JOHNS HOPKINS NEWS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR FALL 2009 ChemBE BONDENGINEERING

Primary ovarian cells stained for (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 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 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 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 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 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. Konstantopoulos dressed as a beekeeper. newsletter that highlights academic achieve- – Mary Beth Regan His students were bees. ments, for example, the recent paper by Many grad students spend most of their graduate students in Justin Hanes’ lab, time with colleagues from their respective which explores the role of cervicovaginal labs. Nearly all of the department’s 14 full- mucus in the sexual transmission of the JHU To Host the 2010 AIChE time professors operate a lab that ranges in HIV virus. Mid-Atlantic Regional area of expertise from cell and molecular The GSLC works actively in the Student Conference biology to nano and microtechnology. community, too. Members support the “When you come to grad school, you’re Science, Technology, Engineering and April 16–18, 2010 so busy you only get to know the people in Mathematics (STEM) Education your own lab,” says Jennifer Tullman, 25, co- Coalition, a Washington-based advocacy president of the group, who is working in group that works in area high schools to Prof. Ostermeier’s lab on protein engineer- improve science and math curricula. “We ing. “This way, students have a ready-made work with high school students to help network to help them make the transition.” them have hands-on exposure to sci-

“ChemBE BOND” Editorial Team: Published by the Department of Department Chair: Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, PhD Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, More than 200 undergraduate students Senior Editor: Jeffrey Gray, PhD from 32 universities will gather in 221 Maryland Hall Consulting Editor/ Writer: Mary Beth Regan Baltimore next spring to compete and 3400 North Charles Street Coordinating Editor: Erin Wilhelm Baltimore, MD 21218 network in chemical engineering. Design: Johns Hopkins University Marketing & 410-516-7170 (phone) Creative Services 410-516-5510 (fax) [email protected]

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 3 AWARDS & HONORS

Undergraduate Jeannine Coburn received a published a book of PyRosetta in the Cell Press; editor pre-doctoral fellowship from NIH. educational modules. in chief of Cell Health and the Cyto- Student Awards skeleton; as well as a 2009 Stephanie Fraley won an ARCS Justin Hanes, professor, won the Schwarz Lecturer and a member of in 2009 Foundation fellowship. Young Investigator Award by the the National Cancer Institute Advi- Controlled Release Society and sory Panel on Physics of Cancer. Elizabeth Specht, Jon Gilbert and Guoming Sun won the Mary- delivered the keynote lecture on Wirtz is also the chair of the Engi- Alex Teran won National Science land Stem Cell Research Fund’s “Advancing Health Through Inno- neering in Oncology Center along Foundation Graduate Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. vations in Drug Delivery” at the with members Konstantopoulos and Fellowships. American Association of Pharma- Gerecht. American Institute of Chemical Engi- Faculty Promotions ceutical Scientists Conference on neers (AIChE) Award for Scholastic Evolving Science and Technology Top Award Granted to in Physical Pharmacy and Bio- Achievement: Rachel Truitt, Kexun in 2009 ChemBE Student Chen, Remus Wong, Elisabeth pharmaceutics. He has also been Noy Bassik, of Fair Lawn, N.J., who is Olson David Gracias was promoted to awarded NIH grants on “New associate professor with tenure. Approaches to Overcome the currently pursuing a medical degree Paul A.C. Cook Award from the Sputum Barrier to Gene Delivery” and a doctor- Chemical and Biomolecular Engi- Jeffrey Gray was promoted to and “Mucus Penetrating ate in chemi- cal and bio- neering Department: William associate professor with tenure. Nanoparticles for Early Stage Bagdorf and Stephen Reilly Cervical Cancer.” molecular engineering, Loy Wilkinson Award: Eric Lam Faculty Awards Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, was one of professor and chair, has been five Hopkins Chemical and Biomolecular Engineer- selected as an associate editor for students from ing Undergraduate Research Award: Michael Bevan, associate profes- Annals of Biomedical Engineering the Whiting Elizabeth Specht, Yung-Chi sor, was awarded a stimulus grant and as a member of the United School selected for the prestigious Chuang, Ryan Bloom, Matthew from the National Science Foun- Peer Review Steering Committee Siebel Scholar award. The award, pre- Moura, Amy Fu, Mary Mallaney, dation on “Integrated Self & of the American Heart Associa- sented by the California-based Siebel Yiran Zheng, Bryan Benson Directed Assembly of Multi-Com- tion. Foundation, provides $35,000 each ponent Colloidal Structures.” to students to be used for the final Joseph L Katz Award: Bradford Marc Ostermeier, associate year of graduate school. Bassik, who Cotter, Michael Zhang, Polina Sharon Gerecht, assistant profes- professor, was awarded three is working under the supervision of Belyantsva, Dih-Dih Huang sor, was awarded the 2009 North new grants: a $1.3 million R01 Associate Professor David Gracias, America Vascular Biology Organiza- award from NIH to create protein has been developing miniaturized bio- AIChE Freshman Recognition Award: tion Junior Investigator Award. Melissa Good switches that activate prodrugs engineering devices, including surgical in cancer cells and serve as bio- microtools triggered by enzymes. David Gracias, associate profes- Greater Washington Institute of Chem- sensors for biological molecules; “The Siebel program goes way sor, was awarded an NSF grant to ists Award: Andy Chen a $650,000 grant from NSF to beyond most other scholarships and develop strategies to enable the use NMR, computational model- fellowships as they are really building Chia Chi “Michelle” Ho won the manufacture of 3-dimensional ing and mutagenesis approaches a community of scholars across mul- Fisher Award for excelling in a nanostructures and a collaborative to develop a structural model of tiple fields,” Bassik says. “Their plan cancer-related research program. grant with the Army Research Lab- an engineered switch to provide is to get a lifelong community to sug- oratory on developing microscale insight into its allosteric mecha- gest and implement ideas for the Richard Carrick won the Genentech devices with sensor modules. Siebel Foundation itself. It is wonder- Process Research and Development nism; and a $1.5 million grant as co-investigator with Konstan- ful to see that they look to many Outstanding Student Award. Jeffrey Gray, associate profes- tinos Konstantopoulos from departments and programs for sor, was awarded a renewal of an DTRA to develop a fundamental Bioengineering Scholars.” NIH grant in collaboration with understanding of biomolecular Graduate Student the University of North Carolina, recognition and apply it to the the University of Washington, and Fellowships & development of a synthetic bind- the Fred Hutchison Cancer Thank you to the donors who ing platform. Awards in 2009 Research Center to develop the made unrestricted gifts to Rosetta biomolecular modeling the department over the Denis Wirtz, professor, has been Laura Beasman and Stephanie software. In September, Gray’s past year! selected as editor and board Fraley won National Science lab released PyRosetta 1.0, an member of Physical Biology; editor Corporate Giving Foundation Graduate Research interactive biomolecular modeling of Comprehensive Biophysics Grace Foundation Fellowships. platform (www.pyrosetta.org) and (Encyclopedia), Section on Cell Grace Division

