Chembe BONDENGINEERING
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JOHNS HOPKINS ENGINEERING NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR FALL 2009 ChemBE BONDENGINEERING Primary ovarian cancer cells stained for actin (green) and nuclear DNA (red) showing characteristically distorted nuclear morphology. IN THIS ISSUE: Engineers Join Fight Against Cancer DEPARTMENT NEWS. 2 iologists, your monopoly on cancer and postdoctoral programs to provide students and research has ended. Make way for postdocs with formal training at the interface of engi- STUDENT NEWS. 3 neering and cancer biology. the engineers. AWARDS & HONORS . 4 The center will set up a couple of core facilities: BAs part of an impressive $14.8 million National an advanced microscopy core, with a confocal micro- FACULTY NEWS . 5 Cancer Institute (NCI) initiative, the new Johns scope and capabilities for the advanced imaging of live ALUMNI NEWS. 7 Hopkins Engineering in Oncology Center is coming to cells and tissues; and a nano/microfabrication core, Baltimore, with three professors from the Department with instrumentation capable of making microfluidic ChemBE grad students lend a hand in of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as project devices and nanoparticles. the community as part of a citywide leaders: Denis Wirtz, PhD, Sharon Gerecht, PhD, and day of service. See page 3. These core facilities will provide necessary tools, Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, PhD. Nationwide, but another of the center’s key components will there will be 12 centers total, all working together to involve computation. According to Wirtz, computa- vanquish cancer. tional and theoretical efforts will allow researchers not Wirtz will direct the new center. “For too long, only to analyze data but to develop models that bring not enough room has been made for nonconventional about a deeper understanding of cancer. Sean X. Sun, and nonbiological concepts borrowed from modern PhD, who has a joint appointment in ChemBE, along physics and engineering to tackle this disease,” says with collaborators at Hopkins and other universities, Wirtz. “It is time to bring to the table ideas grounded will create a coordinated modeling effort for the cen- in chemical and biomolecular engineering principles ter, working with investigators from all of the center’s to develop new therapies and diagnostic tools. projects. They’ve given us major funding for a center to study There will be three main research projects, each all the steps in the metastatic cascade.” exploring a different aspect of cancer and headed by “We’ll need new renovated space where engineers an academic duo: an engineer and a cancer biolo- and cancer biologists can work together,” says Wirtz. gist. Wirtz and Greg D. Longmore, MD, a professor The space, to be located on the Homewood campus, in the Department of Medicine at Washington will help house the 30 to 35 students and postdocs University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will Wirtz expects to be hired. Plus, there will be graduate Continued on page 6 THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 1 DEPARTMENT NEWS Message from the Chair HCCN Connects Students Lecturer on Board with Alumni In August, Dear JHU ChemBE Friends and Alumni, ChemBE stu- research scientist dents are making Sai Prakash joined t is my pleasure to share with you new and good use of the ChemBE as a lec- Iexciting developments in the Chemical and Johns Hopkins turer. He joined Biomolecular Engineering Department. ChemBE Career the department I am proud to announce the establishment of Network from Pall Corp. the Johns Hopkins Engineering in Oncology (HCCN), a Research and Center made possible by a $14.8 million award highly active net- Development in from the National Cancer Institute. We congrat- work of students, Cortland, N.Y., where he worked as a ulate our colleague Dr. Denis Wirtz, the faculty, and academic and industry staff scientist and project manager. In inaugural center director. Three ChemBE partners. Senior Jenna Lloyd- 2001, he graduated with a PhD in professors, Drs. Wirtz, Sharon Gerecht and Randolfi, 21, for example, was able to chemical engineering from the myself, will lead the three core projects of use the network last year to land a University of Minnesota in the center in collaboration with colleagues coveted industry-paid internship at Minneapolis. He has focused on the from the School of Medicine. