to globalhealthchallenges Innovating multidisciplinarysolutions Engineering and School of Health Systems Health Systems Biological Biological

2019 Annual Report The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University offers 25 undergraduate programs and 44 graduate programs in its six schools:

SBHSE CIDSE ECEE SEMTE SSEBE TPS School of School of School of School for School of The Polytechnic Biological and Computing, Electrical, Engineering of Sustainable School Health Systems Informatics, and Computer Matter, Transport Engineering Engineering Decision Systems and Energy and Energy and the Built Engineering Engineering Environment

Marco Santello, Director Sandeep Gupta, Director Stephen Phillips, Director Lenore Dai, Director Ram Pendyala, Interim Director Leila Ladani, Director Innovation at scale 7 10 4 National American Association National 11 Academy of for the Advancement Academy of American Engineering of Science Construction Society of Members Fellows Members Mechanical Engineers 2 9 Fellows NSF CAREER Awardees in the last four years 3 8 IEEE 7 PECASE Fellows 5 7 Awardees National American 3 Academy of Society of American Institute Inventors Civil Engineers for Medical and Fellows Fellows Biological Engineering Fellows

Lead institution on two Lead institution of the Department of National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers Homeland Security Center of Excellence Director’s letter

Dear colleagues and supporters, I am excited to share the 2019 Report for the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, within the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. This report will detail the innovation and impact that our faculty and students passionately strive to pursue. It all sources from our belief that we must reflect the needs of our community and the marketplace to be a truly effective partner with our clinical collaborators and within the biomedical industry. We are challenging the way we conduct research and deliver education by expanding our breadth and depth of expertise, taking direct feedback from our students and engaging deeply through use-inspired research that makes a real difference in the human condition. The following pages are filled with examples of the people behind our school’s innovation and impact. You will undoubtedly read about their honors, awards, publications and research grants, but also please pay attention to the ideas, discoveries and energy behind it all. We have a strong desire to be more, discover more and impact more. We will never be satisfied with where we are. We are dedicated to improving the quality of life and health of our community and providing biomedical engineers who are problem solvers, innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs. Please visit our website at sbhse.engineering.asu.edu or drop by for a visit to witness firsthand what makes our students and faculty unique. Join us for some exciting discoveries,

Marco Santello, PhD Director, School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 3 School of iica and eat ystes ieei

Degrees granted Fall enrollment 2017-18 2018 (21st day)

DOCTORAL 37% DOCTORAL Undergraduate students in Barrett, The Honors 16 College 88

MASTER’S MASTER’S 52 76

BACHELOR’S BACHELOR’S 47% 157 Female 747

TOTAL TOTAL 225 911

Research expenditures

8,750,000

7,000,000

5,250,000 $8,631,443

3,500,000

1,750,000 2019 2015 2016 2017 2018

4 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Key statistics SBHSE Report 2019

Welcome Faculty expertise Entrepreneurship

3 Director’s letter 18 Faculty directory 32 Startups and spinouts Faculty awards 19 New faculty 33 Hoolest lends an ear to anxiety relief Pinning down tuberculosis diagnoses 6 Awards and honors Research labs Faculty spotlight 20 Biosensors and bioinstrumentation Alumni 21 Bioimaging 34 Charla Howard, PhD CON-7 James Abbas 22 Molecular, cellular and tissue Christopher Workman, MS 8 Jamie Tyler engineering

9 Mehdi Nikkhah 23 Neural/rehabilitation engineering Student awards 35 Research 25 Synthetic biology and systems Awards bioengineering 10 Liver-on-a-chip, the ideal test Students environment for CRISPR technology Industry engagement 36 Student medtech design team 12 Tissue oxygenation imaging for heads to London better treatments 26 Research and clinical partnerships 38 Girl power: Biomedical engineering TENTS13 Engineering electronic medicine 27 ASU, Barrow Neurological students lead STEM outreach effort Institute partner to advance Gene-editing advances with Biomedical Engineering Society neuroengineering CRISPR-Cas9 student chapter earns top national recognition 14 Chipping away at mysteries 28 Academic and industry researchers put their heads together at the of cancer metastasis 39 Solving health’s Grand Challenges BRAIN Center 15 Better brain and body Studying novel infectious disease electrical imaging 29 WearTech positions Phoenix as treatments across the pond center of wearable tech industry 16 Detecting pancreatic cancer and NSF fellowship helps grad improve countering therapy resistance 30 Faculty spend the summer at lives with synthetic biology Mayo Clinic Linking the mind and body for 40 Multi-biomarker detection Identifying Alzheimer’s causes better physical therapy tech earns doctoral candidate with Mayo Clinic Young Chemist Award 17 Synthetic biology builds multi-industry solutions 31 ASU, Dignity Health tackle public NIH supports motor health challenges Generating discussion on rehabilitation research regenerative medicine Partners at West China Hospital advance research Giving Fellowship program invites international collaboration 41 Join us in our vision

Contributors

Article credits: Nikai Salcido Production: Joe Caspermeyer Scott Seckel Monique Clement Monique Clement Amanda Stoneman Rhonda Hitchcock-Mast Terry Grant Erik Wirtanen Jessica Hochreiter Emma Greguska Mabee Photo credits: Stephanie Richard Harth Marco-Alexis Chaira Elaine Miller Gabrielle Hirneise Volunteer Deanna Dent Craig Smith Join us at E2, Homecoming Joe Kullman Erika Gronek Lanelle Strawder and other events throughout the Haley MacDonell Jessica Hochreiter David Wahls year. Reconnect with alumni, learn Katherine Reedy about new research initiatives and Charlie Leight meet our outstanding students.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 5 Faculty awards and honors 2018-2019

National Institutes of Health Department of Defense Barbara Smith SBHSE Eric Guilbeau Outstanding James Abbas David Brafman, Teaching Award Received NIH (R01) Research Award Vikram Kodibagkar Sarah Stabenfeldt “CRCNS: Improving Bioelectronic Department of Defense ARMI Selectivity with Intrafascicular Stimulation” BioFabUSA Award SBHSE Metin Akay Graduate Service Award Received subcontract on NIH (R01) “Adaptable Multi-Modality Nanoprobes Fulton Exemplar Faculty Research Award for Non-Invasive Real-Time Monitoring of Engineered Tissues” This award aims to recognize and reward “Enhancing Sensorimotor Integration Using tenured faculty who are exemplary contributors a Neural Enabled Prosthetic Hand System” Tony Hu to the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering with outstanding accomplishments and David Brafman, Department of Defense research award contributions in research, teaching and service. “Quantification of Circulating Mtb Antigens for Sarah Stabenfeldt Rapid TB Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring” NIH R21 grant Jamie Tyler Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering “A Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Model to Top 5% Teaching Award Investigate the Mechanisms of TBI-Induced AD” project to use pluripotent stem cell-based ASU and Ira A. Fulton models to elucidate the link between TBI and Schools of Engineering Brent Vernon development of Alzheimer’s disease. Collaborative Strategic Initiatives Program Award Samira Kiani David Brafman Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) “Multi-institutional program to translate NIH U01 award $400,000 award to establish the Statewide liquid embolics to the clinic” “Multicell type human liver on chip Collaborative Regenerative Medicine microphysiological platform to examine Research and Training Facility CRISPRbased gene modulation” With additional funding provided by ASU’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, Fellowships Samira Kiani, Brafman created the first comprehensive Mo Ebrahimkhani regenerative-medicine-based training and Greger research facility in Arizona. Bradley NIH Common Fund Somatic Cell Genome Selected participant in the Jewish National Editing (SCGE) grant Fulton Outstanding Assistant Professor Fund’s 2018 Winter Faculty Fellowship The $2.6 million, five-year grant will fund the first This award is given to assistant professors who Program in Israel study of the genome editing technology CRISPR to are contributing at high levels in all aspects of be used on a “human liver on-a-chip” platform. teaching, research and service. Samira Kiani First ASU recipient of the Leshner Vikram Kodibagkar, Emma Frow Leadership Institute Public Jit Muthuswamy Seed Grant from ASU’s Institute for Social Engagement Fellow Science Research NIH U01 award “Automating the biological: The future of work Jit Muthuswamy “Quantitative mapping of oxygenation around and life in bioengineering” neural interfaces using novel PISTOL MR imaging” Selected participant in the 2018 Jewish National Fund’s Summer Faculty Sydney Schaefer Claire Honeycutt fellowship program in Israel Recipient of a Women and Philanthropy Grant NIH R03 award “Smart Orthotics to Prevent Falls” “Using standardized visuospatial tests to predict motor training responsiveness in older adults” Tony Hu Additional honors Xiao Wang, SBHSE William J. Dorsen Jr. Outstanding and awards Research Award Yang Kuang Samira Kiani, (School of Mathematics and Vikram Kodibagkar Statistical Sciences) Mo Ebrahimkhani Collaborative Strategic Initiatives Published article in Nature Methods NIH R01 award Program Award “An enhanced CRISPR repressor for “Predictive Modeling of Pattern Formation “One-shot morphologic, hemodynamic and targeted mammalian gene regulation” Driven by Synthetic Gene Networks” metabolic MR imaging of brain tumors.” Mehdi Nikkhah

Troy McDaniel CMBE 2018 Young Innovators of Cellular Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and Molecular Bioengineering awardee 2019 Top 5% Teaching Award National Science Foundation Nikkhah presented his paper, “The Role of Winner of the ASU Virtual Reality Innovation Desmoplasia and Stromal Fibroblasts on Anti- Mehdi Nikkhah, Challenge 2019 cancer Drug Resistance in a Microengineered Team Keep Calm’s work in VR and Tumor Model,” in a special, two-part invited Jin Park platform session at the 2018 Annual Meeting (ASU Biodesign Institute) wearable technologies helps understand and overcome anxiety. of BMES in Atlanta, Georgia. NSF grant Named as one of the Biomaterials Science “Investigating the Biophysical and Biochemical Jit Muthuswamy Emerging Investigators 2019 Influences of Stromal Cells on Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance within Bioengineered Tumor NSF I-UCRC BRAIN Center Award Sarah Stabenfeldt Microenvironment Models” “Closed-loop control of deep brain stimulation (DBS) using models of electrode failure” Elected as the Secretary/Treasure-Elect for Society for Biomaterials Selected to participate in the June 2019 China- Mehdi Nikkhah America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium SBHSE Outstanding Assistant Professor Award

6 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Faculty spotlight

James Abbas James Abbas, an associate professor of prosthetic. Medical device company Cochlear biomedical engineering and director of Corporation makes an electrode ear implant the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems, that Abbas’ team adapted for use with a is an expert in applications of neural engineering hand prosthetic. techniques and technology in the area of medical Jason Little, a 41-year-old from Orlando, Florida, rehabilitation. was the first person to have the electrodes Abbas is part of a multi-institutional research surgically implanted in his upper arm in 2018. team that has developed a first-of-its-kind For the first time in seven years, Little says he prosthetic hand to restore “feeling” to a was able to feel his wife’s touch on his left hand. person with a hand amputation. Through a In addition to prosthetics, Abbas studies neurostimulator implanted into nerves of the neural engineering for rehabilitation upper shoulder, the Neural-Enabled Prosthetic in spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s Hand system uses two-way communication to disease, neural interfaces for prosthetic send an electrical signal from the brain to the systems and neuromuscular stimulation muscle and back to control and stimulate a technology to promote feeling sensation in the prosthetic hand. neural plasticity and The prosthetic hand is the culmination of adaptive biomimetic 12 years of work by Abbas and a Florida system design. b International University researcher. In addition to earning funding from the Defense Watch a video of Jason Little Advanced Research Projects Agency of the using the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Neural-Enabled Prosthetic Institutes of Health, Abbas and the research Hand system. team partnered with industry to develop the