4 jhu.edu/chembe FACULTY NEWS

Timeless Tenure for Teachers create any 2-dimen- sional object. hile one member of the ChemBE Lithography is WDepartment uses computers to great for 2-dimen- tease out the coquettish mating rituals sional designs, but that underlie protein interactions, anoth- a challenge Gracias er is busy building tiny devices that—in wanted to over- a vision borrowed from science fiction— come was figuring could someday be used to help heal the out how to use this sick or manufacture minuscule electron- technique to make ics. Even though these respective 3-dimensional objects. Incorporating research interests of Jeff Gray and David hinges on a flat object allowed Gracias Gracias are from opposite poles of the Structure of an antibody with flexible loop and and colleagues to create objects that, ChemBE realm, these professors have domain motions explored during docking to an when triggered by heat or chemicals, something in common. They both have antigen. (Aroop Sircar) self-assemble into 3-dimensional objects been recently promoted to associate pro- like polyhedra, spirals or coils. The uses fessor and awarded tenure in the depart- conformational libraries of high-resolu- for these tiny structures seem limitless, ment. Since they seem to be sticking tion protein components and using with applications in microfluidics, nano- around for a while, here’s a chance to get continuous and discrete optimization medicine, biomedical devices, electron- a bit more familiar with their labs. schemes. ics, optics and sensors. To check their progress against other One potential application for these What’s Up Dock? labs’ docking algorithms, the Gray lab objects is drug delivery. After loading a Protein structure participates in a community-wide exper- hollow magnetic cube with a chemical, prediction may iment called CAPRI, the Critical the Gracias lab can maneuver the tiny seem like an area Assessment of Prediction of Interactions. capsule with magnets along a specified of research firmly The Gray lab recently developed a meth- path. Another self-assembled structure planted in the od to dock ensembles of structures with they’ve created is a so-called microgrip- arena of basic sci- flexible protein loops. This method pro- per, which can be guided and then ence, but not the duced the most accurate structure sub- prompted to close around an item of way Gray goes mitted by any group worldwide for one interest. The gripping mechanism can about it. His lab of CAPRI’s blind challenge targets. be triggered by either a change in tem- wants to use perature or upon exposure to specific structure predic- Small Is the New Big chemicals. They have used the wireless tion techniques to solve practical prob- In the Gracias lab, the name of the game gripper to excise cells from bladder tis- lems about salient protein interactions, is miniaturization. To make tiny devices, sue placed at the end of a narrow glass giving insight into questions about, for the lab uses lithography, a technique tube and are designing strategies to example, how HIV becomes drug resis- borrowed from computer chip makers, implement other wireless tools that can tant or how therapeutic antibodies which uses light or electron beams to be utilized for surgical tasks. annihilate disease. define patterns that can be utilized to – Erika Gebel, PhD To simulate protein docking behav- ior, the Gray lab is developing a pro- gram called Rosetta with an interna- Faculty Transition tional consortium of laboratories. In December, Professor therapeutics for the Institute for Nano- Rosetta determines the most energeti- Justin Hanes will move to BioTechnology as well as the director of the cally favorable orientations between a primary appointment at Hopkins ChemBE Career Network. He received interacting proteins or between proteins the Wilmer Eye Institute in both the William H. Huggins and Robert B. Pond and drugs or other molecules of inter- the Department of Sr. award for his excellence in teaching. est. Besides protein interactions, Gray’s Ophthalmology, where he will direct a new program in “I have enjoyed being a teacher and advisor to lab specializes in modeling therapeutic nanomedicine. He will scores of talented and hardworking undergrad- antibodies and proteins that interact retain a joint appointment uates and graduate students in ChemBE,” with solid surfaces such as bone. The in ChemBE. Hanes says. docking methods unearth realistic and During the past 11 years, Hanes has held joint The faculty, staff and students of ChemBE wish energetically favorable interaction ori- appointments in Biomedical Engineering, Professor Hanes enormous success in his new entations by rapidly scanning through Environmental Health Sciences, Neurosurgery endeavor. and Oncology. Hanes has served as a director of

