Fellowships Abound for BME Graduate Students Zielinski, Reinhardt and Wei

In the spring of 2011, Rachel Zielinski was named a recipient of a two-year Pelotonia graduate fellowship. Pelotonia, a grassroots bike tour event taking place each spring, raises funds to support research and medical efforts focusing on the program’s one goal: to end cancer. Rachel’s fellowship will support her investigation of how the stiffness of cancer cells and their surrounding tissue relates to the initiation and progress of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition during metastasis. By combining experimental measures with computer modeling techniques, this work could lead to new diagnostic tools for predicting the invasiveness and metastic potential of a tumor based on clinical stiffness measures, thus suggesting the level of aggressiveness of treatment needed to combat the aggressiveness of the cancer.

In addition Rachel, as well as James Reinhardt and Kang Wei, each won a 2011-2012 fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to support their research projects for the upcoming academic year.

James’ research efforts strives to develop an agent-based model that allows for the simulation of mechanical mediated cell signaling and organization for cells in a fibrous matrix.  An improved understanding of the key mechanisms underlying these processes coupled with a computational model may facilitate further discovery in tissue engineering and provide insight into other systems where intercellular mechanical interactions play role.

Kang Wei’s research focuses on improving surgical techniques. To perform minimally invasive surgery such as laparoscopy surgeons have to experience considerable sufferings from labor-intensive and lengthy endoscopic operations. The main reason is that the currently available endoscope provides only narrow and two dimensional view of the surgical target.  Central to Kang’s research is the design of a biologically inspired artificial three-dimensional compound system that borrows the concept of how ommatidia of an insect see the world and the knowledge from microfluidics and biomedical optics. With the help of such device surgeons are allowed to have quick and direct access to the critical depth information associated with the surgical target and exposed to a wide-angle view of the surgical environment.

Congratulations to Rachel, James, and Kang!

Screenshot of tissue modeling from Reinhardt's research project