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 7 Jamie Tyler William “Jamie” Tyler, an associate professor of scientists, engineers, physicians and business of biomedical engineering, believes being an development professionals established Arizona’s entrepreneur is a way to try things others believe first industry-led Applied Research Center. are impossible. Pairing student and faculty entrepreneurs with He is combining a decade of neuromodulation technology leaders in industry — from startups to research with an entrepreneurial mindset to Fortune 500 companies — is especially important promote a complete paradigm shift in noninvasive to Tyler. He believes cultivating the entrepreneurial brain stimulation over the next five years with his mindset makes for better scientists and engineers. startup, IST, LLC. Their technology, Neuromodulation Researchers gain a wider pool of “peer reviewers” by Focused Ultrasound or NeuroFUS, allows by working with customers and industry collaborators. researchers, scientists and physicians to manipulate Students gain perspective into how industry validates very small circuits of the brain and nervous system and valuates emerging technologies in a way that using noninvasive ultrasound to unlock new can’t be learned in the classroom. possibilities in neural interfaces. Tyler says he actively encourages his fellow Beyond exploring the commercial aspects of his faculty members to put in the sweat equity and research, Tyler is contributing to the economic bootstrapping needed to facilitate entrepreneurial development and thriving startup culture in success for everyone involved — industry, the Phoenix metropolitan area. professionals, researchers and students. Connecting investment capital to promising startups and spinouts Tyler guided the establishment of the WearTech in the early, high-risk phase of development will lead Applied Research Center located in the biomedical to the big wins needed to increase investment and corridor of midtown Phoenix. WearTech aims to turn Phoenix into a center for wearable and medical make the Phoenix metropolitan area the hub of technology innovation, while improving its economic, wearable and medical technology. Together, a team educational, social and overall health. b

8 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Faculty spotlight

Mehdi Nikkhah Mehdi Nikkhah, an assistant professor The Nikkhah Laboratory is conducting of biomedical engineering, is one of research on the integration of innovative ten 2018 Young Innovators of Cellular and biomaterial and microscale technologies to Molecular Bioengineering for the Biomedical create biomimetic model tissue constructs Engineering Society’s CMBE journal. for regenerative medicine and disease modeling applications. Nikkhah presented a paper discussing his research on drug sensitivity and cancer- One method Nikkhah uses is microengineered, associated fibroblasts using a high-density microfluidic chips to study cells — including 3D microengineered tumor model in a tissues, tumors and diseases — and their special, two-part invited platform session interactions in a controlled environment. during the 2018 BMES Annual Meeting He holds several invention disclosures and in Atlanta, Georgia. The early career patents for his work, especially in the area of faculty members selected for this honor microfluidic chips. conduct highly innovative and impactful Nikkhah’s multidisciplinary research using bioengineering research. these chips to demonstrate the role of He was also recognized as a Biomaterials fibroblasts in breast cancer metastasis was Science Emerging Investigator by the published in the prestigious Cancer Research Biomaterials Science journal’s editorial and journal by the American Association of advisory boards, which endorses Nikkhah Cancer Research. b as a promising scientist with the potential to influence the future of biomaterials research.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 9 Innovation

Liver-on-a-chip, the ideal test environment for CRISPR technology Assistant professors potentially produce some unintended results. Samira Kiani and “[CRISPR] is a pathogenic source, so to Mo Ebrahimkhani put this in humans, you face a number are among the first of concerns, such as toxicity, an immune response, or some other side effects that recipients of Somatic it might affect cell tissues in humans,” Cell Genome Editing said Kiani, the project lead for the multi- institution endeavor. “There’s a chance grants from the National introducing the system creates some Institutes of Health sort of off-target effects in the genome, meaning that it not only influences the Common Fund. target DNA code, but also does some The $2.6 million, five-year grant will unintended modifications in parts of fund the first study of the Clustered the genome that we don’t know [about] Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic and don’t want.” Repeats genome editing technology Kiani and Ebrahimkhani will apply known as CRISPR to be used on a the CRISPR method on the Liverchip “human liver-on-a-chip” platform. platform in an effort to identify the The Somatic Cell Genome Editing biomarkers within the human liver program, launched in January 2018, genome that indicate toxicity. DNA is aimed at improving therapeutic options analysis will also reveal biomarkers for both rare and common diseases, that indicate the off-target effects of including supporting methods to improve Cas9 — the DNA-cleaving enzyme editing the human genome. used in CRISPR that enables highly precise gene editing and regulation. Kiani and Ebrahimkhani are combining their expertise in CRISPR technology Until now, CRISPR has only been tested and human microphysiological systems in animal models or human cell lines. to assess the safety and efficacy of Using the Liverchip platform provides a genome editing and its effects on model that recapitulates closely human human tissue function. biology and will significantly reduce the number of discrepancies introduced by CRISPR enables researchers to target animal models. genes and genetic materials in cells to regulate how they behave and These organ-on-a-chip mediums are function. Because of CRISPR’s ease of essentially a 3D cell culture system engineering and programmability, it is designed to create the specific considered a breakthrough technology microenvironment that would exist in with the potential to help cure disease, a human body. Multiple cells within the repair damaged body tissue and in other medium self-assemble to generate a ways restore people’s health. tissue similar to a human organ, even mimicking the human body’s blood flow However, as with any new technology, and the profusion of the media in cells. applying the CRISPR method can

10 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Innovation.

“The final objective is to create a culture system that can predict the liver tissue response in humans,” said Ebrahimkhani, who worked with this platform during his studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “In the long term, we hope to be able to achieve a candidate CRISPR system that can target a specific gene in humans with control over cell type, time of action and any potential toxicity.” The liver is likely to be one of the first human organs where gene therapies will be tested. Given the frequency of degenerative, genetic diseases associated with metabolism and the function of the liver, using the liver-on- a-chip platform as a proxy for human liver cells is ideal for studying CRISPR-Cas9’s effectiveness as a therapeutic tool. The multidisciplinary team of investigators includes Jin Park, an assistant research professor in the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics at ASU’s Biodesign Institute. Park will help with data analysis of the RNA and DNA sequences to identify biomarkers in tissues. Linda Griffith, the School of Engineering Teaching Innovation Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leading expert in microphysical systems, and David Hughes of CN Bio Innovations, the commercial vendor for the Liverchip, are collaborating with the ASU team in this research. They will contribute novel technologies and their expertise relevant to human-based cellular platforms. “We’re excited this opportunity to see that NIH entrusted the leadership of this multi-institution grant to Samira and Mo,” said Marco Santello, director of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering. “It’s a true testament to the caliber of the faculty in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering” The NIH Common Fund awarded 21 Somatic Cell Genome Editing grants totaling approximately $86 million over the next five years to support research aimed at improving methods to edit the human genome. These Mo Ebrahimkhani and Samira Kiani, assistant professors in the School of projects will help develop multicellular Biological and Health Systems Engineering, systems optimized for genome editing, will use a “human liver-on-a-chip” platform advance delivery techniques of the CRISPR to assess the safety and efficacy of CRISPR system and generate new, more effective on human tissue function. genome editing tools. b

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 11 Research

damaged vessels, which are commonly found in tumors or as a result of traumatic brain injury. If the contrast agent is retained for a period of three hours or more, it indicates the presence of hypoxia in the tissue. “Based on the time course of the agent, or rather the concentration, now we can tie that to actual pharmacokinetic models of how molecules behave when injected into the bloodstream,” Kodibagkar says. The use of MRI scanners means Kodibagkar’s technique is widely accessible to clinical teams. b

Attracting the next generation of imaging engineers

Vikram Kodibagkar used his NSF CAREER Award to introduce high school and undergraduate students to the possibilities of a career in biomedical imaging science and engineering, one he Tissue oxygenation imaging finds to be “very fulfilling and impactful.” Together with Assistant Professor Barbara for better treatments Smith, Kodibagkar also established a global summer internship program to recruit undergraduate students from India. Associate Professor Bioengineering Lab, which seeks to develop new imaging technologies to detect He also used the project to mentor Vikram Kodibagkar changes in tissue microenvironments and doctoral students Shubhangi Agarwal and spent four years finding train new leaders in biomedical engineering. Babak Moghadas in imaging research. Standard therapies such as radiotherapy ways to quantify the “The work I did with Dr. Kodibagkar has are not optimally effective in hypoxic amount of oxygen present (low oxygen) regions. However, armed provided me with a strong foundation not in tissues using qualitative with a new technique to measure tissue only in the field of imaging, but also as a oxygenation that provides information scientist for conducting good quality data, opening new about hypoxic areas, radiologists can boost research in the future,” says Agarwal, who doors for improved the dosage of radiotherapy where tumors is now a postdoctoral researcher at the pose the greatest risk of metastasizing or University of California, San Francisco. cancer treatments. resisting therapy. In many cases, as a cancerous tumor grows, Kodibagkar found the technique can also be Agarwal continues to apply the MRI it rapidly outgrows its blood supply, leaving useful for rehabilitation from traumatic brain techniques she learned at ASU to study portions of the tumor with areas where the injuries, stroke or heart attacks. cancer metabolomics. oxygen concentration is significantly lower The noninvasive imaging method than in healthy tissues. “The biggest impact of the NSF CAREER Kodibagkar developed involves using Award,” Kodibagkar says, “has been on “Knowing about the oxygenation of tissues magnetic resonance imaging scanners to the students who received training in might allow us to tailor the therapy to observe how a contrast agent binds to its cutting-edge imaging techniques under make it better and to use other therapeutic environment. If it accumulates in interventions that are more appropriate,” a region of tissue, researchers can its auspices and who represent the next says Kodibagkar, director of the Prognostic infer it passed through “leaky” or more generation of leaders in imaging.” b

12 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Research

Gene-editing advances with CRISPR-Cas9

CRIPSR has been heralded for the possibilities it presents to harness and enhance the power of the human body to heal itself. Assistant Professor Samira Kiani is one of the top researchers in this area. In a paper published in Nature Methods, a leading journal that spotlights discoveries of Engineering electronic new scientific methods and techniques, Kiani and her nearly 20 research collaborators describe a breakthrough in the use of medicine CRISPR-Cas9. The team is using Cas9 technology derived Agency of the U.S. Department of Bioelectric medicine is from the bacterial immune system to Defense, Muthuswamy and Towe are develop synthetic gene circuits to reprogram the future of health care, developing a passive, wireless, injectable mammalian cells. The goal is to empower the nerve modulation system. and Associate Professor cells to repair or disable genes in a way that Jit Muthuswamy and “We want to get this on the nerve and then mimics natural processes. shoot a sound wave at it,” Muthuswamy A particular benefit of Cas9 is that it is a Professor Emeritus Bruce says. “Then the device converts the sound DNA-cleaving enzyme that binds guide RNA wave into electricity that can modulate the Towe are working on to enable highly precise gene editing and nerve function.” the cutting edge of it — regulation. The team is also working on a Instead of designing new drugs, the way to more efficiently adapt Cas9 to turn developing a wireless researchers are designing therapy based a gene on or off — a method called transient approach to modulate on careful administration of electricity, gene modulation. or modulating electrical functions of Their Cas9 research might help people with nerve function using neurons in targeted places that lead to diabetes by reprogramming cells to produce treating organs. sound waves and more insulin, or help others by targeting injectable electronics. Axons — the thousands of threadlike parts specific DNA sequences that have mutated of a nerve cell that conduct impulses and and are causing cancer by cutting out the Precisely targeting a certain nerve with transmit information to different neurons, harmful gene mutation. b sound, light or electricity can modulate muscles and glands — are not well bleeding or inflammation. understood. However, Muthuswamy and Towe are working on how to target specific Wired electrical stimulation can nerves and how to monitor the applied cause problems of tugging, pulling and electricity to get the desired effect in a way instability. But putting a device inside the to make it “a reliable, long-term technology body and then powering it up from the Listen to that can target precise axons,” Muthuswamy outside eliminates those issues. Samira Kiani says. “We now have a potential technology talk CRISPR on the Future Tech In research funded by a grant from the that can address this problem.” b podcast: Defense Advanced Research Projects