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 5 Cancer, continued from page 1 explore how cadherin alters overcome hypoxia, and what they can do to in close proximity to functional blood ves- adhesion. Gerecht will team with Gregg smother them. sels, and thus produce different biochemi- L. Semenza, MD, PhD, associate director “As the tumor mass grows, the concentra- cal signals. These differential responses of the center and professor of pediatrics, tion of oxygen within this mass is reduced. The affect tumor cell fate, that is their death or medicine, oncology and radiation oncolo- diffusion of oxygen is limited,” says Gerecht. their survival, adhesion and migration to gy, to study how tumors overcome “These conditions will trigger cancer cells to distinct secondary sites, in the body.” hypoxia. ChemBE chair Konstantopoulos propagate and will work with Martin G. Pomper, MD, blood vessels to PhD, professor of radiology, to delineate grow into the the role of mechanical forces in distinct tumor.” steps of the metastatic cascade. These They are cross-campus collaborations are enabled studying how the by the center’s basis in the Institute for extracellular NanoBioTechnology. matrix composi- tion changes in a

Sticky Situation low oxygen envi- Wirtz Lab / JHU Cadherins are proteins that are expressed on cell ronment and how Nanoparticles (100nm) in cell used to measure mechanical properties of this impacts cytoplasm. Visible are actin filament networks (green) and microtubule surfaces and help keep a cell anchored in place. networks (red). “In a healthy tissue, [cells] express a lot of [cad- blood vessel herin] molecules to keep them stable and not development, growth and biomechanical prop- After its detachment from a tumor tissue, mobile at all,” says Wirtz. “These cadherin mol- erties in the context of a tumor. “It’s a loop,” a cancer cell must undergo a dramatic shape ecules become less expressed in cancer cells.” says Gerecht. “Hypoxia affects the extracellular change as it squeezes through vessel walls The shortage of cadherin molecules may matrix, which in turn affects the cells.” into the bloodsteam to travel in the body. contribute to a cancer cell’s capacity to move Gerecht’s approach involves techniques Similar shape changes also occur during their around the body, leading to metastatic cancer. “to control and model oxygen regulation, exit to secondary sites. “To date, the effect of Not only are there fewer cadherins in cancer then to see how this affects the extracellular steric forces, experienced by tumor cells dur- cells, but these molecules may undergo a matrix,” says Gerecht. “We are also trying to ing their entrance and exit from the blood- chemical change—phosphorylation—that synthesize and generate specific biomaterials stream, on cell migration remains poorly reduces stickiness. that can recreate the extracellular matrix in understood” says Konstantopoulos. He and But the precise conditions that allow a cell the laboratory.” colleagues will use microfabrication tech- to go from stuck to mobile are finely tuned. She has been working with her biological niques to make channels of decreasing diam- Wirtz likens the tumor cell to the wheels of a counterpart, Semenza, since her arrival at eter. Cells will then be coaxed through these car stuck in the mud. “You want to get out of Hopkins. “He will tell me about his needs and channels using chemotactic stimuli. “We the mud. If your wheels are too sticky, you then we see if we can make it in the lab,” says wish to delineate how steric forces, the extra- aren’t going anywhere. Too slippery and you Gerecht. “I’m very excited about bringing peo- cellular matrix, cell compliance and adhesive- are spinning your wheels,” says Wirtz. “You ple from different disciplines together. They ness affect tumor cell migration and intracel- need to reach the sweet spot of stickiness to are not only doing different work, but they lular signaling.” get out of the mud.” look at things differently.” Even though these three projects are To study how cell-surface ligands modu- distinct, an important part of the center late adhesiveness and how adhesion relates to a On the Move will be an emphasis on collaboration. cell’s proclivity to metastasize, Wirtz and col- A successfully vascularized tumor poses a “Clearly, cancer is a multifaceted disease,” leagues measure cell stickiness using atomic major problem for a cancer victim. As blood says Konstantopoulos. “We should not force microscopy. With one cadherin-bearing flows through a tumor to nourish it, the look at its causes in isolation but rather cell on a plate and another on a cantilever, tumor cells experience mechanical forces. from a unified perspective.” Wirtz adds, AFM can be used to measure the kinetic and These forces may alter the cell phenotype and “Information will be shared through an micromechanical properties of individual cad- enable tumor cells to metastasize. annual center retreat, informal meetings herin bonds between cells. Wirtz plans to go “Fluid flow in and around a tumor tissue among students and faculty, and