T HE DEPARTMENT OF BIOENGINEERING The UCSD Bioengineering Program was initiated in 1966 by Drs. Y.C. Fung, Marcos Intaglietta, and Benjamin Zweifach within the Department of Aeronautical Mechanics and Engineering Science. In August 1994 the UC Office of the President approved our request to form a Department of Bioengineering, the first in the UC System. It is wonderful that our Department is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its establishment. While an age of 10 years is young, we had a gestation period of 28 years, which are covered in this book together with the last 10 years. At this momentous occasion, I wish to express my sincere thanks to all my colleagues: faculty, research scientists, staff and students, for their wonderful work as a team in making the Department such a marvelous place to be, both scientifically and interpersonally. On behalf of the Department, I also wish to take this opportunity to thank the generous support and strong encouragement by our friends everywhere in the country and our administration at UCSD and the UC system. Our friends and colleagues are extremely precious, much more than the diamond on the cover of this book*, which is a symbol that represents the tenth anniversary. Sincerely, Shu Chien Chair, Department of Bioengineering NNIVERSARY A * The preparations for this book and the celebration on August 14, 2004, have been made TH possible by the outstanding work by the following members of UCSD central administration, Jacobs School External Relations Office, and Department of Bioengineering (listed alphabetically): 10 Kelly Briggs, Suzie Dandos, Chandra Ewell. Jennifer Griffin, Denine Hagen, Irene Jacobo, Paul Laperruque, Beth Maples, Carolyn Post-Ladd, Jeff Sanchez, and Loretta Smith. Their marvelous contributions are gratefully acknowledged. IOENGINEERING B OF EPARTMENT D 1 T RIBUTES PREFACE 5 David Miller Robert W. Conn Frieder Seible INTRODUCTION 8 Y. C. Fung Shu Chien FACULTY 17 Marcos Intaglietta, Amy G. Tsai, and Pedro Cabrales David Gough Geert W. Schmid-Schönbein Andrew D. McCulloch and Irene Hom Jacobo L. Amy Sung Jeffrey Omens Robert Sah Bernhard Palsson Sangeeta Bhatia Gary A. Huber Wayne Giles Gabriel A. Silva FELLOWS AND RESEARCHERS 45 Peter C.Y. Chen Roland Kaunas Carlos J. Vera Yingxiao Wang ALUMNI 40 Thomas C. Skalak Robert Schinagl Fariborz (Faffi) Moazzam Douglas Chang Walt Baxter Shila Jalali Mohammad Sotoudeh Gang Jin Karen D. May-Newman Reza Mazhari Melissa Kurtis Micou CURRENT STUDENTS 56 Song Li Vicki Chin Geoffrey von Maltzahn Shirley Lee and Eun Hee Han IN MEMORY OF 57 Benjamin W. Zweifach Richard Skalak Sidney Sobin Drahoslav Lim NNIVERSARY Graduate Students A TH 10 FACULTY HONORS 63 IOENGINEERING B PH.D.S GRANTED 67OF EPARTMENT D 3 A FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE DAVID MILLER University of California, San Diego Acting Senior Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since a department and small group of distinguished faculty in bioengineering allocated sufficient split off from the then AMES department and formed faculty positions to one of the few Departments of Bioengineering in the ensure its success. I do country. I was serving as chair of AMES at the time recall that the space when much of the discussion occurred. The and operational bioengineering section of our department was always budgets were quite one of the most focused and visionary groups, modest but the zealous about the quality of faculty and researchers enthusiasm of the recruited to join them. At the time there were only six faculty made it all ladder rank faculty, and only the quality of the work. At that time it was envisioned that the program could overcome the traditional ‘critical mass’ bioengineering department would mature at arguments about the minimum size of a viable something like 15 faculty, while the latest plans department. We had mixed emotions about their call for them to grow to about 25 faculty. Any separation because they added strength to our leader at UCSD would be proud of what this broader programs in engineering science, interacted young department has accomplished, and I surely with colleagues in several areas of mechanics, and am. They are ranked as one of the top three attracted large numbers of outstanding students at departments in the country, they enroll more than both the graduate and undergraduate levels. 