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 13 Research

Chipping away at mysteries of cancer metastasis

One of the current when they came into contact with fibroblast The results were published in a highly cells. Using a technique called RNA influential research journal, Cancer Research, paradigms in cancer sequencing, which revealed thousands of after rigorous peer review. treatment is not to possible molecular targets, the team made Bioinformatics scientist and ASU Biodesign treat a tumor itself. a novel discovery. Institute Assistant Research Professor Jin “Our big ‘aha’ moment happened when we Park says the publication of the team’s paper Rather, therapeutics were poring over the data and comparing helps put ASU on the map as a leader in can focus on a tumor’s what we found to literature data,” Truong cancer research. says. “We uncovered a possible target, the microenvironment — the protein GPNMB, which was corroborated “As an institution without a area where tumor cells with data in literature, but not yet observed medical school,” Park says, in the interaction between cancer cells and “this paper will certainly and a patient’s healthy cancer-associated fibroblasts. We thought help boost the status of ASU cells collide. this protein may be involved in the interaction toward a major research and decided to disrupt it.” In a project led by recent ASU biomedical university in cancer research.” engineering doctoral graduate Danh Truong, When they silenced the GPNMB gene’s Nikkhah’s goal going forward is to isolate a multidisciplinary team uncovered a new expression in cancer cells in the chip model, all cell types derived from a single patient to role that fibroblast cells play in the spread the cancer cells stopped spreading to study on the chip. This would help to better of breast cancer tumors using microfluidic surrounding tissue. cross-correlate their findings with the same tumor models. “The microenvironment is inducing changes patients’ data or other clinical data. A fully Assistant Professor Mehdi Nikkhah, in gene expression of cancer cells, patient-derived, cancer-on-a-chip model Truong’s primary doctoral studies advisor, specifically because of fibroblast cells that would be a big step toward using the chips partnered with multidisciplinary collaborators lead them to be in a highly invasive state,” for personalized medicine. b at the ASU Biodesign Institute, Mayo Clinic Nikkhah says. “The fibroblasts change their and the University of Arizona Cancer Center phenotype in the tumor microenvironment in to study particular patients’ fibroblast cells a way to help the tumor spread.” and their interactions with commercially This research can lead to new ways to available breast cancer cells that matched study therapeutics and create personalized the patients’ tumors. medicine for each patient’s particular cancer The research team deposited these cells and tumor microenvironment. Read the paper in the 3D channels of a microengineered The chips are also inexpensive and in Cancer microfluidic chip that in part replicates the more scientifically effective compared to Research: patient’s tumor microenvironment and used animal models, which could lead to great high-resolution imaging to see individual improvements upon the low success rate cancer cells and fibroblast cells interact. of animal model clinical trials. They observed cancer cells speeding up

14 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Research

electrical conductance values of living tissues. In particular, she wants to measure the low-frequency range of detection as it is the hardest range to capture and the least measured. Low-frequency ranges from 1 kHz to 20 kHz are the frequencies characteristic of the body’s natural processes. For example, the heart beats around 1 Hz, or once per second, and neural activity mostly occurs in the 1 kHz range. Measurement of electrical properties in the low-frequency range therefore aids understanding of the interplay of activity and conduction of signals through the brain. One method her team is using is magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography, or MREIT. This involves putting electrodes on a person’s body that deliver an electrical current and create a magnetic field. The person is then placed inside an MRI machine that measures the magnetic field. Through this process, Sadleir’s team is able to characterize living tissues’ electrical properties. This isn’t a new method, but Sadleir’s team is tailoring it to be used with living humans — a key difference from past use which involves simulated tissues or animal tissues. The result will help scientists conducting neuroscience and neuromodulation research Better brain and body (changing the brain’s activity by applying electricity). In these types of research, accurate values are necessary for developing electrical imaging new treatments and new understanding of the brain. Knowing how cells and current technologies can better characterize To go beyond low-frequency measurements, the body’s electrical properties, especially in Sadleir’s team is also developing a tissues conduct electricity the brain. spectroscopic technique to help fill this is key to understanding Historically, electrical properties have typically knowledge gap for living human tissue. readings from medical been measured with electrodes placed on Knowing the measurements along the range dissected or biopsied tissues — an invasive of frequencies helps reveal the biophysics imaging systems that procedure that yields inaccurate results. of the tissue to get an accurate picture of what’s happening in the body as it interacts detect traces of these “The moment you cut tissues out of with both the body’s own internal signals and signals. For many diseases, somebody, the properties start changing with externally applied therapies. immediately,” Sadleir says. distinguishing normal and Going forward, Sadleir is interested in Much of what is known about the low- measuring a wider variety of tissues than unexpected electrical frequency electrical properties of tissues was brain tissues and at a wider range of activity in the body is a key gathered using the dissected tissue method frequencies. She is particularly interested part of making a diagnosis. — often using dissected animal tissues or in skull bone conductivity “because its directly on anesthetized animals. The last properties are very difficult to measure using However, measuring the electrical properties major publication of this type of data was traditional techniques and they are critical of different types of tissue is tricky, and released in 1996, with relatively few updates determinants in locating sources using EEG.” common methods of measurement don’t since then. However, many models of tissue fully capture what’s happening in the body. electrical properties use this outdated, “There’s been some controversy about what possibly inaccurate data. the properties of the skull are,” Sadleir says, Rosalind Sadleir, an associate professor “and they’re extremely important — perhaps of biomedical engineering, is working to Sadleir is going back to square one, the most important tissue — for all these resolve these shortcomings. She’s exploring gathering the baseline data in humans in transcranially applied techniques.” b how new methods and applications of noninvasive ways to determine the normal

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 15 Research Detecting pancreatic cancer and countering therapy resistance Linking the mind and body for better physical therapy

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to detect in its early stages and has a five-year Nearly half of physical and setting it to a particular time survival rate of less than 5%. specified by a clinician or experimenter. therapy patients are Schaefer and the research team are Associate Professor Tony Hu’s research studying the use of pencil and paper describing the use of peptides to pinpoint ages 65 and above. tests, and sometimes computer- telltale signs of pancreatic cancer well before Older bodies often have unique needs based tests, to evaluate older patients’ for therapy, but they’re not necessarily the appearance of any clinical manifestations of visuospatial skills. Questions include treated with different approaches than the disease was published in the journal Nano visualizing an object’s orientation, younger patients. To get better results, Research. A mutation in a cancer-linked gene mentally rotating an object to a different all it might take is a pencil and paper. known as KRAS leads to a cascade of events orientation and recreating the shape that ultimately causes uncontrolled cell division Sydney Schaefer, an assistant professor of an object by drawing or building it, and other hallmarks of the disease. The ratio of biomedical engineering, is working sometimes from memory. of two forms of a critical peptide used as a toward developing more personalized The results they’ve gotten so far suggest critical diagnostic biomarker is altered by the solutions for neurorehabilitation (treatment that clinicians focused on cognitive and KRAS mutation. for a nervous system injury) that are rehabilitation should communicate more. better tailored to older patients. She This noninvasive technique, which requires only and her research team are researching “In clinical care, motor and cognitive a small sample of blood, could revolutionize inexpensive and easy-to-implement issues are often treated separately,” early diagnosis of the disease and enable early solutions similar to current practices. Schaefer says. “Neural circuitry may have life-saving intervention. more overlap than originally thought.” “We use tools and assessments that Hu, who is also a researcher in the ASU are already being used by clinicians, The team is also developing low-cost Biodesign Institute’s Virginia G. Piper Center but we are using them in nontraditional tests that can be widely implemented in for Personalized Diagnostics, also mentored ways that could innovate standard clinical and community-based settings. a team of researchers who were looking care,” Schaefer says. Their research also suggests that into therapy resistance, which is particularly By identifying and testing a number of treating visuospatial deficits may have prevalent in pancreatic cancer. cognitive domains — memory, language downstream effects on improving ASU Biodesign Institute researchers Jia and attention, for example — Schaefer motor rehabilitation. Cognitive testing Fan and Bo Ning concluded in an article and her team found visuospatial tests prior to motor rehabilitation can inform published in the journal Theranostics that are the best predictors of success for how patients should be treated in chemoresistance is linked to exosomes — physical therapy outcomes. These physical therapy for the best results. bubble-like vesicles released by most cells, types of tests determine how well She attributes much of the project’s including cancer cells, that contain factors that people can visually perceive objects success to the wealth of clinical can alter the function of the recipient cells. Fan and their features. partnerships available through the and Ning’s experiments revealed that blocking “We know that specific parts of the brain School of Biological and Health Systems the expression of one of the exosome factors are involved in visuospatial function and Engineering and the quality of graduate greatly reduced chemoresistance transfer. our hypothesis is that similar networks students the school recruits. are critical for learning motor skills, which Since exosome-derived factors can be Going forward, Schaefer’s team is are fundamental to the rehabilitative detected in standard blood samples, they exploring additional therapeutic solutions process,” Schaefer says. could be used as a minimally invasive and whether enhancing visuospatial predictive biomarker for pancreatic cancer A common visuospatial test involves function through neuromodulation can treatment response. b drawing the face of an analog clock enhance skill learning. b

16 Research

Synthetic biology builds Generating multi-industry solutions discussion on regenerative The synthetic biology biology techniques to control when, where and how genes in the body can faculty members are be modulated to perform safe and medicine confident advances within controllable gene therapies. their research will help Assistant Professor Mo Ebrahimkhani is trying to find ways to trigger body provide solutions to an tissue regeneration by essentially “wiring” array of challenges in gene-regulation networks onto human cells. Those regulatory networks would then medicine, health care, program cells to generate new tissues for fuel production, energy, internal organs, particularly the liver. environmental protection, Besides expertise in various facets of biology and biotechnology, researchers industrial processes and are drawing on chemistry, computer much more. science and genetic, molecular, electrical The 2019 Statewide and systems engineering to examine how Researchers explored those possibilities at to construct biological systems in new ways Symposium in the 2018 Synthetic Biology: Engineering, that maximize the functions those systems Evolution and Design gathering called the Regenerative Medicine, are capable of performing. SEED conference, hosted by the American hosted by Arizona State Institute of Chemical Engineers. Combining metabolic and bioprocess engineering with biology and microbiology, University, brought Assistant Professor Karmella Haynes David Nielsen, an associate professor of co-chaired the event held near ASU’s together Arizona’s lead chemical engineering at ASU, is working Tempe campus, which drew more than 400 with his lab team to overcome technological scientists, clinicians attendees including industry representatives, barriers that are limiting the potential to government agency leaders, academics and other industry produce bioderived fuels and chemicals. and researchers from many universities leaders in the areas of across the United States, as well as faculty Cheryl Nickerson, a professor in members from research universities in ASU’s School of Life Sciences, leads stem cell biology and Europe, Canada and Mexico. work that combines microbiology, regenerative medicine. tissue engineering and physics to Discussions and presentations focused on The three-day pre-symposium workshop understand the dynamic interactions questions researchers are trying to answer provided undergraduate and graduate between a host, its microenvironment about how genes, proteins, chromosomes, students, postdoctoral fellows and and the microbial pathogens that lead DNA and the like can be synthesized and research scientists a hands-on introduction to infection and disease. b made to behave predictably for productive to culture and manipulations of human and beneficial purposes. pluripotent stem cells. Haynes develops synthetic proteins that can During the symposium, Assistant Professor perform a range of biological functions and David Brafman, the director of the Stem could provide a safer and more effective Cell Training and Research Program at method of injecting medicinal drugs into ASU, gave an overview of regenerative specific locations in the body. medicine efforts at the university. Assistant We will add a new Professor Mo Ebrahimkhani discussed Associate Professor Xiao Wang is working next-generation liver organoids to advance on the design, modeling and engineering of dimension to the field human precision medicine. Assistant novel gene-regulation networks. His goal of tissue engineering to Professor Emma Frow presented on is to better understand what triggers the experimental stem cell treatment. cell differentiation process that takes place program the generation within those networks and causes stem cells of new tissue from the The School of Biological and Health to transform into the kinds of specialized Systems Engineering faculty were joined cells critical to the functioning of essential inside out. by speakers from other ASU schools, the bodily systems. — Mo Ebrahimkhani, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona “ assistant professor, University, the Barrow Neurological Assistant Professor Samira Kiani Arizona State University Institute, Mayo Clinic and the Translational uses CRISPR technology and synthetic Genomics Research Institute. b ” sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 17 Faculty expertise