through beyond AFM and develop new techniques for modulates the mechanical microenviron- co-advising of students and postdocs by these types of measurements as well. ment, including the forces acting on the cell computational biologists, cancer biologists surface and on cell-substrate connections,” and engineers.” Strangling a Tumor says Konstantopoulos. “Cells in the interior This interdisciplinary approach may foster For a tumor to successfully take hold, it must of a tumor mass experience a lower oxygen novel insights about cancer and perhaps lead first learn how to breathe. Gerecht and her tension microenvironment and lower fluid to successful therapies for this dreaded disease. biological counterpart will study how tumors velocities than those at the edges, which are -– Erika Gebel, PhD

6 jhu.edu/chembe ALUMNI NEWS

Alum Shares Energy “My personal view is that we’ve Expertise got to find our way to a new For an engineer who spent half of his career era of energy that is abundant, in the petroleum industry and the other half relatively inexpensive and working for the nation’s premier nuclear research laboratory, David Schmalzer, ’64, environmentally benign.” MS ’65, is well-versed in alternative fuel David Schmalzer ’64, technologies. In fact, he is fairly expert in MS ’65, PhD, PE the subject. “I was pretty well-focused on chemistry and feeding of those activities. It was a process and chemical engineering but more inclined of ‘Find Money – Herd Cats – Placate Sponsors toward the industrial side,” says Schmalzer, – Repeat,” he says with a laugh. It was during who followed his graduate advisor, Professor this time he also began working with research Hal Hoelscher, to the University of into fuel cells, and with exotic technologies like Pittsburgh when the latter moved there to part of the team that looked at the feasibility magneto-hydrodynamics. become dean of the school of engineering. of extracting significant quantities of oil Although the main Argonne lab is located Schmalzer earned his PhD at Pittsburgh from the formations. Later, he moved to a outside Chicago, Schmalzer’s office was based in studying mixing and mass transfer in packed project investigating uranium enrichment Washington, D.C., and he and his wife, Alberta bed reactors. But, he said, he “never seriously tailings created in the process of making (whom he met at a Hopkins mixer and married looked at the academic path.” reactor fuel rods for nuclear power plants. 43 years ago), have lived in Fairfax County, After completing his degree he went to Then he worked with a coal liquefaction Virginia, since he went to work for the Lab. He work at Gulf Research, a division of Gulf plant in Washington State, and managed the is now retired but still engaged in work aimed Oil, located just outside Pittsburgh. He coal research program for Gulf Oil, includ- at modeling and understanding U.S. and global stayed with the company nearly two decades. ing a solvent-refined coal demonstration energy systems, a role that has, he says, made “One of my first duties involved using an project. In the early days of alternative ener- him something of an alternative energy evange- early IBM portable computer that was about gy research, there was an underlying list. “Energy availability and sustainability is the size of two desks. What made it ‘portable’ assumption that volatile and suddenly one of the great problems of the 21st century, was that it could exist outside the climate- expensive foreign oil sources could be and where we’re at, both in the U.S. and global- controlled rooms that computers needed in replaced with domestic alternatives but still ly, is simply not sustainable,” he says. “About those days.” Schmalzer led a team that in a hydrocarbon-based economy. half to two-thirds of humanity lives a pretty dis- worked out of a special trailer containing the “All the synthetic fuel work collapsed in mal existence. They would like to lead a better computer that could be moved to refinery 1984 when oil prices collapsed,” Schmalzer life. But that will mean major increases in ener- sites, doing optimization studies on fluid says. Then, in the late 1980s, a colleague gy utilization for things like household electrifi- crackers and ethylene units. who had been appointed associate director at cation, water, sewerage and desalinization And then a war in the Middle East Argonne National Laboratory asked him to plants. My personal view is that we’ve got to brought the OPEC oil embargo and with it, head the coal, oil and natural gas research find our way to a new era of energy that is sudden intense interest in alternative fuel projects at the lab. Although nuclear energy abundant, relatively inexpensive and environ- technologies. Gulf Oil partnered with research was the Lab’s major focus, hydrocar- mentally benign. Hydrocarbons will necessarily Amoco, another petroleum giant, to lease oil bon research represented about 5 percent of be part of a transition for some decades.” shale rights in Colorado, and Schmalzer was its budget. “My responsibility was the care – Mike Field