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in New design of microstructured polymeric or The success of our ChemBE faculty in Brunswick, N.J. ceramic membranes used in separation research is reflected by an impressive $45 Lloyd-Randolfi, a native of Billings, technologies such as microfiltration, million in multiyear grants that are active Mont., worked for the summer as a ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, nanofil- in 2009. ChemBE faculty are on track to gener- process engineering intern. She worked tration, gas separation, fuel cell mem- ate 100 peer-reviewed publications by the end of in the sterile clinical manufacturing branes, dialysis, battery separators, the year. With the highest number of graduate unit, where the biopharmaceutical com- medical diagnostics and sensors. students (82), postdoctoral fellows (19) and pany manufactures liquid injectibles for undergraduate students (325) to be enrolled in clinical trials. “We worked in a clean New Faculty: Gagnon our program, we are better and stronger than ever room and wore what looked like a space before. This year, and for the first time, we had suit,” says Lloyd-Randolfi. “We were Zachary R. Gagnon five prestigious pre-doctoral fellowships awarded ensuring and testing for sterility because will join ChemBE to our students from the National Institutes of you don’t want anything not sterile as an assistant Health, National Science Foundation, Siebel going into a person’s bloodstream.” professor in 2011. Foundation and ARCS Foundation. I am also Lloyd-Randolfi credits her rela- Gagnon is currently proud of the initiative of our ChemBE under- tionship with alum Sarah Doshna, BS a postdoctoral fel- graduates who will host the 2010 Mid-Atlantic ’96, for making the internship a suc- low in the Johns Regional Student AIChE Conference, which will cess. Doshna, director of Clinical Hopkins School of bring together over 200 students and faculty Manufacturing, had posted the Medicine’s from up to 32 different universities. opportunity on the HCCN website. Department of Cell Biology where he is The promotions of Dr. Jeffrey Gray and Dr. Several students were interviewed for developing microfluidic-based cell migra- David Gracias to associate professor with tenure the job. “It was through the ChemBE tion assays for the study of chemotactic strengthen our program and continue to empha- HCCN that I was able to make this and electrotactic signal transduction size the nanobiotechnology focus of the depart- connection and get this amazing pathways. ment. Also highlighting the department’s focus in internship,” says Lloyd-Randolfi. “I A 2009 graduate of the University this area is the addition of Dr. Zachary Gagnon learned so much more than I ever of Notre Dame, with a PhD in chemical to our department in 2011 (see article, at right). anticipated.” engineering, Gagnon’s interests include In closing, I would like to thank our stu- Doshna says Bristol-Myers Squibb AC electrokinetics, microfluidics and dents, alumni and friends whose selfless support plans to offer the summer internship electric field biosensors. During his is vital to the department’s success. again this year and will recruit from doctoral program, Gagnon invented an Hopkins. “We enjoyed having AC electrokinetic microfluidic platform Best wishes, Jennifer Lloyd-Randolfi as part of our for fluid and bioparticle actuation at team last summer,” Doshna says. microscale dimensions. “I look forward “She made a positive impression on to working with this great faculty and everyone in my department, and to the exciting research ahead,” across Pharmaceutical Development Gagnon says. at BMS.” Konstantinos Konstantopoulos 2 jhu.edu/chembe STUDENT NEWS Grad Students Group Plans Activities Outside Labs n the second-floor conference room of Maryland Hall, ChemBE grad students take aI break from their labs each week to gather for leadership meetings that chart the course for academic, service and social activities. “This group provides a community out- side the laboratories for graduate students across the department,” says Stephanie Fraley, 25, of Chattanooga, Tenn., who this year launched the group’s monthly newslet- ter. “Most of us work long hours, so this gives us a place to socialize, collaborate, exchange ideas and make new friends.” The Graduate Student Liaison This year, the GSLC helped advise fac- ence,” says Tommy Tong, who serves as Committee (GSLC), founded in 2002, pro- ulty on changes to the first-year Graduate co-chair of the group. vides the structure for the department’s Level Qualifying Exams, which generally The final function of the group is to roughly 70 grad students to work together cover the main areas of chemical engineer- aid social networking. The group hosts as a unit. The organization acts on behalf of ing including transport, kinetics and ther- happy hours as well as special events students before faculty and represents stu- modynamics. At GSLC’s suggestion, the through the year, including a welcome dents in the community. In addition, the exam now will include a section for stu- picnic, baseball game event, wall climb- group plans old-fashioned fun such as dents to read, analyze and orally defend ing adventure and seasonal parties. In monthly happy hours, a fall picnic and sea- research papers. “We felt this would be addition, the group promotes intramural sonal parties. At the annual Halloween more useful,” says Tullman, “And it would sports, sponsoring teams for soccer, party, for example, lab members dress in better prepare students to defend their indoor soccer, volleyball, flag football and group costumes for a department-wide own dissertations.” basketball. Word is: The GSLC teams are competition. One year, department chair The group also has launched a monthly the ones to beat.