Faculty members in the Stephen Helms Tillery Rosalind Sadleir School of Biological and Associate Professor and Fellow of the Assistant Professor Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics PhD, University of Western Australia Health Systems Engineering PhD, University of Minnesota Expertise: Neuroimaging and neural apply engineering principles Expertise: Cortical neurophysiology, neural activity detection, dynamic physiological control of movement, neuroprosthetics, monitoring, computational modeling and methods to understand, neuromodulation, neural engineering ethics define and solve problems Marco Santello Claire Honeycutt Director and Professor in medicine, physiology Assistant Professor PhD, University of Birmingham, and biology. Through their PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory Birmingham, UK School of Medicine, Atlanta Expertise: Neural control of movement, wide range of research Expertise: Clinical biomechanics, motor sensorimotor learning, neuromodulation, expertise and interests, they control, stroke, falls, orthotics neuroimaging, prosthetics seek to transform society Jeff Kleim Sydney Schaefer through developing use- Associate Professor Assistant Professor inspired technologies and PhD, University of Illinois PhD, Pennsylvania State Expertise: Neural plasticity, Expertise: Motor control and multidisciplinary collaboration. neurorehabilitation learning, cognitive neuroscience, clinical neurorehabilitation Vikram Kodibagkar James Abbas Associate Professor Barbara Smith Associate Professor PhD, Washington University, St. Louis Assistant Professor PhD, Case Western University Expertise: MRI probe and technique PhD, Colorado State University, Expertise: Neural engineering, development for cellular, molecular Fort Collins rehabilitation, prostheses, and metabolic imaging Expertise: Imaging and biomimetic design biomarker discovery, innovating Thurmon Lockhart point-of-care diagnostics David Brafman Professor Assistant Professor PhD, Texas Tech University Sarah Stabenfeldt PhD, University of California, Associate Professor San Diego Expertise: Neural engineering, sensorimotor deficits associated PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology Expertise: Pluripotent stem with aging and neurological Expertise: Regenerative medicine, cells, neurodegenerative disorders from fall accidents disease, developmental targeted theranostics, neurotrauma biology, regenerative medicine biomanufacturing, gene editing Stephen Massia Xiaojun Tian Associate Professor Assistant Professor Christopher Buneo PhD, University of Texas, Austin PhD, Nanjing University, China Associate Professor Expertise: Cell-material interactions Expertise: Systems biology, PhD, University of Minnesota synthetic biology, nonlinear Expertise: Neural engineering, Jit Muthuswamy dynamics gene circuits, EMT neuromodulation, neurorehabilitation, Associate Professor neurophysiology, sensorimotor control PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute William “Jamie” Tyler Associate Professor Expertise: Neural Interfaces, neuromodulation, Jerry Coursen BioMEMS PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham Lecturer PhD, University of Arizona Expertise: Neurotechnology Mehdi Nikkhah development, neuromodulation, Expertise: Neuroscience, Assistant Professor brain plasticity, performance health care systems PhD, Virginia Tech enhancement Expertise: Micro and nanoscale technologies, Emma Frow disease modeling, tissue engineering, cancer, Brent Vernon Assistant Professor tumor microenvironment models Associate Professor PhD, University of Cambridge PhD, University of Utah Expertise: Bioengineering, policy and society; Vincent Pizziconi Expertise: Biomaterials, drug governing emerging biotechnologies Associate Professor delivery, tissue engineering PhD, Arizona State University Bradley Greger Expertise: Medical device design innovation Xiao Wang Associate Professor and regulation, cell and tissue regenerative Associate Professor medicine products, biomanufacturing, PhD, Washington University, St. Louis bioinspired and biomimetic complex PhD, University of North Expertise: Neural engineering, adaptive biosystems, space bioengineering Carolina at Chapel Hill movement disorders, vision restoration, Expertise: Synthetic and systems biology seizure disorders Christopher Plaisier Assistant Professor PhD, University of California, Los Angeles Expertise: Systems biology, transcriptional regulatory networks, cancer, immunology Newly tenured faculty

18 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering New faculty.

J.M.R. Apollo Arquiza Benjamin Bartelle Scott Beeman Olivia Burnsed Lecturer Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Lecturer PhD, Cornell University PhD, New York University PhD, Arizona State University PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology

Apollo Arquiza brings a background Benjamin Bartelle joins the faculty Scott Beeman brings significant Olivia Burnsed has a background in in molecular biology, design and with a focus on building molecular expertise in magnetic resonance biomaterials, stem cell biology and simulation of biomedical devices tools for functional imaging with imaging. At ASU, he will continue tissue engineering. While earning and the study of growth kinetics MRI. Bartelle connects multiple pursuing his passion for the physical her doctorate, she studied the of species growing in microbial specialties in his research: and applied sciences and their effects of both the structural and communities in waste. While earning understanding magnetic resonance applications in advancing medicine. biomechanical cues provided by the his doctorate, he researched the mechanisms that produce signal extracellular matrix on modulating effect of astronaut-generated cell phenotype and inflammation. garbage on health, water recovery and contrast, as well as the and microbial stabilization neurobiology and synthetic biology for life support in space exploration. methodology needed to get the tech working in a living organism.

Sung-Min Sohn Kuei-Chin (Mark) Wang Jessica Weaver Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor PhD, University of Minnesota PhD, University of California PhD, University of Miami

Sung-Min Sohn’s research focuses Kuei-Chin (Mark) Wang’s Jessica Weaver’s research expertise on hardware development for research focus is applying lies in integrating biomaterials, drug magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) nanotechnology to treat delivery, and tissue and immune using state-of-the-art RF/analog/ atherosclerosis, the most engineering for the development of digital circuits and systems. He is common cause of heart disease, functional, immune-protected tissue working to advance next-generation and evaluating the efficacy of and cell grafts. She seeks to develop MRI of low-cost, miniaturized and nanomedicine treatments. He safe, translatable technologies lightweight for more population and seeks to develop more effective with long-term efficacy to widen better health. therapeutic approaches to the applicability of cell therapies improve the lives of people with to broad patient populations cardiovascular disease. through the elimination of chronic immunosuppression.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 19 Research labs

Biosensors and bioinstrumentation Diagnostic tools to monitor human health and the environment, microactuators and microsensors for drug delivery systems Our biosensing and bioinstrumentation faculty members focus their attention on research diagnostics for monitoring human and environmental health. They build microelectromechanical systems for better neural signal recording and drug delivery, and devices for interacting in real time with biological systems.

Locomotion Lab The Locomotion Lab focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms associated with movement disorders leading to fall accidents by using a combination of experimental, computational biomechanical and Director: Thurmon Lockhart biodynamical techniques to reduce falls and improve human health.

Neural Microsystems Laboratory The Neural Microsystems Laboratory explores novel neural interfaces and neuromodulation technologies for the central and peripheral nervous system that would directly or indirectly restore functionality and Director: Jit Muthuswamy lifestyle to patients with neurological diseases, disorders and injuries.

Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems The Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems explores the biodesign heuristics of integrative bionanosystems that can lead to the design and development of bioinspired advanced Director: Vincent Pizziconi diagnostic and therapeutic components, devices and systems.

20 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Research labs.

Bioimaging Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, optical imaging, image processing and enhancement Our imaging faculty members work on developing new techniques and contrast agents that target specific pathologies, creating translational imaging technologies and using novel MRI phase mapping methods to measure tissue electrical properties. They collaborate closely with local medical centers across Phoenix, the Magnetic Resonance Research Center at ASU and the Keller Center for Imaging Innovation at Barrow Neurological Institute.

The Bartelle Lab develops tools and methods for molecular fMRI. The group’s work extends from synthetic Bartelle Laboratory biology, designing reporters and sensors, to functional experiments in living animals. The lab’s goal is to reverse engineer the genetic and molecular circuits of healthy brain function to build new therapies for Director: Benjamin Bartelle neurodegenerative diseases.

The goals of the Beeman Laboratory are twofold: to devise non-invasive magnetic resonance-based methods to quantify tissue microstructure and function in vivo and to apply these techniques to advance the scientific understanding of health and disease. Ongoing research leverages expertise in biophysical modeling, MR pulse Beeman Laboratory sequence design and MR-detectable molecules to design purpose-built MR protocols that extract objective and quantitative physiologic information. Examples of quantitative MR-based metrics include cell size, organ Director: Scott Beeman perfusion and tissue oxygenation.

The Prognostic Biomedical Engineering Laboratory focuses on engineering solutions for prognostic imaging of the tissue microenvironment in diseased states. Current research involves the development of techniques for fast Magnetic Resonance Imaging of tissue hypoxia and metabolites, engineering novel MRI Prognostic Biomedical and optical imaging probes, and theranostics. The group works on all aspects of MRI: physics of the acquisition, Engineering Laboratory hardware development, sequence development, in vivo studies, image reconstruction and processing. Current disease states under study include cancer and traumatic brain injury. The group’s emphasis is on non-invasively Director: Vikram Kodibagkar obtaining prognostic information early, in response to disease and treatment.

Research in the Neuro-electricity Lab models and images biological conditions using targeted electrical Neuro-electricity Lab methods. Work in the lab varies from the very practical (including device design and commercial development) Director: Rosalind Sadleir to the conceptual and theoretical.

The Smith Laboratory focuses on engineering solutions to diagnose problems associated with women’s health and mental illness. Ongoing research in the lab utilizes imaging technologies and olfactory Smith Laboratory sensing to forge an entirely new path toward early stage detection and diagnostic monitoring. The Director: Barbara Smith overarching goal is to translate technologies developed in the lab for improved patient outcomes.

The Bio-inspired Circuits and Systems lab focuses on the development of novel RF coils (antenna-like devices in MRI) and RF/analog/digital interface circuits to maximize the performance of the RF coils Bio-inspired Circuits and accessibility of the MRI scanners. Ultimately, higher quality MR images can be obtained with the and Systems research results of the BiCS lab under various MR studies. The modern RF/analog/digital design also will be applied to many different biomedical applications such as electrical impedance tomography, Director: Sung-Min Sohn electrical brain stimulation, wearable devices and more.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 21 Research labs

Molecular, cellular and tissue engineering Biomaterials, molecular and cell therapies, drug delivery Our molecular, cellular and tissue engineering faculty focus on novel biomaterials for rebuilding damaged tissue, molecular and cellular therapies, and localized drug delivery systems for hard-to-treat cancers.

The Stem Cell Bioengineering Lab utilizes human pluripotent stem cells to address fundamental questions Stem Cell about human development, model and study disease, and develop methods for cell-based therapies. To that Bioengineering Lab end, they have developed an interdisciplinary approach that combines various aspects of developmental biology, genetic engineering, biomaterials science and bioinformatics to investigate the chemical, biological Director: David Brafman and physical stimuli that govern stem cell fate.

The Massia Laboratory focuses primarily on cell material interactions. The principles of cell biology, biochemistry and organic and inorganic chemistry are utilized to better understand the interaction of cells Massia Laboratory with synthetic materials and to exploit this knowledge to enhance the compatibility of these materials with tissues that contact them. Current projects include developing nanofabrication methods to construct Director: Stephen Massia biomimetic scaffolds for tissue regeneration and replacement.