Alumni Notes

Dave Goodwin (’97) and his wife, Madison, are loving After completing their MS degrees in the Gracias lab Michael P. Weinmann (’99) has taken a position as every minute of being proud new parents of daughter in 2009, Siddarth Singh has started a job at BAE a principal with Capital Royalty, a private equity fund Genevieve Nora Simone who was born 2/2/2009. systems and George Stern at Cook Group manager focused on investing in healthcare royalty Incorporated. interests generated by intellectual property. He is Dave Filipiak (’08) is working toward a master’s currently living in Summit, New Jersey, with his wife, degree in BME at Cornell while conducting cardiovas- Parag Pawar (PhD ’08) has been appointed as an Tamara, two kids (Jonas and Indiya) and a third child cular research on artificial heart valves. assistant professor, Department of Chemical on the way next March. Engineering, at Indian Institute of Technology, After spending 2.5 years at NIH, Shin-Hyung Ahn Hyderabad. (’06) has begun the PhD program in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia.

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 7 PRESORT STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID LUTHERVILLE MD WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PERMIT # 171 DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING 221 MARYLAND HALL 3400 NORTH CHARLES STREET BALTIMORE MD 21218

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Save the Date Reunion/Homecoming April 9–11, 2010

Get Involved

There are several opportunities for alumni to stay involved, including helping students through mentorship, internships and employment by joining our HCCN network or speaking at our ChemBE in Today’s World class to share your career experiences. Please contact Lindsay Spivey at spivey@ jhu.edu for more information. Join our LinkedIn group or follow us on Twitter for the most current ChemBE news! www.linkedin.com/groups?groupID=46097 or twitter.com/JHU_ChemBE Submit your news to be included in the next issue of the ChemBE Bond: [email protected] p Researchers use Lego to study what happens inside lab-on-a-chip devices A popular children’s toy, Lego, helps engineers visualize the behavior of Review Letters. The idea for the project comes from the concept of particles, cells and molecules in environments too small to see with “dimensional analysis,” in which a process is studied at a different size the eye, occurring at the micro- or nanoscale level. Assisted by under- and time scale while keeping the governing principles the same. graduate Eunkyung Sylvia Sohn (pictured), Profs. Joelle Frechette and “Our experiment shows that if you know one single parameter—a German Drazer arrange Lego pegs to separate particles based on their measure of the asymmetry in the motion of a particle around a single fluid trajectories as a model for lap-on-a-chip devices. Microfluidic obstacle—you can predict the path that particles will follow in a arrays commonly are used to sort tiny samples by size, shape or com- microfluidic array at any forcing angle, simply by doing geometry,” position, but the minuscule forces at work at such a small magnitude Drazer said. are difficult to measure. – Mary Spiro In this study, the engineers’ observations could offer clues on how to Go online to read the whole story at http://bit.ly/2wil40. improve the design and fabrication of lab-on-a-chip technology. Their Visit http://bit.ly/3KuCYo to see videos of the separation device in action. work on this technique was published in the August 14 issue of Physical