200 undergraduates and 30 graduate students However, it was clear that they would bring even each year, their research funding exceeds $800K more stature and viability to the School of per faculty, they have been received private Engineering and to UCSD if they became an funding to build their own building, the Powell- independent department. Of course one of the Focht Bioengineering Hall, and they have principal issues was resources, new faculty positions continually been leaders and/or contributed to and space. I believe the final approval waited for the several interdisciplinary initiatives on the campus NNIVERSARY arrival of Dean Robert Conn who quickly understood which have involved the natural sciences, the A TH how important such a development would be to the School of Medicine, and other engineering growth and stature of the school. After reviewing departments. On this 10th anniversary, I offer my 10 their well-developed growth plans involving expansion congratulations and appreciation to the into biomolecular and biochemical areas, with themes department, its faculty, staff, and students. such as “tissue engineering”, he endorsed the new IOENGINEERING B OF EPARTMENT D 5 THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOENGINEERING: A FORMER DEAN’S PERSPECTIVE ROBERT W. CONN, PH.D. Former Dean, Jacobs School of Engineering (1994-2002) The first major decision I faced during my tenure But something else emerged equally clearly, as Dean of Engineering at UCSD was something deeper, namely, that Bioengineering whether or not to support the formation of a would emerge as the new engineering field for the Department of Bioengineering within the School of 21st century. It would for the first time map an Engineering. After accepting the appointment as engineering field to the science of biology - Dean in mid-1993, the Chancellor and Vice something that amazingly had never happened Chancellor informed me that the campus was before, at least not in a formal way. It was considering a proposal to form a new Department immediately clear that the potential to lead in this of Bioengineering, and that they felt it important to new area would represent, on UCSD's part, an have my recommendation before proceeding. That opportunity for vision and leadership - and the time was very considerate of them, but it also meant for this had come. Approval of the faculty's that I had to become informed very quickly about proposal followed in short order. an area I knew relatively little about. The department's success in its first decade has So I spent that Fall of 1993, while still formally at proven the rightness of the faculty's vision and the UCLA, getting introduced to bioengineering as a campus's decision to move ahead. I wish the field, and meeting with the faculty who were department and its faculty, staff and students all supporting the formation of this new department. the best in the decades to come - and I know that Two things became immediately apparent - 1) this they will continue to provide vision and leadership was an extraordinary group of faculty, and 2) this to this critical field. was the only area of engineering at the time at UCSD that was ranked among the top 5 programs in the country. BIOENGINEERING AS A CATALYST FOR NEW ENGINEERING INITIATIVES FRIEDER SEIBLE. PH.D. Dean, Jacobs School of Engineering As we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of our great Department of Bioengineering and the many It is one of our declared goals to lead research on accomplishments of our faculty and students, it is also the life sciences with engineering solutions for a time to look forward to all that is to come. medical innovation. Breakthroughs in these areas are driven by ever smaller sensors and actuators, Since taking on the responsibilities of Dean of the frequently referred to as nanotechnology, and our Jacobs School in 2003, some of my most exciting engineering work now starts with smaller and interactions have been with the biomedical community, smaller building blocks (at the cell or atomic level) discussing how we as engineers can contribute to to develop new materials with new mechanical, improving health care and medical sciences. It is not biological, and chemical processes, for the design just an opportunity, but an obligation, for engineering and shaping of the final product. With UCSD’s to explore new ways in which advances in technology strength in the biological, physical, and health can provide better monitoring, diagnosis, and sciences, it is imperative for UCSD to not just treatment of medical conditions. These complex contribute to, but lead this general area of challenges can only be solved through a truly biotechnology and medical devices. Our interdisciplinary approach, and this will be the focus of Bioengineering Department is positioned to be a many of the new initiatives involving our leader in this area as we move forward. bioengineering department, as well as all the departments of the Jacobs School in the next decade UCSD is one of the youngest, yet fastest rising, and beyond. research universities in the world, and bioengineering at UCSD has not just contributed The sequencing of the human genome is spawning a to, but led this advancement. Faculty luminaries new field dedicated to understanding living systems as such as Y.C. Fung and Shu Chien have inspired and a whole in a quantitative and integrative perspective. motivated young minds on this campus and well Systems biology not only has the potential to beyond, and have truly defined the field of revolutionize drug development, but could also help bioengineering.