The Nikkhah Laboratory’s current research focus lies at the interface of micro/nanotechnology, advanced biomaterials and biology. Specifically, the research is centered on the integration of advanced biomaterials, stem cells and micro- and nanoscale technologies to develop functional vascularized tissue substitutes. In Nikkhah Laboratory addition, the lab is actively involved in the development of highly innovative microscale platform for cell- Director: Mehdi Nikkhah biomaterial interactions and cancer metastasis studies.

Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems The Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems explores the biodesign heuristics of integrative bionanosystems that can lead to the design and development of bioinspired advanced diagnostic and Director: Vincent Pizziconi therapeutic components, devices and systems.

The Smith Laboratory focuses on engineering solutions to diagnose problems associated with women’s health and mental illness. Ongoing research in the lab utilizes imaging technologies and olfactory sensing to Smith Laboratory forge an entirely new path toward early stage detection and diagnostic monitoring. The overarching goal is Director: Barbara Smith to translate technologies developed in the lab for improved patient outcomes.

Stabenfeldt Laboratory The Stabenfeldt Laboratory specifically focuses on engineering novel targeted diagnostic and therapeutic (‘theranostic’) biomaterials for neural injury/disease and identifying endogenous neural stem cell homing Director: Sarah Stabenfeldt mechanisms after injury, and incorporating such biosignals into tissue-engineered matrices.

Biomaterials Laboratory The Biomaterials Laboratory uses principles of polymer science and chemistry to design and develop in situ Director: Brent Vernon gelling materials for drug delivery, tissue engineering and tissue reconstruction.

The Weaver laboratory focuses on developing biomaterials-based strategies for immunoengineering and translatable cell-based therapies. The main thrusts of the lab’s work include engineering transplant sites for Weaver Laboratory cell-based therapies, device design for translatable and immunoisolated cell transplantation and developing Director: Jessica Weaver strategies to induce tolerance to transplanted tissue.

22 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Research labs.

Neural/rehabilitation engineering Modeling and simulation of neural systems and functions, signal processing, specialized tech for individuals with physical impairments, nervous disorder monitoring and treatment, chaos in neural and cardiac systems Our neural faculty work on modeling and simulation of neural systems to gain insight into neural function, neural signal acquisition and analysis, and the development of specialized technology to evaluate and treat individuals with neural and biomechanical pathologies.

The center seeks to design and develop technology to offset the effects of spinal cord injury, orthopedic Center for Adaptive injury, Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy. Driven by the needs of potential users, the engineers and Neural Systems scientists utilize a wide variety of interdisciplinary research techniques and technologies to aid individuals Director: James Abbas significantly affected or impaired by a traumatic injury or neurological disease.

The Visuomotor Learning Lab seeks to understand how the brain combines different forms of sensory and motor information to help plan, execute and adapt movements. They are particularly interested in how uncertainty associated with movement planning and execution leads to variability in motor Visuomotor Learning Lab performance. Their long-term goals are to improve and enhance human motor performance by developing brain-centered training protocols and assistive technologies that interface directly with the Director: Christopher Buneo nervous system.

The lab utilizes current neuroscientific understanding and neural engineering principles to translate clinical needs into devices that improve patient care and outcomes. Electrophysiological recordings and electrical micro-stimulation help gain an understanding of how the nervous system processes Neural Engineering information related to various sensory, motor and cognitive functions. The results are used to guide the Laboratory implementation of medical devices and therapies to treat various neural pathologies. Researchers perform electrophysiological research with human patients using arrays of micro-electrodes arrays to improve our Director: Bradley Greger understanding of movement and seizure disorders.

Sensorimotor This group analyzes sensorimotor learning and representations in the nervous system and neural Research Group mechanisms, which enable the brain to carry out fine motor skills. Within their research, the group duplicates the process, seeking to advance the ability to create more lifelike prosthetics that respond Director: Stephen Helms Tillery to brain signals.

Human Mobility Lab This lab supports two major research thrusts: fall prevention and enhancing arm function. The Director: Claire Honeycutt team works with clinicians to enhance rehabilitation strategies for the hospital, clinic and home.

Kleim Lab The Kleim Lab studies how neural plasticity supports learning in the intact brain and “relearning” in the damaged or diseased brain. Research is directed at developing therapies that optimize plasticity in Director: Jeffrey Kleim order to enhance recovery after stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

Locomotion Lab The Locomotion Lab focuses on understanding the fundamental mechanisms associated with movement disorders leading to fall accidents by using a combination of experimental, computational biomechanical Director: Thurmon Lockhart and biodynamical techniques to reduce falls and improve human health.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 23 Research labs Neural/rehabilitation engineering (cont.)

Neural Microsystems Laboratory The Neural Microsystems Laboratory explores novel neural interfaces and neuromodulation technologies for the central and peripheral nervous system that would directly or indirectly restore functionality and Director: Jit Muthuswamy lifestyle to patients with neurological diseases, disorders and injuries.

Neuro-electricity Lab Research in the Neuro-electricity Lab models and images biological conditions using targeted electrical methods. Work in the lab varies from the very practical (including device design and commercial development) Director: Rosalind Sadleir to the conceptual and theoretical.

The Neural Control of Movement Laboratory focuses on the hand as a model to investigate the mechanisms underlying sensorimotor integration responsible for motor learning and control. Research thrusts include the role of vision and tactile input for learning and controlling object manipulation, neural Neural Control of mechanisms underlying the synergistic control of multiple hand muscles, and the effect of neurological Movement Laboratory disorders and neuropathies on hand control. The research has potential for improving the efficacy of rehabilitation of hand function following surgery as well as neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases Director: Marco Santello such as stroke, dystonia and carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Motor Rehabilitation and Learning Lab is focused on the principles and neural mechanisms of Motor Rehabilitation and functional motor skill learning to better inform clinical neurorehabilitation. The team is particularly interested Learning Lab in aging and how specific cognitive impairments do or do not interfere with older adults’ ability to acquire upper extremity motor skill through experience. The lab’s work incorporates neuropsychological, behavioral Director: Sydney Schaefer and neuroimaging approaches to studying the human nervous system.

Tyler Lab Work in the Tyler Lab is focused on developing, optimizing and validating non-invasive neuromodulation Director: William “Jamie” Tyler and brain stimulation methods for the enhancement of human performance.

24 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Research labs. Synthetic biology and systems bioengineering Design of genetically encoded information and cell microenvironments, advanced medical treatments, engineered gene networks, biological network modeling and biomaterials for multicellular systems This field is based on the premise that living systems are modular, and thus, able to be engineered. It has made a substantial impact on molecular and cell biology. Here, you will find research and coursework in engineered gene networks, policy and governance, biological network modeling and biomaterials for multicellular systems.

Stem Cell This lab utilizes human pluripotent stem cells to address fundamental questions about human development, Bioengineering Lab model and study disease, and develop methods for cell-based therapies. They have developed an interdisciplinary approach that combines developmental biology, genetic engineering, biomaterials science Director: David Brafman and bioinformatics to investigate the chemical, biological and physical stimuli that govern stem cell fate.

The laboratory uses qualitative social science research methods to study and influence the governance Bioengineering, Policy and of emerging biotechnologies. Their work involves engaging with scientists performing cutting-edge Society Laboratory research, potential users of new biotechnologies and policy actors shaping the governance landscape for bioengineering. Current research projects focus on design and automation in synthetic biology, the Director: Emma Frow governance of experimental stem cell treatments and the future of engineering education.

Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems The Laboratory of BioInspired Complex Adaptive Systems explores the biodesign heuristics of integrative bionanosystems that can lead to the design and development of bioinspired advanced Director: Vincent Pizziconi diagnostic and therapeutic components, devices and systems.

The Plaisier Laboratory uses omics-level snapshots of complex biological systems to inform computational models that reveal biological underpinnings, describe the state space of biological systems and allow the prediction of interventions that push the system toward beneficial states (for example, non-cancerous or healthy). They focus on developing and applying experimental and computational approaches that when integrated together build predictive models of cancers derived Plaisier Laboratory from single tumor cells, whole heterogeneous tumors and patient clinical data. These predictive models of tumors are then used to gain insights into tumor biology and identify the best possible interventions Director: Christopher Plaisier for a given tumor, such as a drug or combination of drugs.

The Tian Laboratory combines multidisciplinary modeling and quantitative experimental approaches to elucidate the mechanisms of complex biological processes and complex diseases. The lab focuses on understanding 1) the underlying design principles of cellular phenotype transition and pathological phenotypes transition, 2) how individual cells from multicellular organisms use multiple layers of regulation Tian Laboratory to achieve the cellular phenotypes maintenance and transition, 3) how cells communicate with each other through paracrine and autocrine to establish complex pathological phenotypes in tissue level, and Director: Xiaojun Tian 4) searching optimal treatment designs for complex diseases.

Wang Laboratory The Wang Laboratory uses systems biology combining in vitro and in vivo models to investigate how biophysical stimuli in the arterial microenvironment control transcriptional and epigenetic regulation to Director: Kuei-Chun modulate vascular functions. The lab is also working to develop novel lesion-targeted nanomedicine to “Mark” Wang reverse gene dysregulation in vascular cells and prevent disease progression.

The Xiao Laboratory works to understand and exploit the effects of nonlinear dynamics and stochasticity in engineered gene networks in microbes and extrapolate this knowledge to the understanding of cell Xiao Laboratory differentiation and development in higher organisms. They emphasize researching multistable gene networks, systems biology on small network motifs with feedback, noise’s role in cell differentiation and Director: Xiao Wang development in conjunction with molecular evolution.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 25 Industry engagement

Research and clinical partnerships Industry and clinical partnerships tie our research endeavors to the needs of the communities we serve. Our strong network of partners — hospitals and health care organizations, both locally and globally — offers our students access to top physicians and researchers and hands-on experience in fields they may one day transform. Whether students choose to pursue medical school or join industry after graduation, this early exposure is invaluable.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Phoenix VA Health Care System

26 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Industry engagement

surgeon-engineer. Modeling after Lawton himself, who was an engineering student in college, training doctors to think like engineers and medical professionals provides many possibilities to innovate. Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Dean Kyle Squires says the initiative aims to speed up an impactful convergence. “The convergence of ideas in engineering and neuroscience has to accelerate in order to fundamentally understand brain function and how we can augment it, not only in the case of accidents or diseases, but also for healthy patients,” Squires says. “We want to come together in creative ways that merge what each of us is good at.” Engineering researchers at ASU will need to advance human-machine interactions and “reverse-engineer” the brain to understand its complexities and how we can enhance it. Robotics and interfaces between brain and machine will also be important to help people with neurological disorders. ASU, Barrow Neurological Barrow is also contributing to new technology with the development of the Institute partner to advance first robotic system to place screws into the spine to correct deformities or stabilize neuroengineering broken bones. “It’s one of — if not the — first game- changing robotics operations in the Neuroengineering is a field with tremendous Some say space is the neurosurgical operating room,” Lawton says. potential for impacting health and quality “Now neurosurgeons are starting to see the final frontier. Michael of-life outcomes, says Sethuraman robotics applications for other procedures Panchanathan, ASU’s executive vice president Lawton, president beyond the spine.” and CEO of Barrow and chief research and innovation officer. Neurological Institute, “We are delighted to collaborate with BNI says it’s the human brain. on this frontier initiative The world-renowned institute announced that will no doubt have a that it is partnering with ASU on a new significant impact through enterprise to survey and conquer that frontier. innovations, research and The Barrow-ASU Initiative for Innovation in training,” Panchanathan says. Neuroengineering will bring together leading “This is indeed an incredibly Barrow Neurological Institute President experts from both institutions to innovate and CEO Michael Lawton (left) and ASU exciting partnership.” President Michael Crow announced their devices, technology, therapies and research institutions’ new partnership at Celebrity to improve brain and spinal cord function The goals of the new initiative are to foster Fight Night in Phoenix March 23. Photo courtesy of Sethuraman Panchanathan and transform the lives of people with ideas between clinicians and engineers neurological disorders. that could change the way we do things. With past collaborations between BNI “We’d like people to think of Phoenix as this The initiative, Lawton says, “will create a and ASU, including with Marco Santello mecca of neuroscience innovation in the special place where we can capture these and the BRAIN Center, and the enterprising way that people think of Houston as the ideas and take them from a lightbulb in spirit of student doctors, Squires and mecca for space exploration,” Lawton says. someone’s head to an actual prototype and Lawton are eager for the possibilities “We’re capitalizing on the most innovative then a product — and sometimes even a this initiative presents. university in the country and the largest, business — and change the way we practice “We see again and again that the problems busiest neurological institute in the country. medicine and achieve better outcomes for that are worth solving lie at the interfaces It’s a natural marriage for the two leaders our patients.” between disciplines,” Squires says, “and this within this domain and we hope this will be The partnership can also help create a new partnership will provide the catalyst needed an economic engine for this city.” kind of doctor: the physician-engineer or to accelerate progress.” b

