, Rebecca Long's paper entitled, "MMP-I UP-REGULATION IS A POTENTIAL MECHANISM FOR INCREASED COMPLIANCE IN MUSCLE DERIVED STEM CELL-SEEDED SIS," has been accepted for publication in BIOMATERIALS.  The authors are: Rebecca Long, Jiro Nagatomi, Michael Chancellor, Michael Sacks.  Rebecca is conducting this work in Professor Michael Sacks' lab.

Jonathan Grashow's M.S. thesis paper entitled;  "BIAXIAL MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE MITRAL VALVE ANTERIOR LEAFLET AT PHYSIOLOGIC STRAIN