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 27 Industry engagement

Academic and industry researchers put their heads together at the BRAIN Center

The Building Reliable Advances and Engineering Professor Jose Luis Contreras- the BRAIN Center has broadened Innovations in Neurotechnology (BRAIN) Vidal are leading multidisciplinary efforts the scope and number of Center is an Industry/University Collaborative to develop safe, effective and affordable industry-faculty research Research Center that is rigorously testing personalized neurotechnologies for collaborations, added efficacy, safety and long-term reliability of diagnostics, restoration, enhancement and one domestic and four neurotechnology that would not otherwise be rehabilitation with the help of more than 50 international center sites, possible within traditional academic, industry, researchers at their home universities and and reached thousands regulatory and clinical communities alone. with14 industry partners and hospital systems. of people in the field of Professor and director Marco Santello Originally funded in 2017 with a $1.5 million neurotechnology through and University of Houston Cullen College of grant from the National Science Foundation, conferences and events. b

By joining the BRAIN Center, your membership will allow you to leverage research supported by federal grants and corporate members from other center-funded projects. You will also have direct access to the center’s intellectual property, expert faculty, graduates, students and the infrastructure and capabilities within participating labs and universities. Together, we will revolutionize the diagnosis and brain.engineering.asu.edu treatment of brain disorders.

28 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Industry engagement

WearTech positions Phoenix as center of wearable tech industry The future of health care is wearable. Christen and Anderson adapt the sweat evaluation approaches used by modern Handheld, on-body and in-body devices patch to monitor drugs and alcohol to catch engineers to develop new technologies and that monitor a person’s health status and relapses in real time to help counselors devices. His efforts for this course led in provide therapy will become more integral intervene and provide support for people part to a Top 5% Teaching Award from the to health care over the next few years. recovering from addiction. Fulton Schools. WearTech, a partnership between WearTech helped connect Blain Christen To date, these learning opportunities and Partnership for Economic Innovation, ASU, and Anderson with a local company, True startup support resources have been aided industry and local economic organizations, Mobile Health, which provides clients with a by funding from an i6 Challenge Grant is positioning the Phoenix metropolitan area personalized approach to care that mirrors from the U.S. Economic Development as the hub of high-impact wearable and what FlexBioTech is doing with diagnostics. Administration, which is part of a three-year medical technology innovation. Blain Christen calls it a partnership that is project under the administration’s 2018 In this unique collaborative project greater than the sum of its parts, where Regional Innovation Strategies program model, industry can leverage their project each partner can approach individualized to help connect entrepreneurs with local investments with matching public-sector health with their own expertise. hospitals and local resources to get their funds and in-kind talent, equipment and “WearTech has really wearable technology products off the ground. This funding, paired with matching facility resources from ASU — including allowed us to focus on the School of Biological and Health Systems funds from the State of Arizona to be Engineering — and other universities. the research in this used in applied research centers, partnership by providing us will help startups and industry looking The central hub of this effort is the with both financial and ‘red to work with WearTech to develop new WearTech Applied Research Center, a wearable technologies. collaborative enterprise established and tape’ support,” Blain Christen operated by the Partnership for Economic says. “They have done an amazing job of “Our success getting funding appropriated Innovation. Co-located with the Wearable determining how to facilitate the partnership in the Arizona State Budget (HB 2747) to Robotics Association at Park Central and worked within ASU to allow us to work match investments in industry-led research in downtown Phoenix, the WearTech on the project without needing to focus on makes us better equipped to compete Applied Research Center will support an the details of contracts and negotiations.” with science and tech growth in other cities and states, such as Texas, California, entrepreneurial ecosystem to improve Along with industry-partnered spinouts Massachusetts, New York, Washington quality of life and human performance and startups, student entrepreneurial and Georgia,” Tyler says. through the development of innovative ventures — like Hoolest, the cranial-nerve wearable technologies. modulation treatment startup co-founded WearTech is exploring investment The facilities provide validation and by ASU biomedical engineering graduate opportunities with local industry and clinical prototyping lab space and expertise student Nicholas Hool — also utilize the partners, including Medtronic, Barrow from Fulton Schools researchers and WearTech space in midtown Phoenix. Neurological Institute, Avnet, Mayo Clinic and others to identify high impact projects other ASU faculty for local startups such ASU and WearTech are partnering to train in this space. Tyler notes WearTech has as FlexBioTech — an interdisciplinary the next generation of wearable technology caught the attention of many potential effort between ASU faculty, students and experts by supporting projects and courses high-profile wearable technology partners. industry and medical professionals. for students interested in learning more Jennifer Blain Christen, an associate about wearables. “WearTech has attracted strong interest from Fortune 500 companies, professional professor of electrical and computer William “Jamie” Tyler, an associate industry trade associations, professional engineering and FlexBioTech chief professor of biomedical engineering and sports teams, the Department of Defense, operations officer, is helping to lead founding academic director of WearTech, mid-size strategic investment organizations industry-sponsored projects at WearTech helped restructure ASU’s undergraduate and state-based clinical partners,” Tyler with her partner, medical oncologist and biomedical engineering instrumentation says. “Together, we can combine our immunologist Karen Anderson. FlexBioTech course to include content and approaches resources and talent to foster the is developing an at-home rapid diagnostic directed toward applied learning development of high-impact advances patch that uses sweat to monitor health techniques. Incorporating the WearTech in wearable technology in Arizona.” b care needs after a person is discharged mission, the course teaches concepts from the hospital. WearTech is helping Blain related to rapid design and iterative testing

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 29 Industry engagement

Faculty spend the summer at Mayo Clinic

Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic News Network Identifying Alzheimer’s

ASU and Mayo Clinic causes with Mayo Clinic researchers spend their In the search for Brafman uses hiPSC technology to summers tackling major take white blood cells, provided by the treatments of Alzheimer’s Caselli laboratory, from both patients health issues through disease, researchers with Alzheimer’s disease and people the Faculty Summer without the disease and transform them are now looking for into hiPSCs. In turn, these hiPSCs are Residency Program. new approaches to able to differentiate into the various cell Associate Professor Stephen Massia understand how the types that comprise the brain. spent his summer working with Phoenix and “Having living brain cells gives Scottsdale Mayo Clinic investigators Jeffrey progressive disease [Brafman] the ability to study cellular Cornella and Longwen Chen to assess the starts so they can put mechanisms that could not otherwise regenerative capacity of a vaginal wall tissue be studied in either living or deceased construct prototype from rabbit explants. a stop to it. people,” Caselli says. Associate Professor Vincent Pizziconi David Brafman, an assistant Brafman says the various cell types and Mayo Clinic investigator David Lott professor of biomedical engineering, the team can generate from hiPSCs collaborated in the Phoenix Mayo Clinic partnered with the Mayo Clinic’s derived from patients with Alzheimer’s location to work toward the development Richard J. Caselli, M.D., to use a stem- disease are a rare and valuable of a bioengineered artificial larynx. cell-based approach to identify causes resource, especially those with The six-week residency program, now in its of Alzheimer’s disease in people specific genetic risk factors. with various levels of risk based on second year, is designed to support long- “We were fortunate enough to receive term collaborations between research teams variations of the apolipoprotein E gene, known as ApoE. funding via the ASU-Mayo Seed Grant at Mayo Clinic and ASU faculty in areas that mechanism to perform the first, and will impact clinical outcomes and enhance Brafman uses human-induced arguably the riskiest, aspect of this patient experiences. pluripotent stem cells, or hiPSCs, from research, which was to generate hiPSC “Our second cohort of ASU Alliance for patients with different genetic risk lines directly from patient samples,” Health Care Fellows have the unique factors for Alzheimer’s disease to create Brafman says. “In collaboration with opportunity to work side-by-side with living brain cell models to examine the Caselli laboratory, we generated researchers at Mayo Clinic to deeply a variety of neuronal pathways and a comprehensive library of hiPSC understand key issues facing patients,” cellular mechanisms that may relate to lines from patients with different says Grace O’Sullivan, ASU assistant vice how Alzheimer’s disease begins. ApoE genotypes.” president of corporate engagement and Caselli and Brafman received a two- The hiPSC cell lines will be shared strategic partnerships. “These collaborations year grant from the National Institute on freely among collaborators, and the will support the development of noteworthy, Aging, part of the National Institutes of ASU-Mayo Clinic team hopes their use interdisciplinary health solutions and also Health, for their project, “Generation and will advance the study and creation of continue to strengthen the Mayo Clinic and characterization of isogenic hiPSC lines treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. b ASU relationship.” b with various ApoE genotypes.”

30 Industry engagement

ASU, Dignity Health tackle public health challenges The Collaborative Partners at West China Strategic Initiatives Program offers grants to Hospital advance research

ASU faculty and Dignity ASU Biodesign Institute investigators and Associate Professor Tony Hu co-hosted representatives of Sichuan University and West Health investigators for a symposium with ASU Biodesign Institute China Hospital. collaborative research Executive Director Joshua LaBaer inviting projects that accelerate representatives from Sichuan University “In Soochow, you can tell how quickly and West China Hospital to explore the technology can be translated within the health and well-being strategies for the detection and treatment their high-tech park,” says Hu, who of infectious diseases and cancer. has made several breakthroughs in of the community. tuberculosis, which has infected about West China Hospital and its accompanying Launched in 2017, the program advances one-third of residents in China. “From Sichuan University are highly regarded joint research in key programmatic areas the standardization of the product, to in China, especially in the realm of such as population health, educating a licensing, to negotiating with the investor medical research. prepared health care workforce and or company of incubation, and also sales building a healthy clinical workforce. “The West China Hospital definitely has and marketing… The pipeline for Associate Professor Vikram Kodibagkar great facilities and it’s a well-known translation is all there.” hospital. Its medical research is often investigated one-shot morphologic, This is very appealing to Hu and his No. 1 in China, so it could be perfect hemodynamic and metabolic magnetic research team, who have also adapted for collaboration,” Hu says. resonance imaging of brain tumors with their technology to turn smartphones Barrow Neurological Institute investigator LaBaer also led a delegation to visit into handheld microscopes to make C. Chad Quarles. key Chinese partners including an impact as a versatile and powerful Associate Professor Brent Vernon and Sichuan University, Huaxi Hospital new tool in the worldwide fight against b Barrow Neurological Institute investigators and Soochow University. infectious diseases. Mark C. Preul and Andrew Ducruet collaborated on a multi-institutional program to translate liquid embolics to the clinic. Grant recipients embark on projects that Fellowship program invites address an array of public health challenges international collaboration that will result in the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices into public health, clinical practices and Israel is positioning itself as a “startup nation” focused community settings. on international collaboration to foster innovation. ASU The vibrant, innovative Dignity Health and ASU partnership formed in 2015 biomedical engineering researchers have traveled to on the foundation of clinical and the country to learn how to partner on those efforts. academic excellence. Jit Muthuswamy was one of five ASU faculty members selected to participate in the “ASU’s partnership with Dignity Health Jewish National Fund’s 2018 Summer Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel. Associate reflects the spirit of collaboration, Professor Bradley Greger also joined five ASU faculty members for the 2018 Winter discovery and community impact that Faculty Fellowship Program. is central to the university’s mission,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, ASU Faculty are invited for two-week competitive academic fellowships designed to link scholars executive vice president of Knowledge from diverse disciplines and similar research interests to develop collaborations, research Enterprise Development and chief research projects, co-authoring opportunities and to establish exchange programs between faculty and innovation officer. “The work being and students. done through these grants advances Along with exploring contemporary Israeli society and culture, academics meet with scientific inquiry and knowledge and also professionals and experts in government, industry, education, media and other sectors to offers hope for solutions to some of our understand Israel’s evolving national and international policies for addressing regional and b most pressing health challenges.” global challenges. b

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 31 Entrepreneurship

NanoCheQ Founded by recent biomedical engineering graduate Nitish Peela “The top 10 world ranking in patents is a reflection of Developing nanoparticle-based rapid, easy-to-use diagnostic tools for ASU’s vibrant, innovative and entrepreneurial culture bacterial and chemical contaminants. with a focus on impacting society,” says Sethuraman nanocheq.com Panchanathan, executive vice president of Knowledge Sonoran Biosciences, Inc. Enterprise Development and chief research innovation Founded by Associate Professor Brent Vernon’s research group officer at ASU.“I’m incredibly proud of the contributions Preclinical-stage pharmaceutical and achievements of our faculty, researchers and students. company focused on the prevention and treatment of surgical site infections This shows what can be accomplished when you empower through the targeted delivery of “ antibiotics directly to the surgical site. the academic community to engage in use-inspired sonoranbiosciences.com research focused on societal challenges. Aneuvas Technologies, Inc. Founded by Associate Professor Brent Vernon’s research group Developing a novel medical device to treat and eliminate the threat of aneurysms in the brain with a device that promotes a bioactive healing response with a quick and minimally invasive technique. ” Startups and spinouts and Startups Droplet Inc. Founded by recent biomedical engineering graduates Levi Riley, Byron Alarcon, Sheldon Cummings and Rex Moore Developing a process for the reliable fabrication of polymer microparticles to be used in the drug delivery and therapeutics industry. linkedin.com/company/droplet-llc

Endovantage Founded by Associate Professor David Frakes Developing a cloud-based computational modeling platform that uses a patient’s CT scan to create a personalized 3D vasculature model for visualization and anatomical measurements. endovantage.com

IST Founded by Associate Professor William “Jamie” Tyler Developing wearable, bioelectronic neurostimulation platforms and focused ultrasound neuromodulation technologies for treating pervasive human medical disorders and to optimize human performance. isensetec.com

Hoolest Founded by biomedical engineering graduate student Nicholas Hool Developing a new wearable technology that activates the body’s natural relaxation response. Microfluidic chip about to earn second patent hoolestpt.com Assistant Professor Mehdi Nikkhah, his recent doctoral student Danh Truong and NanoPin their collaborators aren’t the only group developing microfluidic chips, but their chips have Founded by Tony Hu key innovations that set them apart from the others. Nikkhah’s team was granted a U.S. Developing a diagnostic platform patent in 2018 for a chip that played a role in discovering how fibroblasts promote the for infectious diseases that pulls target biomarkers directly from blood spread of cancer cells. Another three-layer, 3D chip design is pending a U.S. patent samples and significantly enhances in 2019. It adds the possibility of studying how tumor cells enter into capillaries and signal strength for rapid detection circulate throughout the body, which promotes cancer metastasis. and optimal treatment.

32 Entrepreneurship

Pinning down tuberculosis diagnoses

Hoolest lends an ear to anxiety relief

When he decided to pursue a doctoral “Every single person in that room could degree after earning a bachelor’s degree in relate to the problem we’re solving,” Hool biomedical engineering, Nicholas Hool also says. “300 million people in America are knew he wanted to start his own company familiar with stress and anxiety and would based on his dissertation research. pay to overcome it.” Hool’s graduate research focuses on After building several prototypes of the NanoPin, founded by Tony vagus nerve stimulation and neural earbud and completing another round of engineering and its applications in anxiety seed funding, they’re currently working on Hu in 2017, is developing relief. From the beginning of his studies, getting U.S. Food and Drug Administration a proprietary technology Hool’s mentor, Associate Professor clearance as a medical device. that uses a nano-particle William “Jamie” Tyler, was a strong “Since the start of 2019, we’ve really been supporter in helping him reach his goals. hitting hard trying to figure out everything based platform, coupled “When I joined the PhD program, he for FDA clearance, what sort of safety with high-throughput mass and I both knew that I wanted to start a testing we have to pass, running a clinical company and build some kind of novel trial and talking with doctors and FDA spectroscopy, to detect stimulator,” Hool says of Tyler. “It started consultants,” Hool says. and quantitate disease in his lab and now that we’re officially a The startup’s first clinical trials will focus biomarkers in patient company, we’ve licensed the tech back on the product’s effect on managing from ASU and we’re our own private entity. anxiety attacks for those diagnosed with blood samples. Jamie is still around — I see him a lot and anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic Specifically, Nanopin addresses the urgent he’s still our number one supporter and stress disorder, panic disorder and even need for more accurate, cost-effective who I rely on for good advice.” anxiety associated with overcoming diagnostic tools for tuberculosis, a deadly Hool founded his company Hoolest addiction. Leading up to this stage in its disease estimated to affect some 10 million Performance Technologies, Inc. alongside development, Hoolest has talked with people worldwide and cause 1.7 million computer engineering graduate student potential customers to “show them the annual deaths. Sami Mian and electrical engineering devices and get a feel for what they Tuberculosis can be difficult to diagnose undergraduate student John Patterson really need and what’s lacking in the using conventional methods, particularly in in May 2017. They designed and built an market,” Hool says. children and “paucibacillary” cases in which the affordable, easy-to-use device modeled Hoolest is using the WearTech Applied abundance of mycobacterium — the causative after music earbuds. By stimulating the Research Center in Phoenix to run its agent of the disease — is very low. Speed is vagus nerve, the device helps users get up user testing and to strategize next steps. also a critical component. The current gold to an hour-long relaxing effect after using standard diagnostic test can take six to eight “The data looks good so far,” Hool says. the device for only 10 minutes. weeks to yield a final result as opposed to “We just have to keep collecting so we NanoPin’s rapid diagnostic. Less than a year after founding the have a large enough sample size to company, Hoolest took home the first- make sure it’s statistically significant. The versatile platform holds the promise place prize of $100,000 at the 2018 ASU We don’t want to be just another for rapid diagnosis of a range of diseases. Innovation Open finals. Hool believed wellness device. We want to make NanoPin received $2 million in seed funding to they were successful in the competition sure our product provides real value develop this diagnostic and monitoring platform because of the size of the market and the with real clinical applications.” b for tuberculosis management. b social impact the device could have.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 33 Alumni

Charla Howard, PhD Entering graduate school She now works as a research scientist at Ripple LLC, a Salt Lake City-based company in 2008, Charla Howard that develops neuroscience research knew she wanted to tools and medical devices. Working with a research gait analysis and multidisciplinary engineering team, Howard ensures prosthetic systems improve the lower limb prosthetics. experience and lives of prosthesis users. Working under Professor James Abbas, Howard’s work is currently focused on Howard gained research experience and the clinical evaluation of implantable developed the skills that would help her tackle medical devices for improved control of any new challenges in her career. prosthetic limbs, which utilizes her expertise “It is imperative to be taught specific skills in prosthetics, neurophysiology and while in school, but it is rare those skills biomechanics along with additional skills translate directly to your future work,” says she has developed in study design and Howard, who earned her doctorate in data analysis to assess complex bioengineering and biomedical engineering in neuroprosthetics systems. b 2017. “I always felt I had the guidance I needed to help me learn, but was also taught to think for myself.”

Christopher Workman, MS As a prospective of their loved ones and then get to work on solutions. undergraduate student, Workman had the opportunity to talk about his Christopher Workman biomedical engineering research with the ASU realized ASU was the engineering school’s namesake, Ira A. Fulton. right choice when he saw “He said that I was a good investment,” Workman says. “It felt good to be supported the projects biomedical and it made me want to accomplish more.” engineering students were His lab research and work cofounding working on. computing and artificial intelligence startups with other students equipped him to take on “I had good evidence that ASU could help ambitious challenges similar to those he now me make a quantum leap to that level,” faces in his career. Workman says. After graduating with his master’s degree in His education up to that point, along with biomedical engineering in 2015, Workman “nearly unlimited opportunities beyond joined Google as a hardware engineer. He the classroom,” were good preparation for currently pushes the boundaries of what’s a meaningful career. The extracurricular possible in “moonshot” projects at Google programs challenged Workman to make useful Advanced Technologies and Projects. contributions through his engineering skills. As an undergraduate researcher, he was able He’s optimistic about the future of technology to talk to community members about how and inspired by the people at Google who b biomedical research could affect the lives are dedicated to users’ needs.

34 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Student awards

Undergraduate Graduate

Sydney Connor Sarah Rosemary Davis Scott Boege Ethan Marschall Robert H. Chamberlain Katie Conrad Memorial Award Outstanding SBHSE Teaching Outstanding SBHSE Memorial Scholarship Award Assistant Graduate Research Assistant

Jarrett Eshima Madeleine Howell NSF Research Experiences NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates program for Undergraduates program Eshima completed his first University of Michigan authored publication during the REU at Georgia Tech University. Goldwater Fellowship

Karolena Lein Gabrielle Mills Outstanding SBHSE Recipient of the prestigious Undergraduate Research Assistant Gates Cambridge Scholarship Karolena Lein presents her research at the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative Symposium. Levi Riley Jordan Todd Outstanding SBHSE Senior Robert H. Chamberlain Spring 2019 Outstanding “Memorial Scholarship Award Team awards Graduate: Biomedical Engineering Hosted talk at 2018 “I believe the skills engineering Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting education teaches are indispensable,” Riley says. “They have allowed me Todd’s research focuses on to take my knowledge of abstract synthetic platelets reducing subjects and apply it to solve neuroinflammation in experimental Emmanuella Adjei-Sowah, Dzifa Kwaku and real-world problems.” traumatic brain injury. Ermyntrude Adjei 2019 MasterCard Foundation Scholars Research Fund Award Mentor: James Abbas Doctoral

Joshua Cutts, Danh Truong, Victoria Smith and Jennapher Lingo Joel Lusk Jennapher Lingo VanGilder VanGilder Selected for oral presentation Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation Award at Biomedical Engineering NIH NRSA F31 Predoctoral Society National Conference Fellowship with three years of support “Using diffusion tensor imaging to identify the structural neural correlates of visuospatial and motor skill learning Danh Truong processes.” Mentor: Sydney Schaefer Fall 2018 Ira A. Fulton Schools Advancing Science in of Engineering Convocation America award Speaker “My biggest achievement is seeing “Achievement Reward for College the students I mentored succeed Scientists,” sponsored by Dr. Robert and Nancy Spetzler correlates of in their research and be able to visuospatial and motor skill learning move on to great jobs or graduate processes.” Mentor: Sydney Schaefer school,” Truong says.

Christopher Miranda Peiyuan Wang Selected for oral presentation at Phoenix Pride Scholarship Biomedical Engineering Society Award Danh Truong speaks at the fall 2018 Ira A. Fulton National Conference Schools of Engineering Convocation ceremony.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 35 Students

Student medtech design team heads to London

Mariam El Sheikha and Kelsey Boos work on their stroke rehabilitation device. The students presented their project in summer 2019 during the PLuS Engineering Summer School Showcase.

When Mariam El Sheikha’s El Sheikha and fellow undergraduate microprocessor and systems integration), biomedical engineering student Kelsey were challenged to develop a low-cost, grandfather suffered a Boos are working on the design and initial noninvasive (nonsurgical), self-directed stroke in Egypt, “not only development of a therapeutic medical device that would facilitate at-home therapy device that enhances physical therapy for stroke patients that would speed did he not have access for upper limb function recovery for recovery and function — while reducing to the biomedical devices people who have had strokes. treatment costs and minimizing adverse events associated with implantable devices. we have in the U.S., he Both women were involved in a bioengineering interdisciplinary product The team assignment was based on a didn’t have access to development team for a class focused on relatively new stroke therapy that uses comprehensive physical the fundamentals of developing and bringing a surgically implanted vagus nerve to market a biomedical device. Students stimulation device to enhance physical therapy,” says El Sheikha, applied the entrepreneurial mindset to therapy after stroke. According to recent a biomedical engineering industry best practices, including ethics, studies, vagus nerve stimulation in concert Food and Drug Administration regulatory with therapy can as much as double upper student. “I wanted to do processes and business practices. limb function recovery. something that will help The class of 20 students, split into four “When stroke causes damage to the brain, people’s lives.” core technology groups (circuits, electrodes, repetitive physical therapy supports neural

36 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Students

plasticity — a reorganization of neural circuits, which, over time, assigns lost functions to new pathways and ultimately improves motor function,” says Jeffrey Kleim, an associate professor of biomedical engineering. The external device built by the team is worn as an earpiece that stimulates the vagus nerve located near the ear. El Sheikha was a member of the electrodes design team, where she developed the electrode circuit for the earpiece. Boos, the section leader for the systems integration team, designed an earpiece that accurately targeted the auricular branch of the vagus nerve for stimulation, while also guiding her team in the integration of the Xbox Kinect technology. “It was a valuable learning process to see that it could be done with multiple groups of people,” Boos says about the process that had teammates working in their assigned areas before coming together to integrate all of the components. According to Vincent Pizziconi, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and interdisciplinary product development team course instructor along with Kleim, the novel concept of using Kinect technology has the potential to set the project apart from other medtech competitors. The project is the perfect gateway between biomedical engineering and medicine — both El Sheikha and Boos are studying for their Medical College Admissions Tests as they travel the course to medical school. “As a doctor, it’s important to investigate how you can improve a device and provide feedback to the technology developers,” El Sheika says.

In summer 2019, the two women traveled to London to debut their device on a world stage in London as part of the PLuS Engineering Summer School program. The program is part of the PLuS Alliance international knowledge sharing collaboration between ASU, King’s College London and UNSW Sydney. El Sheikha and Boos presented their project and got feedback from international perspectives. b The device, worn externally, stimulates the vagus nerve through it auricular branch, which is located near the ear. It is designed to speed recovery and function, reduce treatment costs and minimize adverse events associated with implantable devices.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 37 Students

Girl power: Biomedical engineering students lead STEM outreach effort The ASU chapter of Society of Women Engineers hosts about 100 local Girl Scouts each spring for Girl Scouts in Engineering Awareness and Retention, or GEAR Day. In spring 2019, biomedical engineering seniors Gabrielle Mills, ASU’s Society of Women Engineers chapter president, and Amber Sogge, the organization’s outreach officer, led the event with a multidisciplinary group of chapter members. They encouraged girls to apply their creative skills, learn how engineering helps people and build prototypes using the STEM skills they learned. The event included girls and boys from schools across the Phoenix metropolitan area during its afternoon sessions. “Part of establishing a foundation on which the next generation of female engineers can achieve is not only reliant on empowering girls to pursue engineering,” Sogge says, “but encouraging the boys to value their input and see them as equals.” b

Biomedical Engineering Society student chapter earns top national recognition The ASU chapter of a wide variety of backgrounds, such as neurosurgeons from Barrow Neurological Biomedical Engineering Institute and engineers from biomedical Society recently earned companies such as Medtronic. The organization pairs each industry speaker the Commendable with a faculty member for presentations. Achievement Award, The student leaders had an opportunity marking it as one of the to discuss their operations at the BMES Annual Meeting’s Outstanding best chapters in the nation. Chapter presentation. The award recognizes “During our presentation at the conference, a student from another university’s chapter the ASU BMES chapter asked us how to get faculty involved at for its activities, outreach their events,” said Scott Boege, past vice and impact. president for the chapter. “This is something we take for granted since we have a plethora “The commitment among the leadership in of unique and engaging faculty members this group is outstanding,” says Associate who love to talk at our events.” Past Biomedical Engineering Society ASU Professor Sarah Stabenfeldt, faculty advisor chapter presidents Ethan Marschall, Allison BMES also does outreach, going to local for the chapter. Marley and past vice president Scott Boege schools and presenting to classes and hold their Commendable Achievement Award The chapter’s central location in the Phoenix participating in ASU’s events that open after giving their speech at the BMES Annual metropolitan area gives it the ability to tour labs to the public and volunteering with Meeting. Photo courtesy of Ethan Marschall. places such as Mayo Clinic and Stryker. local nonprofit Project C.U.R.E. b BMES also brings in guest speakers from

38 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Students

Studying novel infectious disease treatments across the pond

Biomedical engineering Solving health’s senior Gabrielle Mills was selected as a 2019 Gates Grand Challenges Cambridge Scholar — Engineers solve the Biomedical engineering graduates Bhavna an outstanding, socially Ramesh and Ekta Patel worked to solve committed U.S. student world’s biggest problems, health-related Grand Challenges through but they need more than their research project. They worked together who will continue fully to develop a pressure ulcer risk assessment funded postgraduate technical skills to create device for patients confined to hospital beds. meaningful solutions. When areas of a patient’s body that don’t studies at the University have much fat between bone and skin of Cambridge in the U.K. The Grand Challenges Scholars Program, make contact with the hospital bed, the a National Academy of Engineering endorsed skin can break and cause pressure ulcers, Mills began pursuing a doctoral degree in program at ASU, challenges students to which are painful and can often cause chemical engineering in fall 2019. She is become transdisciplinary, collaborative and irreversible damage. building upon her interest in epidemiology global problem solvers. and its engineering applications that she Ramesh took on an interdisciplinary research developed at ASU. During the 2018-2019 academic year, approach that involved studying and using 13 students in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of machine learning techniques to develop a “I seek to be a leader in the worldwide Engineering were added to the official NAE patient classifying algorithm. Working on pursuit to alleviate the burden of disease Grand Challenges Scholars Registry, including a patient device helped Patel feel more on developing populations by delivering four biomedical engineering students. prepared for medical school. Both students technologies that are simple, inexpensive and, above all else, feasible in their applicable The students choose one the NAE’s believed the experience helped them become environments,” Mills says. 14 Grand Challenges facing society, more well-rounded scholars. including health, to conduct coursework and Ramesh, Patel and their team are also Mills is the fourth Gates Cambridge Scholar experiential opportunities in service learning, dipped their toes into the entrepreneurial from ASU in the past five years. Scholars are multicultural awareness, entrepreneurship, side of medical device development, working chosen for their outstanding intellectual ability, developing an interdisciplinary perspective with clinical mentors at Phoenix Children’s leadership potential and a commitment to b and conducting research or a creative project Hospital to obtain a patent on their device. b improving the lives of others. related to their theme.

NSF fellowship helps grad improve lives with synthetic biology During her second year at ASU, Lexi Bounds joined Assistant Professor David Brafman’s lab and studied the concept of in vitro disease modeling to find new approaches to understand how Alzheimer’s disease starts so scientists can develop better treatments. This research led the recent biomedical engineering graduate to be selected as one of 2,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows in 2018. Bounds is continuing her research at Duke University where she studies biomedical engineering with a focus on synthetic and systems biology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The program supports outstanding students considered to be potential leaders in science, technology, engineering and math. Bounds joins a group of students who are contributing to the high-impact research, teaching and innovation needed to maintain the nation’s technological strength, security and economic vitality. b

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 39 Students Multi-biomarker detection tech

Biomedical engineering doctoral earns doctoral candidate Chi-En Lin earned the Metrohm USA Young Chemist candidate Young Award for research on biosensor test strips for a multi-biomarker Chemist Award detection platform. Chi-En Lin’s revolutionary The underlying mechanism for Lin’s multi- immunosuppressant levels for organ biomarker detection technology is called transplants, cardiovascular sensors for biosensor doctoral optimal frequency, which works similar heart disease and screening tools for research earned the to radio channels. Channel one detects breast cancer. Metrohm USA Young biomarker one, channel two detects His research was sponsored by Advanced biomarker two and so forth. Tear Diagnostics, Mayo Clinic and Chemist Award in 2018. To create this multi-biomarker detection the Industrial Technology Research This marked the second year in a row an platform, Lin designed and developed Institute of Taiwan, as well as a few ASU graduate student earned the award. biosensors similar to blood glucose test startup companies. He also collaborated strips for diabetes management. These are with genetic engineering exchange Due to the complex nature of diseases relatively robust, easy to use and obtain scholars from the Tokyo University of and the potential risk of multiple diseases results rapidly — ideal characteristics for Agriculture and Technology. occurring simultaneously, current state-of- clinical diagnostics, disease management As a bioengineer recognized for great the-art detection methods are insufficient. and early screening. They only monitor a single biomarker at a chemistry on a medical device, Lin’s time, and it takes weeks or even months Selected biomarkers include saliva and doctoral research is highly interdisciplinary to eventually get a comprehensive picture tears for noninvasive glucose monitoring, and includes electrochemical biosensors, of a person’s health. By then, the body has tear diagnosis for dry eye disease, wearable technology and advanced already changed. insulin levels for diabetes management, manufacturing. b

movement to understand the brain’s NIH supports structure and function. “Our work to date has all been behavioral in nature,” Schaefer says. “Jennapher’s motor neuroimaging work is critical for us to begin understanding some mechanism underlying rehabilitation our previous findings, which will allow us to develop targeted motor therapies for research older adults.” Biomedical engineering graduate Lingo VanGilder’s project extends the student Jennapher Lingo VanGilder previous findings that motor learning ability completed her first semester of a is related to visuospatial function, the ability three-year National Institutes of to perceive objects in 3D space. Her work Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral aims to determine the neural basis of motor Individual National Research Service learning and visuospatial integration and Award Fellowship. provide a clinical tool that can be used to investigates the representation of motor predict how well someone is able to learn or The fellowship supports predoctoral students learning processes within the aging brain. relearn new motor skills. in their research with supervision by four Millions of older adults who undergo motor advising mentors and additional training. “We may be able to administer a quick and rehabilitation for neural damage, especially easy pencil-and-paper test prior Lingo VanGilder is conducting her from strokes, may not benefit from their to therapy to determine if that individual research in the ASU Motor Rehabilitation therapeutic regimens due to diminished will respond to motor rehabilitation,” Lingo and Learning Lab under the guidance of motor ability. Lingo VanGilder and Schaefer’s VanGilder says. “This may aid in a clinician’s her mentor, Assistant Professor Sydney approach to study aging brains differs from ability to select appropriate therapies.” b Schaefer. The research at the lab the typical method of recording human

40 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering Giving

Join us in our vision to become a leading biomedical Published by the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of the engineering program that effectively engineers novel Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at solutions to improve human health and provides Arizona State University P.O. Box 879709, unique interdisciplinary training for the next generation Tempe, Arizona, 85287-9709 of biomedical engineers. 480-965-3028 sbhse.engineering.asu.edu Donations support senior projects, student and faculty research and improve the educational tools and opportunities we offer our students. To manage your mailing list preferences, visit: engineering.asu.edu/mailing-list To make a donation of any amount, call Kati Martinez at [email protected], or mail your gift to Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, ATTN: Kati Martinez, P.O. Box 879309, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-9309. We love to hear from our alumni. Send us your updates: Please make checks payable to the “ASU Foundation” with “SBHSE” noted in engineering.asu.edu/alumni-updates the memo line.

sbhse.engineering.asu.edu 39 School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering P.O. Box 879709 • Tempe, AZ 85287-9709 sbhse.engineering.asu.edu